The Rankings — 2026/27
Next update in 363d 23h 29m 31s
Independent · Unpaid · Editorial
World's Top Schools, Ranked.
Every ranked and candidate school in the directory, one continuous list from #1 down. Use this view when you want the full picture without switching between tiers.
This ranking is locked. The next ranking update will be on September 1, 2027. How the ranking cycle works · Why this ranking exists
Penny's picks
Hong Kong · Hong Kong
St. Paul's Co-educational College
Hong Kong's first co-educational school runs DSE and IB side by side on its Mid-Levels campus, posting the city's top IB averages.
80.9
Score
Hong Kong · Hong Kong
Diocesan Girls' School
Since 1860, this Kowloon institution has topped Hong Kong's Outstanding Student Awards tally for decades.
79.9
Score
Hong Kong · Hong Kong
Diocesan Boys' School
Founded in 1869 on Kadoorie Hill, this Anglican foundation runs parallel IB and HKDSE tracks around a rare full-size sports field in Kowloon.
79.2
Score
Hong Kong · Hong Kong
Queen's College
Founded in 1862, Hong Kong's first government secondary school still runs the world's oldest Anglo-Chinese school magazine.
78.7
Score
Hong Kong · Hong Kong
Chinese International School
Equal parts English and Mandarin from day one, capped by a mandatory immersion year in Hangzhou before the IB Diploma.
78.4
Score
Hong Kong · Hong Kong
La Salle College
Rebuilt after wartime requisition as a hospital, this Kowloon City boys' school still runs on Lasallian discipline and DSE top-scorers.
78.0
Score
Hong Kong · Hong Kong
Hong Kong International School
Since 1966, an American-style curriculum with Lutheran roots spans two Hong Kong Island campuses framed by mountains and Tai Tam Bay.
77.6
Score
Hong Kong · Hong Kong
German Swiss International School
Perched on the Peak since 1969, twin German Abitur and IB streams share one campus and one house system.
74.2
Score
Hong Kong · Hong Kong
St. Joseph's College
Hong Kong's first Catholic boys' school, teaching Labour and Virtue from a declared-monument campus on Kennedy Road since 1875.
73.4
Score
Hong Kong · Hong Kong
Li Po Chun United World College of Hong Kong
Perched above Tolo Harbour, this United World College gathers scholars from 90 nations for a service-driven IB Diploma.
72.9
Score
Hong Kong · Hong Kong
Island School (ESF)
Hong Kong's founding ESF school on the Mid-Levels hillside, where 50-plus courses let students build their own IB and IGCSE timetable.
72.8
Score
Hong Kong · Hong Kong
Kellett School
Long-established, parent-founded British international day school in Hong Kong, taking pupils through GCSEs and A-Levels from age 4 to 18.
72.8
Score
Hong Kong · Hong Kong
Yew Chung International School of Hong Kong
Twin teachers, one Western and one Chinese, co-teach every class at this Kowloon Tong pioneer of bilingual education since 1932.
72.0
Score
Hong Kong · Hong Kong
Harrow International School Hong Kong
BSO · OutstandingA crescent-shaped Tuen Mun campus, modelled on Bath's Royal Crescent, houses Hong Kong's only formal weekly boarding and house system.
69.2
Score
Hong Kong · Hong Kong
Hong Kong Academy
Sai Kung's Gold BEAM Plus campus, global host of the Global Citizen Diploma, makes sustainability part of the IB continuum.
69.2
Score
Hong Kong · Hong Kong
Sha Tin College
ESF’s New Territories secondary school with Explorer Week
67.7
Score
Hong Kong · Hong Kong
St. Paul's College
Founded in 1851 on Bonham Road, Hong Kong's oldest continuously run school still sorts Paulines into six tree-named houses.
65.2
Score
Hong Kong · Hong Kong
St. Paul's Convent School
Founded in 1854 as the French Convent School, this Causeway Bay institution still blends DSE rigor with a distinctly Gallic-Catholic heritage.
65.1
Score
Hong Kong · Hong Kong
Nord Anglia International School Hong Kong
In Kowloon, MIT-designed STEAM challenges and Juilliard masterclasses reshape a British IGCSE and A-Level day curriculum
64.0
Score
Hong Kong · Hong Kong
King's College
Red-brick and Neo-classical, this Bonham Road monument has schooled Hong Kong's boys since 1926, surviving war and requisition alike.
63.5
Score
Hong Kong · Hong Kong
Canadian International School of Hong Kong
The only school outside Canada awarding both the IB Diploma and Ontario's OSSD, docked on Hong Kong Island's south side in Aberdeen.
62.3
Score
Hong Kong · Hong Kong
King George V School (ESF)
Hong Kong's oldest international school, tracing to 1894, fields IB rigor across a rare 10-acre Ho Man Tin campus.
61.7
Score
Hong Kong · Hong Kong
French International School of Hong Kong
Hong Kong's first IB World School, running dual French Baccalaureat and Diploma tracks from a hillside campus above Causeway Bay.
61.2
Score
Hong Kong · Hong Kong
West Island School (ESF)
On a clifftop above Pok Fu Lam's Lamma Channel, ESF's one-on-one tutor system anchors an MYP-to-IB pathway rich in championship sport.
60.0
Score
Hong Kong · Hong Kong
Renaissance College Hong Kong
In Ma On Shan, one campus runs every IB programme from Year 1 through Year 13, no other stop required.
59.5
Score
Methodology
How we rank
Our composite weights eight categories. Each is scored 0–100 by our editorial panel and audited against 30 sub-criteria drawn from school records, university placement audits, alumni surveys, campus visits and parent interviews. Schools cannot pay for placement or preview scores.
Weighting
- Academic Outcomes20%
- University Placement17%
- Prestige & Heritage13%
- Alumni Network13%
- Facilities13%
- Transparency & Communications8%
- Peer & Industry Review10%
- Admissions Selectivity & Demand8%
Score key
Reading the scores
Bands out of 100
Every category, sub-criterion and composite total across this issue uses the same six-band editorial palette. Bands are calibrated against the full 300-school cohort — a "Distinguished" mark is meaningfully harder to earn than a "Strong" one.
- Exceptional90–100
Top of cohort
- Distinguished80–89
Elite tier
- Strong70–79
Consistently high
- Solid60–69
Reliable performer
- Average50–59
Room to grow
- Below par< 50
Underperforming
The same colour bands are used inside each school profile, on category chips, radar charts and the annual score-history line — so a colour glimpsed on the Rankings page always means the same thing everywhere else.