CityU has made great strides in its overall ranking since it was on the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings. Currently ranked 57th in the world and 9th in Asia, CityU is also a young university ranked 4th among the world's top universities founded in the last 50 years. City Upbeats interviewed some students on campus to seek their opinions on these questions: To them, what makes a good university? How do students choose their university? Are the rankings important? Here is what we have found.

Samuel Wang Xing (Civil and Structural Engineering, Year 2) from Inner Mongolia said, "Yes, I did check QS University Rankings before making the decision." He was looking for a university with lots of international exposure, an area that CityU does better than other universities in Mainland China. "We can meet lots of international staff and students here." He said, "Besides, Hong Kong is a very international city." He continued, "But then you have to break out your own small circles to really benefit from it. Not all non-local students can do that."

Belikse Ramljak (Nuclear & Risk Engineering, Year 2) from Bosnia-Herzegovina, like Samuel, also checked the QS rankings before choosing CityU. She decided to join CityU even though she was offered places in countries like Germany, Austria, and the U.S. – the fact that it’s is a young university with an emphasis on innovation attracted her. She added, "I wanted to join a university in Asia that is friendly to foreign students with an international student body. CityU somehow fits this picture." In her classes, her voice was counted whereas it would have been different if she had gone to a European university where the hierarchy between academic staff and students would be more distinct, "My opinion counts here, and it's important for education."

Joanna Chow (Surveying, Year 4) is a local student and her major concern when selecting a university was getting into a discipline that she liked and would help her with her career. She chose CityU since it is strong in surveying and has good industry connections. To students who are more career-minded like Joanna, another ranking scheme might be more relevant: the Global Employability Survey conducted by research institute, Trendence and HR consultancy, Emerging. In 2015, CityU ranked 4th in Hong Kong and 145th in the world in terms of how well its students meet the employment criteria of multi-national companies. Congratulations CityU!