HONG KONG, Oct. 9, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Lingnan University in Hong Kong has entered the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings 2026. In the latest published results, Lingnan ranked among the world's top 301–350 out of 2,191 universities from 115 countries or territories, delivering a notable performance across several indicators. These include an impressive 47th place in International Outlook, recognising Lingnan University's achievement in fostering international diversity and collaborative research on a global scale.

Prof S. Joe Qin, President and Wai Kee Kau Chair Professor of Data Science at Lingnan University, welcomed the results, saying "Lingnan has made remarkable progress in research output and citation impact in recent years. To further strengthen our capabilities in research and knowledge transfer, we are bringing in world-class scholars through the Lingnan-60 Global Talent Recruitment Campaign and the Lingnan University Institute for Advanced Study (LUIAS), creating a vibrant hub for nurturing the next generation of research talent. As of the end of September 2025, we have recruited 31 leading scholars through Lingnan-60 across emerging fields, including artificial intelligence (AI), data science, advanced materials, and carbon neutrality. This reinforces our commitment to becoming a leading research-oriented liberal arts university comprehensive in arts and sciences in the digital era. We are confident that our achievements will be increasingly reflected in future rankings."

The THE World University Rankings are based on five core pillars of evaluation: teaching, research environment, research quality, international outlook, and industry.

Earlier this year, Lingnan University gained global recognition by ranking No. 1 worldwide in SDG 4: Quality Education in the THE Impact Rankings 2025. This notable achievement marks the first time a Hong Kong higher education institution has topped the global league table in this category, affirming Lingnan's internationally recognised contributions to quality education and its commitment to advancing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In addition, 43 Lingnan scholars are featured in the 2025 edition of the World's Top 2% Scientists list, an increase of almost 50% from last year's 29. Among them, 19 scholars rank in the global top 100 in their respective disciplines, underscoring the international recognition of Lingnan's research excellence and rising international impact.

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Health Secretary Wes Streeting has announced an urgent independent inquiry into maternity services at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, describing himself as "shocked" by families' experiences of "repeated maternity failures in Leeds - made worse by the unacceptable response of the trust." The decision comes after years of campaigning by bereaved families who reported feeling "gaslit, dismissed and even blamed" for what went wrong at one of Europe's largest teaching hospitals. Mr. Streeting emphasized the "stark contradiction between scale and safety standards" at the trust, which official data shows "remains an outlier on perinatal mortality."

The inquiry follows a June downgrade by the Care Quality Commission, which rated maternity services at the trust as "inadequate" and identified serious risks to women and babies. Inspectors highlighted a deep-rooted "blame culture" that made staff reluctant to raise concerns about incidents. Brendan Brown, chief executive of LTH NHS Trust, apologized to bereaved families and expressed hope that the inquiry would provide them with "answers." He stated the trust is "determined to do better" and is already taking significant steps to improve maternity and neonatal services following reviews by regulatory bodies.

Families affected by the failures have welcomed the inquiry but are calling for rigorous leadership, specifically requesting that midwife Donna Ockenden chair the investigation. Fiona Winser-Ramm, whose daughter Aliona died in 2020 after an inquest found multiple failures, emphasized the importance of ensuring the inquiry is "the best and most thorough that it can possibly be." She described how families have been "thrust into this life that none of us should be living," noting that their shared grief should never have brought them together under such circumstances.

Serious questions are now being raised about what Sir Julian Hartley, who led the trust for ten years until 2023 and now heads the Care Quality Commission, knew about the poor maternity care. In a statement, Sir Julian expressed being "truly sorry" for families' suffering and said that while he was "absolutely committed to ensuring good patient care across all services, including maternity," this commitment "wasn't enough to prevent some families suffering pain and loss." Lauren Caulfield, whose daughter Grace died in 2022, called it "completely unacceptable that nothing has been done to date" to examine Sir Julian's role, expressing hope that the inquiry will address this gap.