- Some 21 of 39 subjects at HKU fared worse than the year before, while Chinese University saw a drop in 12 out of 37 subjects and PolyU fell in six of 24 subjects
- HKUST avoids an overall drop, but director of research at QS World University Rankings warns of worse outcome in future because of protests
Top Hong Kong universities have seen a number of their subjects drop in the latest global rankings, raising fears the ongoing social unrest in the city will further affect their competitiveness when its impact is manifested in the next few years.
The Britain-based education information firm, Quacquarelli Symonds (QS), released World University Rankings by Subject 2020 on Wednesday, which showed a year-on-year drop for top-ranking subjects at institutions, including the University of Hong Kong (HKU) and Chinese University.
Analysts said the latest rankings reflected the overall decline in the competitiveness of research conducted by Hong Kong universities, as the data was collected before the anti-government protests, which badly affected the city's higher education sector in the second half of last year.
Despite a drop in rankings in many subjects, HKU remained the world's fourth-best institution to study dentistry, while the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts was rated as the seventh-best higher education institution for performing arts, up six places from 13th last year.
The rankings compared 13,138 programmes in 48 disciplines provided by 1,368 tertiary institutions across 83 locations around the world. The results are based on four metrics: academic and employer reputation, research citations, and impact.
Out of 39 subjects analysed at HKU, 21 subjects suffered a drop in rankings while seven saw a rise. The subject, education, dropped one place to being the world's seventh best, while medicine fell five places to the 35th spot.
Politics and international studies suffered one of this year's sharpest declines by slipping to 31st from 16th last year.
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Chinese University saw a drop in 12 out of 37 subjects and improved only in eight. Its law programmes slipped four places from 39th to 43rd, while social policy and administration dropped five places from 29th to 34th.
Six of 24 subjects offered by Polytechnic University received a lower ranking and only three clinched a higher spot. PolyU's hospitality and leisure management slipped two places from the world's 5th best to 7th, while civil and structural engineering dropped four places to 19th.
Hong Kong University of Science and Technology avoided an overall drop this year with a higher ranking in seven out of 17 subjects, and fall in four subjects.
What happened in 2019 is yet to be manifested in the results, we will see that over the next three years … My feeling is that we are just beginning to see the impact of the sustained unrest at various levelsBen Sowter, director of research, QS
QS director of research Ben Sowter told the Post the rankings did not reflect the impacts of last year's protests in Hong Kong, as data was collected between January and April last year while analyses were carried out between October and December.
The protests began in the city in June last year, sparked by opposition to the now-withdrawn extradition bill, before morphing into a wider anti-government movement seeking more police accountability and greater democracy. Several universities became battlegrounds as radical protesters occupied campuses and engaged in fierce clashes with police.
"What happened in 2019 is yet to be manifested in the results, we will see that over the next three years," Sowter said.
He said the latest drop in the competitiveness of Hong Kong universities was more because of their research performance, while institutions in mainland China had been rising.
Persistent disruptions in the city could also discourage international students, teachers, or researchers from choosing to attend or work at universities in Hong Kong, he said, leading to a drop in the institute's research influence and reputation.
He said large-scale protests, such as the "umbrella movement" of 2014, might have already impacted local universities.
"There has been sustained unrest at some levels going back much further than last June, including the whole umbrella movement that surfaced a couple of years ago, things have just escalated last year. It is reasonably likely to have an effect on these results."
"My feeling is that we are just beginning to see the impact of the sustained unrest at various levels," he said.
HKU did not comment on the decline in the rankings but only said it would continue to provide quality education and achieve excellence and innovation.
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Chinese University said various league tables produced different rankings as performances would go up and down, while a PolyU spokeswoman said the rankings were just one of the many factors assessing the success of a university.
QS's 2020 rankings by subject line also showed 100 mainland Chinese programmes finding place among the top 50 in the world for their respective disciplines " the first time in the survey's 10-year history and a fifth consecutive year of improvement. In 2016, there were only 65 programmes among the top 50.
Among the best-ranked subjects of mainland universities included material science at Tsinghua University which stood 9th globally, sharing the place with modern languages at Peking University.
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