Holding Rank, with Slight Erosion in Scores
In the 2025 QS World University Rankings, the University of Hong Kong (HKU) held its position at 26th globally for a second consecutive year. According to data released by QS Quacquarelli Symonds in June 2024, HKU’s overall score stood at 87.1, a marginal decline of 0.1 from the 87.2 recorded in the 2024 edition, with no change in rank. Beneath the stable standing, structural shifts emerged in the pillars supporting the total score: the Employer Reputation indicator dropped by 3.2% cumulatively over the last two years, while the Faculty Student Ratio score fell for a third straight year, reflecting pressure on resource matching amid the institution’s expansion.
Indicator Framework and HKU’s Full Score Profile
The current QS scoring model comprises nine indicators, weighted as follows: Academic Reputation (40%), Faculty Student Ratio (20%), Citations per Faculty (20%), Employer Reputation (10%), International Faculty Ratio (5%), International Student Ratio (5%), and three new indicators introduced in 2024—Employment Outcomes, Alumni Outcomes, and Sustainability—together accounting for 15%. To facilitate year-on-year comparison, this article uses the standard total score based on the six traditional indicators; the new indicators are excluded from longitudinal analysis.
In the 2025 edition, HKU’s Academic Reputation score was 98.7, unchanged from the previous year, ranking 28th globally. Citations per Faculty scored 75.2, up 0.8 from 2024. The International Faculty Ratio stood at 99.4, a slight dip of 0.3, while the International Student Ratio declined 0.5 to 99.3. The primary drag came from Employer Reputation and Faculty Student Ratio. Employer Reputation fell from 62.8 in 2023 to 61.1 in 2024, and further to 59.1 in 2025—a drop of 3.2 percentage points, which, in QS’s hundred-point scale, directly reduced the total score by about 0.32. The Faculty Student Ratio score slid from 94.6 in 2022 to 91.8 in 2023, 89.5 in 2024, and 87.3 in 2025—a cumulative loss of 7.3 points over three years. Weighted at 20%, this shaved nearly 1.46 points off the overall score.
Consecutive Drops in Employer Reputation: Signals and Causes
Employer Reputation is an indicator compiled from QS’s global employer survey, which gathers more than 100,000 responses and asks participants which institutions’ graduates they prefer to hire. HKU reached a historical high of 67.2 on this metric in 2019, before undergoing a gradual correction. The pace of decline notably accelerated during the 2023–2025 cycle.
1. Shifting Macro Employment Climate
According to annual reports from the Hong Kong Immigration Department (ImmD), the number of approved visas under the Immigration Arrangements for Non-local Graduates (IANG) scheme fell from 10,150 in 2019 to 6,114 in 2021. Although it rebounded to 8,217 in 2022 and further to 9,058 in 2023, the figure still fell short of pre-pandemic levels. Employers’ appetite for absorbing graduates directly shapes their perceptions in the survey. IANG visa data, as a leading indicator, shows a moderately high correlation with the movement of the Employer Reputation score.
2. Impact of Sectoral Restructuring on Brand Perception
Traditional strongholds for HKU graduates—investment banking, professional services, and real estate—scaled back campus recruitment amid regulatory overhauls and a high interest rate environment. Statistics from the University Grants Committee (UGC) on graduate employment for the 2022/23 academic year show that the proportion of graduates entering the finance and insurance sector dipped to 23.1%, down from 26.3% in 2019/20. Meanwhile, while the information technology sector has been expanding, its starting salaries and brand premiums still trail those of the traditional dominant fields. This may have led global employers surveyed to lower their rating of HKU’s “career readiness.”
3. Geographic Rebalancing of the Survey Sample Pool
QS has progressively enlarged its employer survey sample. The volume of responses for the 2025 edition was more than 35% higher than in 2020. Among the newly added respondents, a greater share comes from Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America. Employers in these markets tend to be less familiar with HKU and more inclined to favour their local flagship institutions. Since the Employer Reputation score is calculated as a direct average, the changing composition of the sample itself dilutes the scores of established names from mature markets.
4. Cross-Institutional Comparison: Narrowing Advantages
In the 2025 rankings, the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) scored 55.4 on Employer Reputation (down 1.5 from 56.9 in 2024), and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) scored 52.3 (down 1.5 from 53.8)—both registering smaller declines than HKU. The City University of Hong Kong (CityU) bucked the trend, rising 0.7 points to 41.3. The relative movement in Employer Reputation positions means HKU’s lead on this indicator narrowed from 7.4 points in 2023 to 6.8 points in 2025: the advantage is shrinking.
Drivers Behind Three Consecutive Years of Decline in Faculty Student Ratio
The Faculty Student Ratio indicator is derived directly from UGC and institutional data on the ratio of full-time-equivalent (FTE) students to FTE teaching staff. At HKU, the student-staff ratio was 1:12.5 in the 2020/21 academic year; by 2023/24, it had widened to roughly 1:14.1 (UGC provisional statistics). Translated via QS’s methodology, the score fell from 94.6 in 2022 to 87.3 in 2025, reflecting overlapping forces at three levels.
1. Student Expansion Outpacing Faculty Growth
From the 2018/19 academic year, the government began phasing in an annual increase of about 3,000 UGC-funded research postgraduate places, with the cumulative rise reaching nearly 15,000 by 2022/23. At the same time, the cap on non-local students in UGC-funded undergraduate programmes was relaxed from 20% to 40% starting in 2024/25. HKU admitted about 1,900 non-local undergraduates in 2023/24, an increase of roughly 62% compared to 2019/20. Yet, over the same period, FTE teaching staff grew by only 14%. Student numbers have far outpaced faculty replenishment, sharply intensifying pressure on the ratio.
2. Funding Mechanism Constraints on Staffing Expansion
According to budget papers submitted by the Education Bureau (EDB) to the Legislative Council, the recurrent grants for university education rose modestly from about HK$20.4 billion in 2020/21 to HK$22 billion in 2024/25—an average annual increase of about 1.9%, below the inflation rate over the period. To supplement income, institutions expanded enrolment in self-financed taught postgraduate programmes, but the teaching demands of these students are partly borne by the same faculty cohort, further pushing up the student-teacher ratio. HKU’s taught postgraduate enrolments grew by 35% in 2022/23 compared with three years earlier, while the teaching staff quota did not increase proportionately.
3. Talent Drain Amid Global Competition
Data from the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority (HKEAA) show that only 40,800 day-school candidates sat the 2024 Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education (DSE) examination, a drop of over 30% from 2015. The shrinking local student pool has forced universities to recruit globally. Yet in the global battle for talent, the attractiveness of academic posts in Hong Kong is constrained by factors such as housing costs and the relative growth of research funding. HKU’s academic staff departure rate rose to 7.9% in 2023, above the five-year average of 6.5%, which has to some degree limited improvement in the Faculty Student Ratio.
QS’s Faculty Student Ratio score is not a raw statistic but a standardised score converted through relative ranking. When global peer institutions—notably the National University of Singapore and Nanyang Technological University—improve their ratios, HKU standing still is equivalent to losing points.
Other Key Indicators and the Local Competitive Landscape
Academic Reputation: HKU’s score dipped marginally by 0.1 to 98.7, still within the global top 1%. However, by indicator sub-rank, it slipped from 27th in 2023 to 28th in 2025, signalling that mainland and Asian competitors are closing in within emerging research fields.
Citations per Faculty: The score of 75.2 in 2025 was up 1.8 from 73.4 in 2023, with a notable contribution from the Faculty of Medicine. Even so, the rate of improvement in citation impact lagged behind research-intensive mainland universities; Tsinghua University’s Citations per Faculty score has already crossed the 80-point threshold.
International Faculty and Student Ratios: The International Faculty Ratio dipped to 99.4, mainly because of a rising number of scholars from the Chinese mainland. While the score remains extremely high, the marginal effect leaves no room for further gains. The International Student Ratio has benefited from the expansion of non-local intake, with an increased share of mainland students. Because QS defines “international” as holding a nationality different from that of the host territory, the score stays elevated, though the actual degree of diversity still warrants scrutiny.
Cross-Hong Kong Comparison:
- CUHK ranked 36th in 2025 (38th in 2024), with smaller declines in Employer Reputation and Faculty Student Ratio than HKU.
- HKUST placed 47th (44th in 2024), posting steady or rising Academic Reputation and Citations per Faculty.
- The Hong Kong Polytechnic University rose to 57th (65th in 2024), CityU to 62nd (70th in 2024), and Hong Kong Baptist University stood at 252nd.
While HKU continues to lead, the gap between the second and third placed has narrowed. The difference between CUHK (36th) and HKUST (47th) shrank from 11 places in 2023 to 9 in 2025, flattening the competitive hierarchy.
External Variables: Policy and Applicant Pool Dynamics
The Education Bureau has been actively promoting the “Study in Hong Kong” brand. From the 2024/25 academic year, the non-local intake cap for UGC-funded undergraduate programmes across the eight institutions was raised from 20% to 40%, expected to accommodate an additional 3,000 non-local undergraduates. ImmD has complemented this by extending the IANG visa duration to two years and introducing the Top Talent Pass Scheme to enhance the city’s appeal for post-graduation employment.
Although the number of DSE candidates remains at a low ebb, enthusiasm among mainland applicants for Hong Kong institutions has been clearly picking up since 2022. Publicly available application data from several universities indicate that the number of mainland students applying for HKU’s undergraduate programmes in 2024 grew by roughly 40% compared to 2022. While this trend bolsters HKU’s International Student indicator, it simultaneously stretches teaching resources further. Without synchronous faculty recruitment, the Faculty Student Ratio will come under renewed strain.
In its 2023 quality assurance report, the UGC noted that teaching staff numbers should ideally rise by 3% to 5% annually for the next three years just to keep pace with student growth. Yet from a government fiscal standpoint, the 2024 Budget indicated that recurrent funding for higher education would be maintained at existing levels, leaving limited room for near-term improvement in the Faculty Student Ratio.
FAQ
Q1: Does HKU’s 26th position in the 2025 QS ranking mean its strength has not declined?
The overall ranking has held steady, but the slight dip in the composite score reveals weakening in certain dimensions. If the successive declines in Employer Reputation and Faculty Student Ratio are not offset by other indicators, they pose a potential risk to future ranking stability.
Q2: Will the consecutive drop in Employer Reputation directly affect HKU graduates’ ability to find good jobs?
Employer Reputation is a perception-based indicator drawn from a global survey, not a direct employment rate statistic. Its movement largely reflects the subjective impressions of overseas employers. HKU graduates remain competitive in the Hong Kong and mainland job markets. However, if the long-term trend persists, it could gradually influence the campus recruitment decisions of multinational corporations.
Q3: How does the declining Faculty Student Ratio affect students’ actual experience at HKU?
A wider student-to-staff ratio means each faculty member must cover more teaching and supervisory responsibilities. Opportunities for individual project guidance and small-group seminars for senior undergraduates and postgraduates may become more limited. Typically, universities mitigate this by adding teaching assistant resources, but the density of core faculty-student interaction will still be compressed.
Q4: Is the QS ranking gap between HKU, CUHK and HKUST narrowing?
Yes. In 2023, HKU led CUHK by 14 places and HKUST by 19; in 2025, the leads stand at 10 and 21 places respectively. CUHK’s narrowing is more pronounced, while HKUST’s slight drop widened the gap marginally. Overall, the stratification among the top three remains solid, but the gradient is mildly flattening.
Q5: With the relaxation of the non-local student cap, has it become easier to gain admission to HKU?
In theory, there are more places available, but because application numbers have surged simultaneously, admission competition has not notably eased. Highly sought-after disciplines such as medicine, law, and business administration continue to maintain extremely high selection standards. The Gaokao scores required for mainland undergraduates remain comparable to those expected by top-tier institutions like Tsinghua and Peking University.
Q6: In QS scoring, are scholars of Chinese nationality considered “international” for HKU?
QS defines an international faculty member as one who holds a nationality different from that of the country or territory where the institution is located. For HKU, scholars holding a mainland Chinese passport are counted as International Faculty. Thus, the recent increase in faculty members from the mainland actually helps sustain this component score, but it does not necessarily mean that the diversity of the academic body is improving in parallel.
In Brief
HKU successfully defended its 26th place in the 2025 QS rankings, but the twin slides in Employer Reputation and Faculty Student Ratio serve as a reminder that the quality dimensions behind the rank are shifting. For students planning to study in Hong Kong, ranking stability remains an important reference point, while the trajectory of sub-indicators offers a more forward-looking basis for decision-making. Over the next several ranking cycles, whether Hong Kong’s higher education sector can synchronise resource expansion with a balance of quantity and quality will be a core determinant of institutions’ long-term competitiveness.