In May 2013, QS Quacquarelli Symonds published its 2013 QS World University Rankings by Subject, revealing the world’s top 200 universities for 30 disciplines including subjects such as medicine, economics, psychology, law and more. In its third year, the survey evaluated close to 2 900 universities and ranked over 670 institutions, taking into account not only academic reputation and citation per paper in the given subject area, but also employability. The level of employer interest is measured through a separate survey asking employers to identify institutions considered excellent for recruiting graduates and disciplines from which they prefer to recruit.

According to Ben Sowter, head of research at QS, “the explosions in technology-based start-ups, as well as national security fears of cyber warfare, have meant that computer science graduates are in great demand with employers”. With over 600 000 views in the last six months, computer science is also the most watched table on the rankings, followed by mechanical engineering and medicine.

Harvard University came out first, with pre-eminence in ten subjects, among them medicine, law, politics and economics. For the third time in a row, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology ranked top in computer science and information systems, as well as in mechanical engineering and five other subjects - making it number two. Third in line is the University of California, Berkeley with top scores in statistics and operational research, sociology, environmental studies and communication and media studies. Country-wise, the top 10 countries by number of institutions are, unsurprisingly, the Unites States with 40 institutions, followed by the United Kingdom (18), Australia (16), Germany (13), Japan (8), Canada (8), China (8), the Netherlands (7), India (6) and Taiwan (6).

QS World University Rankings by Subject