Quacquarelli Symonds, a British company specializing in education and study abroad, has unveiled its latest QS university rankings: Asia 2013, with Hong Kong University of Science and Technology retaining the number one spot it has held since 2011, Southern Metropolis Daily reported.

The second place spot is shared by the National University of Singapore and the University of Hong Kong, while a total of six universities among eight from Hong Kong are in the Top 50 universities in Asia according to the ranking results.

According to the rankings, Peking University came in at fifth, while Tsinghua University was listed at 14.

The latest results mark the fifth edition for the QS university rankings: Asia. A total of 28,000 scholars and 7,700 employers were invited to evaluate the university reputations, with the rankings based on nine points, including academic reputation, citations per paper, along with papers per faculty, international students and outbound exchanges.