Tsinghua University in Beijing has broke the top 50 in the annual Academic Ranking of World Universities for the first time.

The rankings, released on Tuesday, showed 45 Chinese mainland universities were in the top 500 in terms of research capabilities, up from 18 in 2009. That year, none made the top 200.

Tsinghua University was 48th this year, making it the third top ranked Asian university behind Tokyo University and Kyoto University. Tsinghua has been in the top 200 since 2010.

Peking University came 71st, while Fudan University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, the University of Science and Technology of China and Zhejiang University all made the top 150.

The annual report, which is published by Shanghai Ranking Consultancy, started in 2003 and aims to track the global standing of Chinese universities.