he UK-based higher education survey, Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) recently released its latest “QS University Rankings: Asia” for 2016. Shanghai International Studies University (SISU) ranked 142nd in this year's rankings, up sharply from the previous year. SISU also ranked 34th among the universities in the Chinese Mainland, and ranked top among universities of foreign studies in China.

QS expanded this year's Asian university rankings to include the region's 350 best universities. China dominated the rankings with 124 universities in the top 350. 82 are in the Chinese Mainland, 7 are in Hong Kong, 34 are in Taiwan and one is in Macau. Japan had 74 universities in the top 350 and South Korea had 54.

The regional rankings, stemming from the original world list, are based on consultation with regional experts and stakeholders. QS said in its methodology that the set of criteria is "designed to reflect key priorities for universities in Asia, drawing on as much available data as possible."

Key indicators for the study are academic reputation, employer reputation, faculty-student ratio, citations per paper and papers per faculty, staff with doctorate degrees, proportion of international faculty and students, and proportion of exchange students.

The QS University Rankings: Asia was launched with the aim of highlighting the top universities in Asia, shining a spotlight on the rapid development of many higher education systems in this dynamic world region.

Earlier this year, SISU's three subjects ranked among the top 300 in the 2016 “QS World University Rankings by Subject”, one of the featured rankings by QS, with Linguistics in top 151-200, Modern Languages in 251-300 and English Language and Literature in 251-300.