Universities in mainland China are the highest-performing in the world in four out of 83 subjects – education, astronomy, stomatology and aerospace science and technology – in data revealed in Times Higher Education’s (THE) China Subject Ratings (CSR) 2023.
The rating, launched in 2020, is the only performance table that judges Chinese institutions against their global peers – 1,777 universities from 104 countries or states – which is based on the Chinese Ministry of Education’s classification of 83 subjects. Research-intensive universities are given a grade between A+ and C− in each subject, based on their performance across five core areas: teaching, research, citations, international outlook and knowledge transfer.
Ninety-five higher education institutions in the rating are from mainland China and the five with the most A+ grades in different subjects are Tsinghua University with 47, closely followed by Shanghai Jiao Tong University with 46, Zhejiang University achieved 45, Peking University 42 and Nanjing University attained 31.
At least one Chinese university achieved an A+ in 79 out of the 83 subjects and the total number of subjects Chinese universities achieved A+ was 517. In addition, 21% of the grades in Chinese universities, across all 83 subjects, are A+ (the remaining 79% are A or below). In contrast, 10% of the grades in all universities across the rest of the world, in all 83 subjects, are A+.
On average, China’s universities achieved a score of at least A- in 19 subjects and performed better than the rest of the world, as a whole, in 50 subjects.
Overall, China achieved grade B+, which is the same as the United States, United Kingdom and France and is a grade higher than South Korea (B) and two higher than Japan (B-).
Analysis reveals German universities achieved the highest average grade in 24 subjects, beating last year’s top scorer, Australia, by four subjects. Australia is now in second place, with the top average score in 20 subjects, followed by the Netherlands (19) and the UK (8). China shares fifth place with the US, with four top scores each.
THE’s chief global affairs officer Phil Baty said:
“Times Higher Education’s China Subject Rating helps China to benchmark their world-class universities with similar institutions around the globe. The detailed level of information broken down by subject enables universities to focus on what they’re good at. It also helps Chinese students to make an informed choice when it comes to one of the biggest decisions of their lives – who to trust with their education.
“THE’s unrivalled, authoritative and trusted data provides insights to policy makers, university leaders, subject specialists and students alike and can be used as tool to improve their decision making.”
The data used for THE’s China Subject Ratings 2023 are drawn from THE’s World University Rankings (WUR) 2023, THE’s China Reputation Survey 2022 and 2023, THE’s Academic Reputation Survey 2021 and 2022 and Elsevier bibliometrics.
The 83 subjects are grouped in to 13 pillars (the military pillar is excluded below) in line with China’s classification. A new interdisciplinary pillar has been added to THE’s methodology reflecting the change made by China’s Ministry of Education’s subject system.
1. Philosophy: Twelve mainland Chinese universities are rated for philosophy, with Peking University receiving the top grade of A+. The Netherlands tops the table for philosophy studies, with an average grade of A, based on data from 10 universities.
2. Economics: The average grade for Chinese institutions in theoretical economics is B+ and in applied economics it is B, based on 37 and 64 universities, respectively. The UK has the highest average grades for the two economics subjects (theoretical economics and applied economics), based on 74 and 75 universities, respectively, scoring an average grade of A− for both subjects.
3. Law: China scores an average grade of B for political science and a B+ for sociology. Peking University and Tsinghua University score A+ for both law subjects; Shanghai Jiao Tong University scores an A+ for political science; and Nanjing University scores an A+ for sociology. The Netherlands is the number one country for the two law subjects, scoring an A+ for political science and sociology.
4. Education: There are three subjects within the education pillar: education, physical education and psychology and China tops the education subject with an average grade of A−. Four Chinese universities received an A+ for education: Peking University, Beijing Normal University, Zhejiang University and East China Normal University.
5. Literature: The UK tops one of the two literature subjects, foreign language and literature, with an average grade of B+ based on 76 universities ranked. The second subject, media/communications/journalism is another one led by the Netherlands, with an average grade of A, based on 12 universities. China scores a B for both subjects. Peking University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Tsinghua University all received an A+ for both literature subjects.
6. History: The average grade across mainland China is B, based on 13 universities ranked. The Netherlands is the top-performing nation for world history with an average grade of A, based on 10 universities.
7. Physical science: There are 13 subjects within the physical science pillar. The Netherlands is the top for five of them (mathematics, chemistry, geology, systems sciences and statistics); China is top for one (astronomy). Five universities in mainland China achieved an A+ for astronomy (Peking University, Nanjing University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Tsinghua University, University of Science and Technology of China. Overall, 21 Chinese universities received an A+ for at least one physical science subject.
8. Engineering: Of the 35 subjects that fall within the engineering pillar, Australia is number one for 15 and Germany for 12 and China is number one for one engineering subject.
9. Agriculture: There are nine subjects under the agriculture pillar with Germany leading five of them.
10. Medical: There are seven subjects under the medical pillar. The Netherlands is top for three and China for one - stomatology. Eleven universities in mainland China received an A+ for at least one medical subject, with Peking University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Sichuan University achieving an A+ for all seven.
11. Management: There are five subjects under the management pillar with The Netherlands top for two of them.
12. Interdisciplinary: In the one interdisciplinary subject, integrated circuit science and engineering, Germany tops the table with an average grade of A−, based on 23 universities. China also does well, with an average grade of A− (but a lower numerical grade than Germany), based on 15 universities.
View the China Subject Rating 2023 and find more information about THE's China Subject Rating methodology here.
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