Six Shanghai institutions feature on 2023 high school rankings

Six high schools in Shanghai are on the first "HSBC Hurun Education Global Highschools," a new list of the world's top high schools.

The list includes 168 non-state schools with physical campuses from 56 cities in 12 countries and regions, which have a total of 170,000 students, with 24,000 graduating every year. The schools are ranked according to graduates' university destinations, co-curricular activities and the school's reputation.

The ranking is "targeted at parents looking to find the most suitable school for their children, teachers looking to work in the best schools, and university admission officers, looking to understand more about where their applications are coming from," said Rupert Hoogewerf, chairman and chief researcher of Hurun Education, the education industry research platform of Hurun Report Inc.

By city, London has 26 schools on the list, followed by New York with 24, Boston with 16 and Washington DC with nine. Shanghai ranks 7th on the chart.

By nation, China has 14 high schools on the list, accounting for 8 percent of the total, after the US with 80 (48%) and the UK with 63 (38%).

"China led the way in the world with the most world-class independent high schools outside of the US and UK, with more schools than the rest of the world combined," Hoogewerf said.

On average, the surveyed schools were set up in 1828, 195 years ago, led by King's School and Canterbury and Warwick School, both from the UK with a history of over 1,000 years.

Meanwhile, 20 schools have a history of less than 50 years, led by 11 from the 2000s. Notably, 8 of the 11 youngest schools are from China.