Beijing (TDI): Chinese universities are climbing higher in the global rankings this year, with Tsinghua and Peking universities now placed 12th and 13th in the 2025 Times Higher Education World University Rankings.
The jump reflects China’s long-term push to improve its higher education sector through increased funding, research output, and international partnerships.
The international academic hierarchy is being drastically reshaped as Chinese universities continue their consistent upward trajectory in global university rankings, a reflection of a 10-year strategy of higher education investment, reform, and innovation.
The 2025 Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings position Tsinghua University and Peking University at positions 12 and 13 in the world, a reminder of their status as China’s top academic powerhouses.
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Along with Peking University and Tsinghua University, other elite Chinese universities—Zhejiang University, Fudan University, and Shanghai Jiao Tong University—have reached positions in the world’s top 60, thus highlighting China’s improved academic status.
This is evident in the 2025 QS World University Rankings, where mainland China ranks second globally at 71 universities listed, behind the United States (197) but ahead of the United Kingdom (90).
Experts attribute this expansion to a convergence of factors, including rising research activity, global collaborations, large sums of money invested in science and innovation, and targeted recruitment of faculty and students from abroad.
This has rendered Chinese institutions competitive with, and in various ways better than, their Western counterparts.
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Dr. Liu Ming, a Shanghai higher education analyst, said, “The quick growth of Chinese universities is no coincidence.” He proceeded to add, “It’s the result of a well-designed national research excellence, internationalization, and academic reform agenda.”.
Despite the dominance of the traditional powers like Harvard, Oxford, and Stanford in the top ten spots, Chinese universities are catching up fast. The entry of more Chinese universities into the top 100 ranks is a sign of a revolutionary shift in the world knowledge economy.
The 2025 rankings are not only a national success but also a global reconfiguration in higher education, where China is establishing itself as a significant contributor to scholarship and research innovation.
With the expansion of international cooperation and increased mobility of students, Chinese universities are redefining the fate of global scholarship, thereby establishing closer competition and collaboration between the East and the West.
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