For years, Peking University in Beijing has been the top university in the country.[Photo by YAN DAMING/CHINA DAILY]

Four Chinese universities have made it into the world's top 100 according to new QS World University Rankings, the nation's best performance.

They are Tsinghua (25th), Peking (41st), Fudan (51st) and Shanghai Jiao Tong (70th) universities.

It is the first time a mainland university has surpassed those in Hong Kong, with Hong Kong University of Science and Technology ranking 28th.

As for the top 10, Massachusetts Institute of Technology retains top spot followed by Harvard University, which climbed two places to second. University of Cambridge and Stanford University are joint third after Stanford rose from 7th while Cambridge slid from second.

Others in the top 10 are California Institute of Technology, University of Oxford, University College London, Imperial College London, ETH Zurich and University of Chicago, respectively.

The National University of Singapore, at 12th, is highest ranked in Asia.

This year's list showed that China's higher education is acquiring a greater international reputation.

Due to a modified methodology in which research citations are assessed, rankings this year were reshuffled, with Chinese universities considered beneficiaries of the changes.

This year is the 12th annual QS ranking which uses six performance indicators to assess institutions' global reputation, research impact, staffing levels and international complexion.