SOUTHERN University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) maintained its eighth position among Chinese mainland universities on the Times Higher Education (THE) Asia University Rankings that was released recently.

Among Asian universities, SUSTech ranked 26th, up from its 33rd position last year, with a total score of 57.4 points.

The rankings showed that SUSTech performed at a high level in citations and international outlook, two of the major performance indicators used by the THE. SUSTech ranked No. 3 among mainland universities and No. 22 among Asian universities in citations, with a total of 84.1 points. For international outlook, it maintained No. 53 in Asia and No. 6 among mainland universities, with a total score of 59.7 points. The university was also nominated for the International Strategy Award of the Year 2021. It is an award reserved for an institution with outstanding success in building institutional partnerships, overseas operations, and that has strategic approach to international staff and student recruitment.

Shenzhen University took 24th place among mainland universities and 83rd among Asian universities in the rankings.

A total of 31 mainland universities entered the top 100 universities in Asia, Tsinghua University and Peking University took the top two spots.

The 2021 Asia University Rankings evaluate 551 universities from 30 countries and regions.

Japan leads the way, having 116 universities in the rankings, with China coming second, having 91 ranked institutions. India is the third most-represented country, with 63 universities. China’s Hong Kong is the most represented region in the top 10, with three universities present like University of Hong Kong, Chinese University of Hong Kong and Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

The THE Asia University Rankings are the only global performance tables that judge research-intensive universities across all their core missions: teaching, research, knowledge transfer and international outlook. The Asia University Rankings use the same 13 carefully calibrated performance indicators as the THE World University Rankings to provide the most comprehensive and balanced comparisons, such as if they are trusted by students, academics, university leaders, industry and governments.

However, the weightings are specially recalibrated to reflect the priorities of Asian institutions.

The performance indicators are grouped into five areas: teaching (the learning environment), research (volume, income, and reputation), citations (research influence), international outlook (staff, students and research) and industry income (knowledge transfer).

The THE World University Rankings, QS World University Rankings, U.S. News World University Rankings, and the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) are recognized as the world’s four leading university rankings.

(Han Ximin)