Message from The Vice-Chancellor of HKU

Dear Colleagues, Students, Alumni and Friends,

You may not be at all surprised that the University has again been ranked among the best universities globally – this time, 23rd amongst the top 200 by the World University Rankings of Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) – because you know that HKU has been doing well in the past.

We should be cognisant, however, that rankings typically assess a number of different performance indicators at a university, each carrying a specific weight, and that there are different emphases in the choice of data and methodologies used in different analyses.

The QS rankings, previously published as the QS Times Higher Education World University Rankings, have used the same methodology now for the past five years or so. It is therefore possible to compare HKU year on year. One conclusion we can draw from this longitudinal analysis is the consistency that HKU shows in its high scores on those criteria chosen by QS as important for the best universities worldwide.

While we know that the success of a university cannot be solely judged by league tables and rankings, certain performance indicators used in the QS rankings also happen to have been areas in which HKU has traditionally been strong, such as academic peer review and internationalisation. We particularly value the respect of academic peers from around the world, because they are in the best position to understand the complexity of universities and their activities and goals.

As the QS rankings measure research quality, graduate employability, teaching commitment and internationalisation, it is really the hard work and dedication of the entire HKU community, including all staff, students, alumni and friends, that have helped bring HKU to what it is today. Our strong standing and reputation are without a doubt the result of your commitment and contributions in the past many years. My sincere thanks to you all!

Last but not the least, it is of course gratifying for us to see other Hong Kong universities in top rankings as well. This is encouraging news for Hong Kong and, particularly, our Higher Education sector.

Lap-Chee Tsui
Vice-Chancellor

Further details about the QS rankings can be found at http://www.topuniversities.com/.

Information on how HKU is ranked in various exercises can be found at http://www.hku.hk/cpao/Urankings/.