Rankings of universities in China

As of 2024, China had the world's highest number of top universities in several international rankings including the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), the US News and World Report Best Global University Ranking, the University Ranking by Academic Performance, the CWTS Leiden Ranking, and the SCImago Institutions Rankings.
Universities and colleges being part of the Double First-Class Construction are considered to be the most elite institutions of Chinese tertiary education, representing the top 5% of overall universities and colleges in Mainland China (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 does not advocate or recognize any ranking published by other institutions.
As of 2024, China had the world's highest number of top universities in the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), the US News and World Report Best Global University Ranking, the University Ranking by Academic Performance, the CWTS Leiden Ranking, and the SCImago Institutions Rankings.
As of 2024, China topped the list with 225 out of 1,000 universities in the 2024 Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU). The U.S. News & World Report Best Global Universities Ranking 2024-2025 ranked 2250 universities from more than 100 countries/regions: China was again top with 396. In the 2024 CWTS Leiden Ranking, China had the largest number of universities including in the ranking with 313 out of 1,506 universities from more than 72 countries. The University Ranking by Academic Performance 2024-2025 shortlisted 3,000 research universities in the ranking: China topped the list, with 495 universities. China was also the most-represented nation overall in the SCImago Institutions Rankings 2024 list with 605 universities. More than 2,500 universities in China are ranked in the Webometrics Ranking of World Universities out of almost 31,000 institutions, including in the ranking worldwide.
There were 33 universities from Mainland China on lists of the global top 200 in the 2024 Shanghai Ranking's ARWU, behind only the United States in terms of the overall representation. In the 2025 Times Higher Education World University Rankings, Mainland China had a notable presence with 13 universities listed within the global top 200. This positioning placed Mainland China behind only the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany in terms of overall representation. There were 18 Chinese universities on lists of the global top 200 behind only the United States and the United Kingdom in terms of the overall representation in the 2024 Aggregate Ranking of Top Universities, a composite ranking system combining three of the world's most influential university rankings (ARWU+QS+ THE).
China has dominated the QS BRICS University Rankings and the THE's Emerging Economies University Rankings since their 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 2024, the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) included a total of 13 universities from China within its world top 100 list. Similarly, the Times Higher Education Rankings also featured seven universities from China within its global top 100 list. Notably, this level of representation in both rankings positioned China as the country with the highest overall presence in the Asia & Oceania region.
China is home to over 3,000 institutions of higher education. Within this vast landscape, around 147 universities as part of the Double First-Class Construction hold a prominent position as national key universities, while the tier 1 universities consist of the former 985 Project Universities. These universities are widely recognized as some of the most renowned in China and continuously maintain high rankings nationally and globally.
In terms of city representation, according to the U.S. News & World Report Best Global University Ranking for 2024, Beijing has the highest number of universities including in the ranking, totaling 29. Following Beijing, Shanghai and Xi'an both have 20 highly ranked universities, while Nanjing has 17 and Wuhan has 15. Other cities with notable representation include Chengdu (13), Hangzhou (13), Guangzhou (12), Tianjin (11), Shenyang (10), Dalian (9), Nanchang (9), Harbin (8), Changsha (8), Chongqing (8), Jinan (8), Changchun (7), Hefei (7), Kunming (7), Qingdao (7), and Zhengzhou (7).
There are several comprehensive rankings of universities in China, including Wu Shulian Ranking, made by a team led by Wu Shulian and published in the name of Chinese Academy of Management, Netbig Ranking, made by the higher education internet information company Netbig, and CUAA Ranking, by Airuishen (a company) in the name of Chinese Universities Alumni Association, etc. Shanghai Ruanke compiles both the Best Chinese Universities Ranking (BCUR) and the world university ranking, Academic Ranking of World Universities.
In 1987, a ranking of 86 key universities according to Science Citation Index was compiled by Xiao Ming, Chinese Academy of Management Science.
It's said that the first comprehensive (exactly, synthetic) ranking of Chinese universities was made by Cai Yanhou, Higher Education Research Institute, Central South University of Technology, in 1989. Colleges and universities were ranked in four categories, science (generally comprehensive universities), engineering, agricultural and medical.
The Chinese university ranking on research and development in 1991 was published in 1993 by Wu Shulian, Guangdong Academy of Management Science, which was registered in the year 1993 as a private institute and later ceased and was claimed to be the Guangdong branch of Chinese Academy of Management Science. The 1996 ranking was released in 1997, and since then the annual ranking has been released continuously. It's a single list ranking except 1998 ranking, which consists of comprehensive university ranking and technological university ranking, with Nanjing University and Tsinghua University ranking 1st respectively. In 2000, the comprehensive ranking was released under the name Chinese University Assessment. The ranking was later published in the name of Chinese Academy of Management Science.
In 1998, Netbig, or literally Net Universities in abbreviation, a higher education internet information company, released Chinese university ranking.
In 2002, Chinese university ranking by Airuishen (a company) was released. The CUAA Ranking, released in the name of Chinese Universities Alumni Association, is said made by Cai Yanhou team.
In 2003, a team in Shanghai Jiaotong University, later named Shanghai Ranking (Shanghai Ruanke, literally Shanghai Soft Science in abbreviation), released Academic Ranking of World Universities. Shanghai Ranking also compiles the Best Chinese Universities Ranking (BCUR).
Annual international rankings of the bibliometric-based rankings include the Academic Ranking of World Universities, the Performance Ranking of Scientific Papers for World Universities, the University Ranking by Academic Performance, the CWTS Leiden Ranking, the SCImago Institutions Rankings, the Center for World University Rankings (CWUR), and the Nature Index Annual Tables published by Nature Research.
A complete ranking of 495 Chinese universities, including in the top 3,000 universities worldwide, can be found through the external link according to the University Ranking by Academic Performance 2024-2025.
A number of international publications formulate their rankings using the weighted average of opinions gathered in surveys, including the QS World University Rankings, the Times Higher Education World University Rankings and the U.S. News and World Report Best Global University Ranking.
Other international rankings: