File photo taken on July 2013 shows students, some with their parents, wait to enroll for the new semester at Tsinghua University. [Photo/China Daily]

IN THE LIST of China's Top 100 Universities in 2015, published by Wuhan University's Research Center for China Science Evaluation, Peking University came top with a perfect score, serving as the standard points. Beijing News questioned the rankings on Tuesday:

Students from Peking University and Tsinghua University have long been recognized as the leading talents in China. Although the cult of worshipping top schools has been cooling, children who are admitted to the country's top universities are still highly admired and considered to be an honor to their families.

The reputations of first-class elite universities are formed by their histories of excellence and their present progressive efforts. Yet university rankings are only for reference.

With the introduction of its rankings, the RCCSE gave Peking University a perfect score. But what such a score means is that the university is perfect and has no space to improve.

The RCCSE's rankings were based on research achievements, graduates' achievements and social impact. Peking University's performance is more convincing in the first two categories than in the last one.

Another list of 115 Chinese universities published by Chinese Academy of Social Sciences sheds some light on other side of the story. The Annual Report on the Transparency of Higher Education in China 2015 reads that instead of even ranking in the top 10, Peking University has fallen to the 79th. Education transparency is a significant indicator of a university's social impact. So how can Peking University be ranked with a full score in a supposedly more comprehensive ranking?

Even though Peking University is good, it is not as good as people seem to think it is.