Amid a growing buzz over top Chinese universities opting out of the global rankings race, the latest round of the QS analysis has lauded China’s emphasis on research, which has helped two of its higher education institutes find a place among the world’s top 15.

According to the QS World University Rankings 2023, China has the third largest share of ranked universities (71), behind the UK (90) and USA (201). Until last year, no Chinese universities featured in the QS’ top 15 global rankings.

Peking University, which was ranked 18th in the 2022 rankings released last year, has jumped six places to 12, while Tsinghua University has risen from 17th to 14th position globally. “Both universities owe their impressive ascendancy to improved performance in QS’ research impact indicator (Citations per Faculty or CpF) and Faculty/Student Ratio (FSR) indicator, a proxy for teaching capability,” states the QS report.

The QS accords 20 percent weightage each to these parameters in drawing up the rankings, while also taking into account academic reputation (40 per cent), employer reputation (10 per cent), international faculty ratio (5 per cent) and international students ratio (5 per cent).