Hong Kong - Hong Kong has claimed three of the top four places and Japan five of the top 10 places in prestigious annual Asian university rankings published Thursday.

The University of Hong Kong was ranked Asia's best university in the 2010 QS (Quacquarelli Symonds) Asian University Rankings followed by the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

The National University of Singapore was ranked third, up from 10th last year, while fourth and fifth places were taken respectively by the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the University of Tokyo.

Seoul National University was ranked sixth and the remaining top 10 places in the rankings, published in Thursday's South China Morning Post, were taken by Osaka University, Kyoto University, Tohoku University and Nagoya University.

Despite their strong regional reputations, China's top universities failed to break into the top 10 of the list of 200 institutions with the University of Peking ranking 12th and Tsinghua University 16th.

In the 2009 survey, the University of Hong Kong was also ranked Asia's best university while the Chinese University of Hong Kong took second place, with the University of Tokyo third.

Announcing the results, the university rankings body said in a press release that Hong Kong's success was down to its "more international university culture ... reflected in the international student and faculty measures."

QS managing director Nunzio Quacquarelli said, "The delivery of high-quality research, excellent employer networks and world-class facilities mean many of these top 200 Asian universities are playing an increasingly important role within the global knowledge economy."