SUSTech punching above its weight in world rankings

Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) has shown itself to be a rising young research university that is attracting the attention of the world. Despite SUSTech’s relative youth, it has undertaken a mission of innovation and reform of higher education in China, which is paying dividends in terms of its rankings in university tables around the world.

Times Higher Education (THE) has ranked SUSTech highly in many of its tables, with SUSTech ranking equal 9th in mainland China in its 2020 THE World University Rankings and between 301st and 350th in the world. The ranking evaluates universities in teaching, research, citations, international outlook and industrial income indices by using 13 carefully calibrated performance indicators to provide the most comprehensive and balanced comparisons of over 1,400 universities from 92 countries and regions. SUSTech has the highest score in terms of citations among all universities in mainland China, and has maintained a top-three position in international outlook across mainland China.

In other THE Rankings, SUSTech was ranked 10th in mainland China (41st overall) in the 2019 THE Asia University Rankings, 1st in mainland China (55th overall) in their 2019 THE Young University Rankings and 14th in mainland China (36th overall) in their 2019 THE Emerging Economies University Rankings.

SUSTech is aiming to quickly become an international high-level research university. Ever since SUSTech’s establishment, it has set a global outlook as an important strategic direction, as shown by its rankings by those who monitor academia around the world. The ranking results from Times Higher Education reflect the SUSTech strategy on international engagement and research reputation.

QS World University Rankings

In 2019, Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings ranked SUSTech 38th among mainland universities, which highlights its high competitiveness. The rankings are based on research quality and accomplishments, academic reputation, and graduate employment. QS has also ranked SUSTech 110th in its BRICS University Rankings and 188th in its Asian University Rankings.

ARWU World University Rankings

In 2019, ARWU World University Rankings placed SUSTech 47th among mainland universities and among the top 500 universities in the world for high-quality research output. The rankings are based on broad disciplinary groupings and secondary data sources that primarily focus on universities’ achievements in scientific research, such as the number of Nobel prizes and Fields medals won by staff and alumni, the number of highly cited researchers on the staff, and the number of articles by faculty published in Nature and Science magazines.

Other Rankings

In the 2019 Nature Index, SUSTech ranked 22nd among mainland universities. Nature Index has been published monthly since November 2014. It tracks the research output of more than 20,000 global institutions and identifies the countries and institutions showing the most significant growth. Institutions are ranked by the number of their contributions to 68 high-quality journals.

In 2019, Clarivate’s Essential Science Indicators (ESI) updated its research discipline rankings, adding engineering at SUSTech to the global top 1 percent. SUSTech already has Chemistry and Materials Science in the global top 1 percent, giving SUSTech a total of three disciplines in ESI’s top 1 percent. These rankings were assessed over a period of eight years and ten months - shorter than the traditional statistical period used by ESI (ten years and eight months).

SUSTech has continued to march toward its goal of international education. Its students and faculty members have debuted in various international forums and academic conferences, and its school system has been further deepened with the addition of more outstanding overseas teachers joining the team of SUSTech faculty members. International students from different countries continue to flock to SUSTech to pursue their academic dreams.