The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology is among the very best universities in the world, according to new ranking figures published by the highly regarded London Times newspaper.

The Times' league table of the world's top 200 universities places UST at number 42 globally, and number 12 in Asia. Other universities in the Top 50 include Harvard (1), Oxford (5) and Beijing (17).

As the Times notes: "Institutions such as [Harvard] have enormous financial advantages over their newer rivals." Harvard alone has endowments that total nearly US$23 billion.

"In the face of such esteemed competition, we have achieved an outstanding feat, especially for such a young university," said Prof Paul Chu, UST President. "Many of the other universities in the top 50 league are centuries old, and this brings them an inherent head start. UST, on the other hand, was established a mere 13 years ago."

"I trust Hong Kong will be proud of this immense and rapid achievement by the University, and value the hard work of the whole UST community."

Peer-Based Assessment
The Times' rankings, new this year, are calculated on the basis of a survey of some 1,300 academics across 88 countries. They were asked to name the best institutions in their respective fields.

As the Times comments: "The greatest influence on the league table has [therefore] been exerted by those in the best position to judge: the academics."

UST scored especially well in the peer review, which accounted for 50% of the total score, and demonstrates that the University is very highly regarded by academics around the world for the impressive standards being set here.

Other than the peer review score, four other criteria were used by the Times to assess the Top 200 institutions' teaching, research and international reputation: number of citations per faculty member (20%); ratio of students to faculty (20%); and the number of international students and staff (5% each).

Indeed, the university has made an immense effort to ensure that campus is very much a global community, with students from over 30 countries currently studying with us in Clear Water Bay.

As it has built itself into a global institution, UST has also become renowned for the international diversity of its faculty. They have come from all over the world to work at UST, and between them have taken PhDs from some of the finest universities.

Pride of Hong Kong
"With UST's move towards becoming an international education hub, the Times league table further signals to undergraduates and postgraduates from the four corners of the planet that Hong Kong is an exceptional city in which to gain a first class education," said Prof Chu.

In news that will make the whole world sit up and take note, two local universities appeared in the Times' Top 50 league table, with UST joining the University of Hong Kong, which was ranked at number 39.

"Hong Kong can take considerable satisfaction from the fact that our universities are so effectively fulfilling their responsibilities to society," added Prof Chu.

Institutions and countries that are often more readily considered leaders in education and research have not fared quite so well in the Times rankings. Germany, for example, manages only one university in the Top 50: Heidelberg, which was ranked at 47.

The smaller [territories] of East Asia, including Hong Kong," the Times concludes, "are being taken seriously around the world... for their academic excellence."

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The Times Higher Education Supplement