As of 2020,

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

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

QS World University Rankings ''QS World University Rankings'' is an annual publication of university rankings by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS). The QS system comprises three parts: the global overall ranking, the subject rankings (which name the world's top universities for th ...

and U.S. News & World Report Best Global University Ranking. The Double First-Class Universities are considered to be the most elite institutions of Chinese tertiary education, representing the top 5% of overall universities and colleges in

Mainland China "Mainland China" is a geopolitical term defined as the territory governed by the China, People's Republic of China (including islands like Hainan or Chongming Island, Chongming), excluding dependent territories of the PRC, and other territorie ...

(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 The Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China is a cabinet-level department under the State Council responsible for basic education, vocational education, higher education, and other educational affairs across the country. The Mi ...

does not advocate or recognize any ranking published by other institutions.

Rankings distribution

Global

had the world's second-highest number of top universities in the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), the US News and 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. In the 2021

CWTS Leiden Ranking The CWTS Leiden Ranking is an annual global university ranking based exclusively on bibliometric indicators. The rankings are compiled by the Centre for Science and Technology Studies ( Dutch: ''Centrum voor Wetenschap en Technologische Studies ...

, China has the largest number of universities including in the ranking with 221 out of 1,225 universities from 69 countries. The

University Ranking by Academic Performance The University Ranking by Academic Performance (URAP) is a College and university rankings, university ranking developed by the Informatics Institute of Middle East Technical University. Since 2010, it has been publishing annual national and glob ...

2020-2021 shortlisted 3,000

research universities A research university or a research-intensive university is a university that is committed to research as a central part of its mission. They are the most important sites at which knowledge production occurs, along with "intergenerational kno ...

from 123 countries in the ranking: China tops the list, with 485 universities. China is also the most-represented nation overall in the

SCImago Institutions Rankings The SCImago Institutions Rankings (SIR) since 2009 has published its international ranking of worldwide research institutions, the SIR World Report. The SIR World Report is the work of the SCImago Research Group,Webometrics Ranking of World Universities The Webometrics Ranking of World Universities, also known as Ranking Web of Universities, is a ranking system for the world's universities based on a composite indicator that takes into account both the volume of the Web content (number of web page ...

out of almost 31,000 institutions, including in the ranking worldwide. There were 26 universities from Mainland China on lists of the global top 200 in the 2022 Shanghai Ranking's ARWU, behind only the United States in terms of the overall representation.

Regional

China has dominated the

QS BRICS University Rankings ''QS World University Rankings'' is an annual publication of university rankings by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS). The QS system comprises three parts: the global overall ranking, the subject rankings (which name the world's top universities for the ...

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 2022, there were seven universities from Mainland China on lists of the global top 100 in the Shanghai Ranking's ARWU and the Times Higher Education Rankings, the highest in Asia in terms of overall representation.

Major International Rankings

Bibliometric-based rankings

Annual international rankings of the bibliometric-based rankings include the ''

Academic Ranking of World Universities The ''Academic Ranking of World Universities'' (''ARWU''), also known as the Shanghai Ranking, is one of the annual publications of world university rankings. The league table was originally compiled and issued by Shanghai Jiao Tong Universi ...

'', the '' Performance Ranking of Scientific Papers for World Universities,'' the ''

'', the ''

,'' the ''

Nature Index The Nature Index is a database that tracks institutions and countries and their scientific output since its introduction in November, 2014. Each year, Nature Index ranks the leading institutions (which can be companies, universities, government agen ...

Annual Tables published by

Nature Research Nature Portfolio (formerly known as Nature Publishing Group and Nature Research) is a division of the international scientific publishing company Springer Nature that publishes academic journals, magazines, online databases, and services in scie ...

.''

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

University Ranking By Academic Performance (URAP) The University Ranking by Academic Performance (URAP) is a university ranking developed by the Informatics Institute of Middle East Technical University. Since 2010, it has been publishing annual national and global college and university ranking ...

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

2020-2021.

WURI Global Top 100 Innovative Universities Rankings

Opinion-based rankings

A number of international publications formulate their rankings using the weighted average of opinions gathered in surveys, including the ''

'', the ''

Times Higher Education World University Rankings The ''Times Higher Education World University Rankings'' (often referred to as the THE Rankings) is an annual publication of university rankings by the ''Times Higher Education'' (THE) magazine. The publisher had collaborated with Quacquarel ...

'' and the '' U.S. News and World Report Best Global University Ranking.''

QS World University Rankings ''QS World University Rankings'' is an annual publication of university rankings by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS). The QS system comprises three parts: the global overall ranking, the subject rankings (which name the world's top universities for th ...

Times Higher Education World University Rankings The ''Times Higher Education World University Rankings'' (often referred to as the THE Rankings) is an annual publication of university rankings by the ''Times Higher Education'' (THE) magazine. The publisher had collaborated with Quacquarel ...

Times Higher Education Most International Universities Ranking

US News Best Global Universities Ranking

Other Global Rankings

Other international rankings: * CWTS Leiden Ranking by ''

'' * Nature Index by ''

'' * UTN Rankings ''by Performance Ranking of Scientific Papers for World Universities'' * SCImago Institutions Rankings by

SCImago Institutions Rankings The SCImago Institutions Rankings (SIR) since 2009 has published its international ranking of worldwide research institutions, the SIR World Report. The SIR World Report is the work of the SCImago Research Group,Center for World University Rankings College and university rankings order the best institutions in higher education based on factors that vary depending on the ranking. Some rankings evaluate institutions within a single country, while others assess institutions worldwide. Ranking ...

(CWUR) * Webometrics Ranking ranks more than 2500 universities in China by the

Webometrics Ranking of World Universities The Webometrics Ranking of World Universities, also known as Ranking Web of Universities, is a ranking system for the world's universities based on a composite indicator that takes into account both the volume of the Web content (number of web page ...

References

{{Portal bar, China

Universities A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United State ...

University and college rankings Universities in China