Rankings of universities in China

As of 2020, China had the world's second-highest number of top universities in several most cited international rankings including the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), the U.S. News & World Report Best Global University Ranking, the Center for World University Rankings (CWUR), the Performance Ranking of Scientific Papers for World Universities and the Three University Missions Ranking.

Universities and colleges being part of the Double First-Class Construction are considered to be the most elite institutions of Chinese tertiary education, representing the top 5% of overall universities and colleges in Mainland China (approximately 3,000 higher education institutions). Regardless of universities in China being involved in a variety of university rankings, the Ministry of Education of China does not advocate or recognize any ranking published by other institutions.

Rankings distribution

Global

As of 2023, China has the world's highest number of top universities in the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), the US News and World Report Best Global University Ranking, the University Ranking by Academic Performance, the CWTS Leiden Ranking, and the SCImago Institutions Rankings.

China tops the list for the first time with 214 out of 1,000 universities in the 2023 Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU). The U.S. News & World Report Best Global Universities Ranking 2022-2023 ranked 2000 universities from 90 countries: China is again top with 388. In the 2023 CWTS Leiden Ranking, China has the largest number of universities including in the ranking with 273 out of 1,411 universities from 72 countries. The University Ranking by Academic Performance 2023-2024 shortlisted 3,000 research universities in the ranking: China tops the list, with 489 universities. China is also the most-represented nation overall in the SCImago Institutions Rankings list with 575 universities. More than 2,500 universities in China are ranked in the Webometrics Ranking of World Universities out of almost 31,000 institutions, including in the ranking worldwide.

There were 32 universities from Mainland China on lists of the global top 200 in the 2023 Shanghai Ranking's ARWU, behind only the United States in terms of the overall representation. In the 2024 Times Higher Education World University Rankings, Mainland China had a notable presence with 13 universities listed within the global top 200. This positioning placed Mainland China behind only the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany in terms of overall representation. There were 17 Chinese universities on lists of the global top 200 behind only the United States and the United Kingdom in terms of the overall representation in the 2023 Aggregate Ranking of Top Universities, a composite ranking system combining three of the world's most influential university rankings (ARWU+QS+ THE).

Regional

China has dominated the QS BRICS University Rankings and the THE's Emerging Economies University Rankings since its inception, claiming 7 of the top 10 spots for both rankings. China is also the most-represented nation overall. In 2020, China tops the QS Asia University Rankings list with over 120 universities including in the ranking, and five Chinese universities appear in the Asia Top 10, which is more than any other country. As of 2023, the Shanghai Ranking's Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) included a total of 10 universities from China within its world top 100 list. Similarly, the Times Higher Education Rankings also featured seven universities from China within its global top 100 list. Notably, this level of representation in both rankings positioned China as the country with the highest overall presence in the Asia & Oceania region.

National

China is home to over 3,000 institutions of higher education. Within this vast landscape, around 147 universities as part of the Double First-Class Construction hold a prominent position as national key universities, while the tier 1 universities consist of the former 985 Project Universities. These universities are widely recognized as some of the most renowned in China and continuously maintain high rankings nationally and globally.

In terms of city representation, according to the U.S. News & World Report Best Global University Ranking for 2022, Beijing has the highest number of universities including in the ranking, totaling 24. Following Beijing, Shanghai and Xi'an both have 17 highly ranked universities, while Nanjing has 16 and Wuhan has 15. Other cities with notable representation include Chengdu with 11 universities, Guangzhou and Hangzhou with 10 each, Tianjin with 9, Harbin and Nanchang with 8 each, Changsha, Chongqing, Jinan, Qingdao, Shenyang and Zhengzhou with 7 each.

Rankings of universities in China

There are several comprehensive rankings of universities in China, including Wu Shulian Ranking, made by a team led by Wu Shulian and published in the name of Chinese Academy of Management, Netbig Ranking, made by the higher education internet information company Netbig, and CUAA Ranking, by Airuishen (a company) in the name of Chinese Universities Alumni Association, etc. Shanghai Ruanke compiles both the Best Chinese Universities Ranking (BCUR) and the world university ranking, Academic Ranking of World Universities.

In 1987, a ranking of 86 key universities according to Science Citation Index was compiled by Xiao Ming, Chinese Academy of Management Science.

It's said that the first comprehensive (exactly, synthetic) ranking of Chinese universities was made by Cai Yanhou, Higher Education Research Institute, Central South University of Technology, in 1989. Colleges and universities were ranked in four categories, science (generally comprehensive universities), engineering, agricultural and medical.

The Chinese university ranking on research and development in 1991 was published in 1993 by Wu Shulian, Guangdong Academy of Management Science, which was registered in the year 1993 as a private institute and later ceased and was claimed to be the Guangdong branch of Chinese Academy of Management Science. The 1996 ranking was released in 1997, and since then the annual ranking has been released continuously. It's a single list ranking except 1998 ranking, which consists of comprehensive university ranking and technological university ranking, with Nanjing University and Tsinghua University ranking 1st respectively. In 2000, the comprehensive ranking was released under the name Chinese University Assessment. The ranking was later published in the name of Chinese Academy of Management Science.

In 1998, Netbig, or literally Net Universities in abbreviation, a higher education internet information company, released Chinese university ranking.

In 2002, Chinese university ranking by Airuishen (a company) was released. The CUAA Ranking, released in the name of Chinese Universities Alumni Association, is said made by Cai Yanhou team.

In 2003, a team in Shanghai Jiaotong University, later named Shanghai Ranking (Shanghai Ruanke, literally Shanghai Soft Science in abbreviation), released Academic Ranking of World Universities. Shanghai Ranking also compiles the Best Chinese Universities Ranking (BCUR).

Major International Rankings

Bibliometric-based rankings

Annual international rankings of the bibliometric-based rankings include the Academic Ranking of World Universities, the Performance Ranking of Scientific Papers for World Universities, the University Ranking by Academic Performance, the CWTS Leiden Ranking, the SCImago Institutions Rankings, the Center for World University Rankings (CWUR), and the Nature Index Annual Tables published by Nature Research.

Shanghai Ranking's Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU)

University Ranking By Academic Performance (URAP)

A complete ranking of 485 Chinese universities, including in the top 3,000 universities worldwide, can be found through the external link according to the University Ranking by Academic Performance 2020-2021.

WURI Global Top 100 Innovative Universities Rankings

CSRankings: Computer Science Rankings

AIRankings: AI Institute and Author Rankings by Publications

Opinion-based rankings

A number of international publications formulate their rankings using the weighted average of opinions gathered in surveys, including the QS World University Rankings, the Times Higher Education World University Rankings and the U.S. News and World Report Best Global University Ranking.

QS World University Rankings

Times Higher Education World University Rankings

Times Higher Education Most International Universities Ranking

US News Best Global Universities Ranking

Other Global Rankings

Other international rankings:

• CWTS Leiden Ranking by CWTS Leiden Ranking
• Nature Index by Nature Research
• UTN Rankings by Performance Ranking of Scientific Papers for World Universities
• SCImago Institutions Rankings by SCImago Institutions Rankings
• The Center for World University Rankings by the Center for World University Rankings (CWUR)
• Webometrics Ranking ranks more than 2500 universities in China by the Webometrics Ranking of World Universities

Notes

References