Here are the world’s top universities for these 54 subjects

1. As the only global league table to originate from Asia, the annual publication by Shanghai Ranking Consultancy is often praised for the objectivity, stability and transparency of its methodology.

Its annual Global Ranking of Academic Subjects (GRAS) 2019 was recently released, ranking approximately 4,000 universities according to these subject areas: Natural Sciences, Engineering, Life Sciences, Medical Sciences and Social Sciences. In total, 54 subjects under these broad areas of study were listed.

American universities dominated, topping the tables in 35 subjects and appearing 4,808 times. China took top position in 11 subjects and its universities had the second highest number of appearances (2451 times), ahead of the UK (1554 appearances). In 10 engineering subjects, Chinese universities claimed the top position.

Speaking to Asia Times, Deputy Director of the Institute of Science and Technology Management of Zhejiang University Science and Education Strategy Institute, Lin Chenghua, said there was a huge gap in the superiority of the US which reflected China’s structural shortcomings.

While maintaining and promoting a competitive edge in engineering, China should increase investment in other courses such as Natural Science and Social Sciences, Chenghua explained.

Four universities appear in 52 research disciplines – University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, University of British Columbia, McGill University and the University of New South Wales (UNSW). No other universities surpassed this figure.

Great news – the subjects of Finance and Management have been ranked first in Australia in the @ShanghaiRanking‘s Global Ranking of Academic Subjects (ARWU) 2019. https://t.co/wtzBH5DLZc pic.twitter.com/D47lPpvIEu

— UNSW Business School (@UNSWbusiness) June 27, 2019

UNSW scored the most subjects (13) ranked first in Australia for the second consecutive year. It was also listed as having the most number of subjects ranked for the third year in a row.

UNSW Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research), Professor Nicholas Fisk, said: “Today’s results in these prestigious rankings underscore the breadth, depth and consistency of UNSW research across almost the whole range of disciplines. Off the back of recent success in various national and international rankings, this supports UNSW not only as a leader in research quality and impact, but also for our research reach.”

But the university with the best performance was Harvard, which placed first in 14 subjects – seven of which are social science subjects, three from medical sciences, two from life sciences and two from engineering. It’s followed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, with five top positions, four of which fall within engineering.

The GRAS 2019 ranked universities based on several measures, including research productivity, research quality, extent of international collaboration, research and the highest academic recognitions.

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