City University of Hong Kong (CityU) surged 23 places to 124th among the world’s top universities, according to The Times Higher Education Supplement (THES) 2009 survey.

CityU has enjoyed a steady ascent in the rankings since 2004, from 198th to 147th last year, and is ranked 124th this year. Professor Way Kuo, University President, attributed the ranking rise to the joint efforts of all colleagues, students, alumni, former presidents and other supporters. He expressed his thanks to former and current Council chairmen and its members for their staunch support.

“The mission of CityU is to provide professional education with equal emphasis on teaching and research, to nurture and develop the talents of students and to create applicable knowledge in order to support social and economic advancement. The steady rise in the ranking shows that we need to make more efforts to unlock our potential and comprehensively enhance the quality of our academic programmes, teaching and research for the realisation of our educational goals, ” Professor Kuo said.

On the list of particular subject ranking of the THES survey, CityU has three subjects ranked within the top 200, with the Engineering and IT ranking breaking into the top 100, placed at 92nd, while Social Sciences and Arts and Humanities are ranked 123rd and 138th, respectively.

Professor Kuo said it was very encouraging that a number of local universities did so well in the rankings this year. He regarded this as a recognition of Hong Kong’s strength as the regional hub for higher education. CityU will continue to make a tangible contribution to the development of human resources and knowledge creation for the wellbeing of society.

CityU placed 18th earlier this year in the Asian University Rankings published by QS (Quacquarelli Symonds), an international information specialist in the higher education sector.