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QS world university rankings 2019 has ranked Beijing-based Tsinghua University as 17th in the world. The gradings that include around one thousand universities in 85 states and regions across the world were announced by worldwide High Education Study Agency Quacquarelli Symonds on June 6 (UK Time).

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) remained at the top for the seventh year in a row. Tsinghua University has become the first university in China to rank among the top 20 after QS updated the process of evaluation in 2015. Five other Chinese universities have been placed in the top 100 — Peking University  (30th), Fudan University (44th), Shanghai Jiao Tong University (59th); Zhejiang University (68th), and University of Science and Technology of China(98th).

According to Dr Zhang Yan, director of China at QS worldwide education, “Two years after China began ‘Double First-Class’ project, all flowers are in bloom and university standards are rising. China’s universities have made progress in development of scientific papers, increasing worldwide influence and decreasing the gap with top western universities.”