Amid all the controversies surrounding the appointment of Johannes Chan Man-mun as the university’s pro-vice-chancellor, the University of Hong Kong (HKU) continues to fall in global rankings.

After being overtaken for the first time by Hong Kong University of Science and Technology last month, HKU was dropped out of Asia’s top three university in the latest Times Higher Education (THE) world university rankings.

HKU’s global ranking ranking fell from 43 last year to 44, and was squeezed out of the top three in Asia by Peking University for the first time since the rankings started in 2010.

HKU’s overall ranking in the world has slumped from 21st place in 2010 to 44th this year.

Asia’s three best universities are now the National University of Singapore, Peking University and the University of Tokyo.

The rankings were compiled based on five indicators.

HKU’s scores for “teaching” and “international outlook” saw the biggest drops compared to last year, while scores for “citations”, “industry income” and “research” improved slightly.

ALSO READ: HKUST beats HKU to become Hong Kong’s top university

Six local universities were among the top 400 at the THE ranking which covers  800 universities worldwide but has also fell in this year’s list.

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology fell from 51st place to 59th. The Chinese University of Hong Kong fell from 129 to 138.

The California Institute of Technology remained the best university in the world for the fifth consecutive year.

The top ten universities are dominated by US and UK schools, with the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich being the only exception.

Here are the top ten universities in the world according to Times Higher Education world university rankings:

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