Shenzhen Institute of Technology, Wuxi Vocational and Technical College, Zibo Vocational College, Guangdong Light Industry Vocational and Technical College and Beijing Electronic Technology Vocational College rank in the top five; Among the top 10, Beijing Vocational College of Electronic Technology and Chongqing Vocational College of Electronic Engineering are newly-built universities; Eight universities, including Guangzhou Railway Vocational and Technical College, Beijing Agricultural Vocational College, Tianjin Medical College, Inner Mongolia Electromechanical Vocational and Technical College and Tianjin Electronic and Information Vocational and Technical College, surpassed the previous year and entered the top 100.

The Golden Apple Ranking (also known as the "evaluation list") was jointly developed by China Institute of Science and Education Evaluation of Hangzhou Dianzi University, Zhejiang Institute of Higher Education, Development Strategy and Evaluation Research Center of Strong Higher Education Province, China Scientific Evaluation Research Center of Wuhan University and China Science and Education Evaluation Network.

In 2006, the first world university ranking (the predecessor of the Golden Apple ranking) was published in Science Times, and was reprinted in Xinhua Digest in 2007, becoming the only world university ranking reprinted by Xinhua Digest and one of the four world university rankings. Its ranking list of higher vocational colleges is considered by the industry to be one of the most authoritative, comprehensive and professional lists reflecting the running status of higher vocational colleges in China.

The ranking of golden apples is relatively unfamiliar:

Although many people are not familiar with the "Golden Apple" version of university rankings, in 2020, it is actually the 17 issue released continuously. The research and development parties include Zhejiang Higher Education Research Institute, Hangzhou Dianzi University, Wuhan University and other universities, and it is a "pure domestic" university ranking.

Judging from the evaluation index system, the "Golden Apple" list is relatively scientific and perfect, covering four first-level indicators, such as school-running ability, scientific and educational output, quality level and school influence, as well as 13 second-level indicators and nearly 30 third-level indicators.