In February, the list of universities to participate in the country's "Double First-Class" initiative of world-class universities and first-class disciplines was announced. The Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) was selected and became the first university in Shenzhen to be among the "Double First-Class" initiative and became one of the youngest on the list.
Further development of major disciplines
SUSTech has attached great importance to discipline construction. This year, it had four majors selected as national first-class undergraduate major construction sites, and one major selected as a provincial-level first-class major construction site. The national first-class undergraduate major construction sites included chemistry, biological sciences, materials science and engineering, and computer science and technology, while the provincial-level first-class undergraduate major construction site is in mechanical engineering.
The University has been approved for nine national-level first-class undergraduate major construction sites and four provincial-level first-class undergraduate major construction sites. To date, the University has a total of 37 undergraduate majors spanning five disciplines, including science, engineering, medicine, business, and management. SUSTech's major disciplines are in science, engineering, and medicine, with additional concentrations in business, humanities, and social sciences.
This year, Clarivate Analytics released its latest Essential Science Indicators (ESI) ranking data, and SUSTech's Immunology, Earth Sciences, and Computer Science entered the top 1% of ESI in the world for the first time. The ESI ranking is based on citation statistics for the period from January 2012 to February 2022. SUSTech currently has nine disciplines on the top 1% of the ESI ranking data list: Materials Science, Chemistry, Physics, Clinical Medicine, Engineering, Environment/Ecology, Immunology, Earth Science, and Computer Science.
New heights in international rankings
In the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings 2022, SUSTech ranked 166th globally and 8th in the Chinese mainland. It ranked 13th in the world in the THE Young University Rankings, an increase of 13 places from last year's position, and has been ranked first among universities in mainland China for four consecutive years. The THE Young University Rankings methodology is based on five performance indicators: teaching (30%), research (30%), citations (30%), international outlook (7.5%), and industry income (2.5%).
In the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings 2022, SUSTech ranked 226th globally, 49 places higher than last year's position, and 11th in mainland China. It ranked 76th in the QS Asia University Rankings, 15 places higher than last year's position, and 17th in mainland China, improving its ranking by seven places from the previous year.
SUSTech was ranked 151-200th globally in the Academic Ranking of World Universities (Shanghai Ranking) 2022, 151-200 places higher than last year's position, and 14-26th in the Chinese mainland. Additionally, it ranked 213th globally in the US News Best Global Universities 2022 ranking, an increase of 137 places from last year's position, and 16th in mainland China.
As part of the "Double First-Class" university initiative, SUSTech will continue to develop its first-class undergraduate disciplines with the aim of cultivating more top talents, and follow the "Three-step" medium- and long-term strategic goals of building a world-class research university.