Do university rankings matter?

markwu

The Shanghai ranking by subject performance is more focused. Ranked first globally last year by subject citations and international awards, Xian Jiaotong for mechanical engineering, Xidian for telecom engineering, Harbin for instrumentation, Tongji for civil engineering, Beihang for aerospace, Shanghai Jiaotong for marine engineering, Southeast for transportation, Wuhan for remote sensing, Central South for mining, UST Beijing for metallurgy and HKPoly for hospitality.

China will have to face this challenge soon enough, either when moving toward more innovation or moving away from university rankings. If China is also ramping up vocational studies, helping the smaller universities do better will also enable both to link up and hasten the invention of prototypes and the discover of new applications.