The trio of Peking University, Tsinghua University and Zhejiang University again cemented their top spots on China's best university rankings this year, with a score of 100, 91.81 and 89.24, respectively, according to the evaluation report on Chinese universities and Specialties 2012-2013 jointly released recently by the Research Center for Chinese Science Evaluation (RCCSE) at Wuhan University and the Network of Science & Education Evaluation in China (www.nseac.com).

RCCSE, the first of its kind in China's universities, began to publish the annual report since 2004, claiming it the most all-encompassing and reliable university rankings in China to date. The rankings were based on the universities' overall performance in the following four aspects: resources available, teaching quality, S&T research and reputation.

This year's report covered 2,410 Chinese universities, with the number of key universities rising from 125 in 2011 to 131 in 2012. The 6 new entries rated as key ones by the RCCSE included Hebei University, Shanxi University, Zhejiang University of Technology , Henan University, Northwest Normal University and Heilongjiang University. As a result, the number of first-class universities (top 20 percent of the total key universities) in 2012 was 26, 1 more than that of 2011.

None of the top 26 universities in 2011 fell out of the top 26 rankings in 2012, with the top seven in 2011 continued to stay on their spots in 2012, respectively.

As expected, of the 440 sub-lists unveiled in the report, the most attractive one is the rankings of the best of the best universities in China.

Here, China.org.cn guides you to tour the 25 best of the best Chinese universities this year:

   Beijing University of Aeronautics & Astronautics  北京航空航天大學

 Score: 57.94

Rank 2012: 25

Rank 2011: 24

Rank on Researcher Wu Shulian's 2012 University List: 27

Website: http://ev.buaa.edu.cn/

Located in Beijing, the capital of China, Beijing University of Aeronautics & Astronautics (BUAA) was founded in 1952 as the country's first university of aeronautical engineering. The university is recognized as one of the best engineering universities in China, and has produced a great number of elite professionals for the country over the past 50 years. It offers 48 undergraduate programs, 144 masters' programs and 49 doctoral programs in 26 schools, which cover various fields including science, technology, liberal arts, law, economics, management, philosophy, foreign languages and education.