For the first time, four Hong Kong universities entered the top 100 in a world ranking announced by Times Higher Education.
A record 1,662 universities from 99 countries and regions are part of Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2022.
Universities are rated based on 13 performance indicators in four areas - teaching, research, knowledge transfer and international outlook.
The University of Hong Kong ranks 30th, up from 39th.
This is also Hong Kong's best finish in the top 200 since the current methodology was introduced in 2016.
The Chinese University ranks 49th, claiming a top 50 finish for the first time. It ranked 56th last year.
The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology ranks 66th, down from 56th a year ago.
Hong Kong Polytechnic University joined the top 100 for the first time, from 129th last year to 91st, after seeing its ranking rise for the second consecutive year.
City University of Hong Kong fell 25 places from 126th to 151st.
Hong Kong Baptist University also saw its ranking dropping from the 351-400 class in 2021, to the 401-500 group.
HKU and CUHK said they would continue to strive for excellence in teaching and research, while HKBU said it would use university rankings as a reference for enhancing its levels in teaching and research.
Times Higher Education said it had not seen significant negative changes to Hong Kong universities' global reputation based on the data at this stage, but added that the effects of the national security law and the pandemic may not have been fully taken into account.
The top 10 positions are all held by the same universities for a second consecutive year, with the University of Oxford retaining first place for the sixth consecutive year.
Peking University and Tsinghua University of China claimed the top spot in Asia, both ranking 16th, while National University of Singapore came in 21st.
Phil Baty, chief knowledge officer of Times Higher Education, said their data has shown that there are clear shifts taking place across higher education around the world.
"We are already seeing clear disruption to the established norms from mainland China, and record highs for Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Hong Kong show that Asia is continuing to benefit from the focus and investment in higher education across the continent," he said.
