A total of 204 subjects from eight public universities in the city and Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts were ranked, in which 91 moved up and 35 went down. Some 51 subjects maintained the same position as last year and 27 were new entries.

The rankings were based on five metrics: academic reputation; 98,000 survey responses from graduate employers worldwide; research citations per paper; productivity and impact of the published work of scholars; and international research network.

University of Hong Kong’s (HKU) dentistry maintained the world’s third-best, while education rose one spot to seventh place. Chinese University of Hong Kong’s nursing jumped from 16th to eighth. HKU’s social policy and administration was booted out from the top 10, sliding to 21st.

Last year, the emerging subject – data science and artificial intelligence – was for the first time included in the table and dominated by institutions in the United States and the United Kingdom.

But this year, the data science and artificial intelligence programmes of four of Hong Kong’s universities were included in the table. UST’s 10th ranked programme edged out three universities in the United States including Princeton University and one in Switzerland, which were in the top 10 last year.

Ben Sowter, QS senior vice-president, said Hong Kong continued to be a world leader in higher education but cautioned the city about increasing rivalries.

“Escalating competition from around the world, particularly from rising economies, places increasing pressure on traditional education powerhouses,” he said.

He added that Hong Kong had made exceptional progress in the metric “employer reputation” across more than 80 per cent of its programmes.

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This metric is based on the opinion of 98,000 hiring, human resources and talent managers, according to QS.

But he also pointed out a decline in the “academic reputation” metric across many subjects.

That underscored the importance of not only conducting high-impact research but also ensuring its widespread dissemination within the academic community and publication in leading journals, Sowter said.

Globally, institutions in the United States lead in 32 subjects, including medicine, business, law and computer science, which is the same as last year.

Harvard University is the world’s strongest-performing institution, ranking first in 15 subjects and one more than last year. It is followed by Massachusetts Institute of Technology which leads in 11 subjects.

Institutions in the United Kingdom top 16 subject tables, one more than last year, including education, English, geography, history of art, music, performing arts and veterinary science.

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Universities of Oxford and Cambridge maintained their leading places in four and two subjects, respectively.

QS said China is the third most represented country in the rankings, behind the United Kingdom and the United States.

Chinese universities rank among the world’s top 10 for eight subjects, with Tsinghua University providing the three highest ranked, history of art in fifth, civil and structural engineering in sixth, and architecture and built environment in eighth.

A spokesman for UST said the 10th position spot for its data science and artificial intelligence programme was “impressive” and that the university was also delighted to learn that half of the 24 subjects it offered was ranked in the top 50 globally.

Thomas Flemmig, Dean of the HKU’s faculty of dentistry, said the ranking result was “outstanding”.

“Maintaining a top-three position for eight out of 10 years is a significant accomplishment, which no other dental institution in the world has achieved,” he said.

A spokesman for CUHK commended the results achieved by the university and pointed out its 18 subjects had improved their rankings compared to last year.