Chinese mainland has two universities among the world' s top 50 most prestigious institutions, according to the latest academic ranking released by Times Higher Education; encouragingly, Peking University rises up the table this year.

No surprise, an elite group of six US and UK "super-brands" again dominate the world's top 100 university ranking which was published by the Times Higher Education Magazine. Harvard University continued to rank the world’s No. 1 institution in term of university brands, followed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University and University of Cambridge.

In total, the U.S. claimed 46 spots in the top 100 list, followed by the U.K with 10 universities listed and Germany with six.

Asia's strongest performer by a distance is Japan, with five top 100 representatives. While, Chinese mainland should be proud to have two universities among this important list of the 50 most prestigious universities in the world.

Phil Baty, editor of Times Higher Education Rankings, told People's Daily Online in an email, "It shows that when it comes to global reputation, Chinese mainland has institutions among the very best. Indeed, Hong Kong also has a world top 50 institution and two more that make the world top 100, so it is a strong overall performance for China."

He suggested Chinese universities further embrace internationalization with greater international research collaboration and networks, and more efforts in recruitment of international faculty and students.

Note: To view the full rankings, please visit timeshighereducation.co.uk