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Five Chinese universities ranked among the top 20 best global universities for engineering, technology and computer sciences, with the prestigious Tsinghua University coming in 4th place, according to the 2016 ShanghaiRanking’s Academic Ranking of World Universities by Broad Subject Fields (ARWU-FIELD). The latest rankings were released on Sept. 8.

The list indicated increasing strength among Chinese universities in engineering. Last year, only five Chinese universities ranked among the top 50 for engineering.

Tsinghua University ranked 4th, coming only after Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Nanyang Technological University and Stanford University. Fourth place constitutes a giant leap up from Tsinghua's 12th-place position last year. In addition, Harbin Institute of Technology ranked 9th this year, climbing from last year’s 23rd place. Zhejiang University ranked 14th, Shanghai Jiaotong University ranked 16th and Nanjing-based Southeast University ranked 20th on the 2016 list for engineering.

Hong Kong and Taiwanese universities also made an impressive showing in the category of engineering, with the City University of Hong Kong ranking 24th, the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology ranking 31st and Taiwan University ranking 46th on the list.

First launched in 2007, The ARWU-FIELD rankings assess global university rankings in five separate fields: Natural Sciences and Mathematics; Engineering, Technology and Computer Sciences; Life and Agriculture Sciences; Clinical Medicine and Pharmacy; and Social Sciences.

A total of 42 universities from the Chinese mainland ranked among the top 200 in engineering, outnumbering the Chinese universities listed in the other four fields.

American universities continue to hold the top positions in all five fields. The University of California, Berkeley has been ranked No. 1 for three consecutive years in Natural Sciences and Mathematics, while MIT has remained No. 1 in Engineering, Technology and Computer Sciences since the ARWU-FIELD rankings were launched in 2007.

The rankings are based on comparable indicators and third-party data, including the number of Nobel Laureates and Fields Medal winners, as well as highly-cited researchers at each institution. In total, more than 1,200 institutions were ranked in each subject field.