The short answer is yes. British weekly The Economist recently ran a feature titled “Are China’s universities really the best in the world?” exploring how the Communist-ruled nation is surpassing renowned global institutions in science and technology.

China is already one of the most popular higher education destinations for international students. Generous scholarships, affordable tuition, opportunities to work while studying, and the option to study in Chinese or English are among the many draws.

A decade ago, UK-based science journal Nature began tracking contributions by researchers from different institutions to 145 leading journals. When the first Nature Index was published in 2016, the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) topped the list, but US and European institutions dominated the rest of the top 10. Harvard ranked second, while Stanford and MIT were fifth and sixth. France’s National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) and Germany’s Max Planck Society placed third and fourth. The University of Tokyo, Germany’s Helmholtz Association, and the universities of Oxford and Cambridge rounded out the list.

The picture has since changed dramatically. By 2020, Beijing’s Tsinghua University entered the top 10. By 2022, Oxford and Cambridge had dropped out, replaced by two Chinese institutions. In 2024, only three Western institutions remained—Harvard, CNRS and Max Planck. This year, Harvard holds second place, Max Planck ninth, while eight of the top 10 are now Chinese.

This shift reflects China’s rapid rise in research capacity. Over the past decade, the country has increased its annual research and development spending by about 9 percent in real terms. In 2023, adjusted for purchasing power, China’s combined public and higher education R&D expenditure surpassed that of both the US and the EU. The government has also lured back many Chinese researchers working abroad.

The results are clear. China now produces more highly cited research papers—the top 1 percent most referenced—than either the US or Europe. It leads globally in chemistry, engineering and materials science, and is making significant strides in computer science. Zhejiang University, for instance, ranks fourth in the 2025 index and counts among its alumni Liang Wenfeng, founder of cutting-edge AI company DeepSeek.

However, the ranking method tends to emphasise China’s strengths. The journals included are chosen to represent top-tier research in the natural sciences, with the selection adjusted over time to reflect the field’s trends. In the 2025 index, over half the journals are in chemistry and physics—areas where Chinese output is particularly strong—while health and life sciences, still dominated by the West, make up only 20 percent. When rankings are limited to publications in the two most prestigious journals, Nature and Science, Chinese institutions fare far less impressively, with only one university in fourth place.

While the Nature Index is a useful measure of scientific output, it is by no means comprehensive. Groundbreaking research can emerge from lesser-known journals, and transformative innovations do not always come from top-ranked institutions. Still, there is no denying that Zhejiang, Peking and Tsinghua universities—alongside CAS—have firmly secured their place among the world’s elite.