ShanghaiRanking releases 2025 list of best Chinese universities

Higher education consultancy ShanghaiRanking released the 2025 Best Chinese Universities Ranking on Tuesday. Tsinghua University, Peking University and Zhejiang University secured top three in the ranking for comprehensive universities.

Launched in 2015, the annual ranking evaluates more than 1,000 institutions offering undergraduate courses across China, which are rated in the categories of comprehensive universities, eight types of specialized universities, and four types of private universities.

The main list for comprehensive universities includes 589 universities. Tsinghua University, Peking University and Zhejiang University have retained the top three spots for the 11th consecutive year, with Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Fudan University tied at fifth.

Ninety-one out of the top 100 universities are "Double First-Class" universities with the addition of Hainan University, which rose 11 places from last year to rank 93rd this year.

This year, the ranking system was further refined, with 19 new evaluation indicators added since 2024. One major update is the introduction of a sub-ranking for universities specialized in traditional Chinese medicine, including 25 institutions, which were formerly ranked in the broader category of medical schools.

Beijing University of Chinese Medicine ranks first in the traditional Chinese medicine sub-list, while the first spot of the medical school sub-list was garnered by Peking Union Medical College.

Other top universities in specialized institution sub-lists include Shanghai University of Finance and Economics in finance, Beijing Foreign Studies University in languages, China University of Political Science and Law in law and political science, Minzu University of China in ethnic studies and Shanghai University of Sport in sports.

When evaluating international competitiveness, a new metric was added to assess the presence of Chinese scholars serving as editors-in-chief or deputy editors-in-chief at over 10,000 leading international academic journals.

Additionally, supporting institutions of national key laboratories, as well as a broader range of research projects under national funding, are included in the assessment.

"The guiding principle of the Best Chinese Universities Ranking is to reflect the core missions of Chinese universities today and respond to public expectations of universities. Two most important features of our ranking system are an emphasis on talent cultivation and the capacity to serve the nation," says Cheng Ying, founder of ShanghaiRanking.