Summary

Shanghai Ranking has announced the latest rankings of Chinese domestic universities for 2020, based on their analysis of over 1,200 universities in mainland China at the undergraduate level.  Differentiated rankings were released for the first time for comprehensive universities, seven categories of specialised universities (such as Medicine, Economics and Languages), and three categories of private universities.

Double first-class universities dominated the rankings, making up 85 of the top 100 comprehensive universities. The top-ranking local universities were Suzhou University (38th) and Shanghai University (45th). Of the 15 non double first-class universities that appear among the top 100, Southern University of Science and Technology (46th), Shanghai Tech University (62nd) and Shenzhen University (65th) are the top ranked institutions. A ranking for semi-independent affiliated colleges was also published for the first time, although the top two institutions in this list, Zhejiang University City College (1st) and Ningbo Institute of Technology, Zhejiang University (2nd) were upgraded to full public universities in January.

Analysis by Kevin Prest, Senior Analyst, International Education Services

There is no official university rankings body in China. As in the UK, there are many different league tables. The main two are published by Shanghai Ranking (also known for its Academic Ranking of World Universities) and Wushulian, while the China Academic Degrees and Graduate Education Development Center (CDGDC, a body under the Ministry of Education) also publishes evaluation results of postgraduate programmes by discipline.

Although rankings are not the only factor that should be taken into account when looking at Chinese universities, they can be a useful reference for UK institutions considering partnerships or looking to understand the development and comprehensive capacity of Chinese HEIs.

Sources:

1. Shanghai Ranking: latest rankings of Chinese universities in 2020 https://www.eol.cn/news/yaowen/202005/t20200515_1727281.shtml

2. CDGDC discipline evaluation: http://www.cdgdc.edu.cn/xwyyjsjyxx/xkpgjg/