THE World University Rankings 2023 by subject released

UK and Saudi Arabia make gains while US stagnates in the World University Rankings 2023 by subject

#THEUniRankings #WUR2023

• The number of US universities in the top 10 of several subject rankings has dropped, including Business and economics, and Clinical and health
• UK increases its representation in the top 10 of a number of subject rankings
• Saudi Arabia increases its representation across several subject rankings, including Computer science, Engineering and Physical sciences
• The US tops 9 of the 11 subject rankings and the UK tops 2 of the rankings
• In 4 of the subject rankings, the US and the UK are the only 2 nations represented in the top 10: Arts and humanities, Life sciences, Psychology and Social sciences
• Europe is the most represented continent in the top 300 for all subject rankings, followed by North America
• The US and the UK are the 2 most dominant countries across the top 300 for all subject rankings
• Spain is the country that has most improved its representation in the top 300 for Education and Law rankings since last year, 10 universities ranked up from 5, and 22 up from 14 respectively
• Times Higher Education has assessed university excellence across 11 separate subject areas, using the same trusted, rigorous and comprehensive combination of 13 performance indicators as the THE World University Rankings

Please note: if you reproduce these rankings or any part, please attribute to “Times Higher Education World University Rankings by subject”, and link to the full list of the relevant subject rankings on our website (scroll down for links to each subject ranking and its relevant methodology).

Times Higher Education (THE) has today released the results of the THE World University Rankings 2023 by subject with the UK and Saudi Arabia making gains, while the US experiences a number of drops at the top of the tables. The UK’s King’s College London joins the top 10 in Clinical and health, and in Psychology. In Computer science, Saudi Arabia now has five universities in the top 300, up from two last year.

Meanwhile, in the US, Johns Hopkins University has fallen out of the top 10 in Clinical and health to 11th place, down from joint ninth last year, and in Engineering, the US has nine fewer universities in the top 300, 76 down from 85. This US trend mirrors what happened in the World University Rankings 2023, released earlier this month, where, despite still dominating the table in terms of overall representation, the US had some siginificant falls.

The Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2023 by subject is compiled from data taken from the THE World University Rankings 2023. The subject tables employ the same range of 13 performance indicators used in the overall World University Rankings 2023, brought together with scores provided under five categories. However, the overall methodology is carefully recalibrated for each subject, with the weightings changed to suit the individual fields.

The Times Higher Education World University Rankings provide a rigorous overview of a university’s quality, drawing on an analysis of 15.5 million research publications and 121 million citations to those publications, plus over 40,000 responses to an annual academic reputation survey and hundreds of thousands of additional data points covering a university’s teaching environment, international outlook and industry links. A record number of 1,799 universities from 104 countries and regions are included in the World Rankings this year.

Scroll down for top 10 tables for each subject ranking and links to full results tables and methodologies.

Phil Baty, Chief Knowledge Officer, Times Higher Education, commented: 

“The THE World University Rankings by Subject provide further evidence of a clear trend we saw in the overall World Rankings earlier this month: the traditional dominance of the US in world higher education and research is waning. It has been widely pointed out that federal spending on Research and Development in the US, as a proportion of total spending, is at a seven-decade low and we have witnessed worrying de-funding of America’s great state universities around the nation. It looks like this is all starting to take its toll on the US’ global competitiveness in research and innovation.

“Meanwhile, East Asian nations, led by China, and countries in the Middle East, led by Saudi Arabia, continue to strengthen in key areas. A stand-out winner emerging from our new data release is Saudi Arabia – its improvements in key strategic subject areas, including Computer Science, Engineering and Physical Sciences is particularly noteworthy, as a national commitment to invest in research and education as part of the national strategic Vision2030 starts to really pay off.

“The THE World University Rankings by Subject are based on the same 13 rigorous and balanced performance indicators as the overall World University Rankings – giving rich data insights into a university’s teaching, research, interactions with industry and its international competitiveness – but for each of the 11 separate subject areas, the methodology has been carefully recalibrated with different weightings to reflect the different characteristics of the subject area.”

THE World University Rankings 2023 by subject: Arts and humanities top 10

• Hong Kong Polytechnic University enters the top 100 in 73rd place, up from group band 101-125
• The US and the UK are the only two countries represented in the top 10
• Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand joins the top 175 in group band 151-175, up from 201-250
• US representation in the top 300 has decreased with 61 universities ranked, down from 67

View the full ranking of the THE World University Rankings 2023 by subject: Arts and humanities

View the THE World University Rankings 2023 by subject: Arts and humanities methodology

THE World University Rankings 2023 by subject: Business and economics top 10

• China rises to the top 10 for the first time as Tsinghua university climbs to 8th place from 11th
• China is now the third most represented country in the top 300
• Duke University in the US drops out of the top 10 to 17th place, down from 10th
• King Abdulaziz University in Saudi Arabia climbs into the top 100 in joint 63rd place, up from group band 126-150

View the full ranking of the THE World University Rankings 2023 by subject: Business and economics

View the THE World University Rankings 2023 by subject: Business and economics methodology

THE World University Rankings 2023 by subject: Clinical and health top 10

• The UK’s King’s College London re-joins the top 10 in 10th place, up from 12th
• Johns Hopkins University in the US drops out of the top 10 into 11th place, down from joint 9th
• The UK takes five of the top 10 spots, up from four last year
• Iran has five universities ranked in the top 300, up from one last year
• Italy has nine universities ranked in the top 300, up from six

View the full ranking of the THE World University Rankings 2023 by subject: Clinical and health

View the THE World University Rankings 2023 by subject: Clinical and health methodology 

THE World University Rankings 2023 by subject: Computer science top 10

• Germany re-joins the top 10 as Technical University of Munich rises to 10th place, up from 14th
• Saudi Arabia has five universities represented in the top 300, up from two
• China has lost three universities from the top 300, 17 down from 20
• Monash University in Australia leaps forward to 57th place, up from joint 93rd
• Yonsei University (Seoul campus) in South Korea climbs into the top 100 at joint 82nd place, up from group band 176-200

View the full ranking of the THE World University Rankings 2023 by subject: Computer science

View the THE World University Rankings 2023 by subject: Computer science methodology

THE World University Rankings 2023 by subject: Education top 10

• Michigan State University in the US joins the top 10 in 9th place, up from 12th
• University of Antwerp in Belgium joins the top 100 in the 61st spot, up from 101-125
• Saudi Arabia’s King Abdulaziz University leaps forward to 82nd place to join the top 100, up from group band 301-400
• Sorbonne University in France debuts in the top 100 in 92nd place, up from 201-250
• University of Tartu in Estonia rises into the top 300 in group band 251-300, up from 401-500
• UK loses 5 universities from the top 300 with 39 universities ranked, down from 44

View the full ranking of the THE World University Rankings 2023 by subject: Education

View the THE World University Rankings 2023 by subject: Education methodology

THE World University Rankings 2023 by subject: Engineering top 10

• Saudi Arabia has increased its representation in the top 300 with seven universities ranked, up from four
• The UK has 37 universities in the top 300, up from 34
• The US has lost 9 universities from the top 300 with 76 universities represented, down from 85
• Sichuan University in China joins the top 100 in 66th place, up from group band 151-175
• Italy’s Politecnico di Milano leaps forward to joint 74th place, up from 96th

View the full ranking of the THE World University Rankings 2023 by subject: Engineering

View the THE World University Rankings 2023 by subject: Engineering methodology

THE World University Rankings 2023 by subject: Law top 10

• The University of Chicago in the US re-joins the top 10, rising to 10th place from 13th
• Italy’s University of Bologna leaps into the top 50 in 39th place, up from group band 101-125
• Northwestern University in the US drops out of the top 100 into group band 101-125, down from 45th place
• University of Sheffield in the UK falls out of the top 100 into group band 101-125, down from joint 64th place
• University of Gothenburg in Sweden joins the top 100 in joint 90th place, up from group band 176-200

View the full ranking of the THE World University Rankings 2023 by subject: Law

View the THE World University Rankings 2023 by subject: Law methodology

THE World University Rankings 2023 by subject: Life sciences top 10

• US dominates the top 10, filling 8 of the spots and topping the ranking with Harvard University
• China makes progress, edging closer to the top 10 as Tsinghua University rises to 11th place from 13th, and Shanghai Jiao Tong University joins the top 100 in 67th place, up from group band 151-175
• Four UK universities lose their top 100 spots: University of Aberdeen (101-125, down from 95), University of Birmingham (101-125, down from joint 86), University of East Anglia (101-125, down from joint 92) and University of Leeds (101-125, down from joint 96)
• Germany drops four universities from the top 300 with 26 universities represented, down from 30

View the full ranking of the THE World University Rankings 2023 by subject: Life sciences

View the THE World University Rankings 2023 by subject: Life sciences methodology

THE World University Rankings 2023 by subject: Physical sciences top 10

• Switzerland is the only country outside of the UK and the US to make the top 10, with ETH Zurich ranked in 9th position
• Saudi Arabia has increased its representation in the top 300 with six universities ranked, up from two last year
• King Abdulaziz University in Saudi Arabia joins the top 50 in 47th place, up from joint 90th
• The US has four fewer universities in the top 300 – 74 universities, down from 78

View the full ranking of the THE World University Rankings 2023 by subject: Physical sciences

View the THE World University Rankings 2023 by subject: Physical sciences methodology

THE World University Rankings 2023 by subject: Psychology top 10

• The UK’s King’s College London enters the top 10 in 8th position, up from 12th
• The University of Chicago in the US drops out of the top 10 in 12th place, down from 7th
• National University of Singapore joins the top 50 in joint 48th place, up from 58th
• Monash University in Australia jumps forward to 54th place and joins the top 100 (up from group band 151-175)
• Spain loses 3 universities from the top 300 with 4 universities represented, down from 7

View the full ranking of the THE World University Rankings 2023 by subject: Psychology

View the THE World University Rankings 2023 by subject: Psychology methodology

THE World University Rankings 2023 by subject: Social sciences top 10

• Yale University in the US re-joins the top 10 in 10th position, up from 11th
• University of Oxford, UK, loses its top spot and drops to 3rd place
• Austria’s University of Vienna joins the top 50 by jumping forward to joint 40th place, up from 65th
• Universiti Utara Malaysia enters the top 250 in group band 201-250, up from 401-500
• Middle East Technical University in Turkey joins the top 300 in group band 251-300, up from 401-500

View the full ranking of the THE World University Rankings 2023 by subject: Social sciences

View the THE World University Rankings 2023 by subject: Social sciences methodology

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