The results are in! For the third year, QS has released its World University Rankings by Subject, designed to help students identify the best universities in the world in their discipline. Why is this useful? Because sometimes the institutions which are strongest overall may not be the best in your subject. And on many occasions, universities which do not fare quite as well in the overall QS World University Rankings may be extremely strong in certain subject areas.
However, though the rankings are not intended to be considered as whole, it can be an interesting to look at which universities appear most frequently in the top 10 across the 30 subjects.
The list contains a lot of familiar names. It is led by the UK powerhouse of Cambridge, followed by Oxford and the University of California, Berkeley. The entire top 10 of the overall rankings feature in this list (unsurprising, as it is their strength in depth which got them to the top in the first place). However, the subject rankings are not a straightforward reproduction of the main QS World University Rankings either! A total of six countries are represented at top-ten level – click to learn more about studying in these destinations: the US, the UK, Singapore, Australia, Switzerland and Japan.
The only table-topping university not included in the list below is the University of California, Davis, which tops the ranking for agriculture and forestry, a new addition this year.
Once again, this isn't intended to be a ranking so don't take it as one!
View the full QS World University Rankings by Subject now >
We've also produced reports looking at the peformance of top universities in detail. You can download these for free if you're a member of the TopUniversities.com community (which is also free to sign up to!) >
1
University of Cambridge
Number of top 10 appearances: 27
Number one in: History, linguistics, mathematics.
Position in QS World University Rankings 2012/13: 2
Country: UK
2=
University of Oxford
Number of top 10 appearances: 23
Number one in: English language & literature, geography, modern languages, philosophy.
Position in QS World University Rankings 2012/13: 5
Country: UK
2=
University of California, Berkeley
Number of top 10 appearances: 23
Number one in: Communication & media studies, environmental sciences, sociology, statistics.
Position in QS World University Rankings 2012/13: 22
Country: US
4
Stanford University
Number of top 10 appearances: 22
Position in QS World University Rankings 2012/13: 15
Country: US
5
Harvard University
Number of top 10 appearances: 21
Number one in: Accounting & finance, biological sciences, earth & marine sciences, economics & econometrics, education, law, medicine, pharmacy, politics & international studies, psychology.
Position in QS World University Rankings 2012/13: 3
Country: US
6
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Number of top 10 appearances: 17
Number one in: Chemistry, computer science, chemical engineering, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, materials sciences, physics.
Position in QS World University Rankings 2012/13: 1
Country: US
7
University of California Los Angeles
Number of top 10 appearances: 13
Position in QS World University Rankings 2012/13: 31
Country: US
8
National University of Singapore
Number of top 10 appearances: 12
Position in QS World University Rankings 2012/13:25
Country: Singapore
9
ETH Zürich
Number of top 10 appearances: 11
Position in QS World University Rankings 2012/13: 13
Country: Switzerland
10
Princeton University
Number of top 10 appearances: 10
Position in QS World University Rankings 2012/13: 9
Country: US
11
Yale University
Number of top 10 appearances: 9
Position in QS World University Rankings 2012/13: 7
Country: US
12
Columbia University
Number of top 10 appearances: 8
Position in QS World University Rankings 2012/13: 11
Country: US
13=
London School of Economics and Political Science
Number of top 10 appearances: 7
Position in QS World University Rankings 2012/13: 69
Country: UK
13=
Imperial College London
Number of top 10 appearances: 7
Number one in: Civil engineering
Position in QS World University Rankings 2012/13: 6
Country: UK
15=
University of Tokyo
Number of top 10 appearances: 6
Position in QS World University Rankings 2012/13: 30
Country: Japan
15=
University of Melbourne
Number of top 10 appearances: 6
Position in QS World University Rankings 2012/13: 36
Country: Australia
17=
University of Chicago
Number of top 10 appearances: 5
Position in QS World University Rankings 2012/13: 8
Country: US
17=
Australian National University
Number of top 10 appearances: 5
Position in QS World University Rankings 2012/13: 24
Country: Australia
19
University of Queensland
Number of top 10 appearances: 4
Position in QS World University Rankings 2012/13: 46
Country: Australia
20=
University College London
Number of top 10 appearances: 3
Position in QS World University Rankings 2012/13: 4
Country: UK
20=
University of Sydney
Number of top 10 appearances: 3
Position in QS World University Rankings 2012/13: 39
Country: Australia
20=
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Number of top 10 appearances: 3
Position in QS World University Rankings 2012/13: 38
Country: US
20=
California Institute of Technology
Number of top 10 appearances: 3
Position in QS World University Rankings 2012/13: 10
Country: US