Subject Rankings 2016-2017 – QS Vs Times Higher Education
The Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings 2016-2017 by subject, launched today, includes two new rankings dedicated to computer science and business and economics.
The Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings 2016-2017 by subject, launched today, includes two new rankings dedicated to computer science and business and economics. This brings the total number of subjects covered to eight, with the new additions joining existing rankings of the top 100 universities for arts and humanities; clinical, pre-clinical and health; engineering and technology; life sciences; physical sciences; and social sciences.
As this list illustrates, some of the subject areas covered are relatively specialized, while others are very broad. This means that while some tables can be compared with the QS World University Rankings by Subject, others are more comparable to the QS World University Rankings by Faculty*.
Below is an overview of how this year’s Times Higher Education Subject Rankings compare with the latest QS World University Rankings by Subject, or by Faculty. For a comparison of the overall QS and Times Higher Education World University Rankings overall, click here.
Computer science
A new addition to the Times Higher Education Subject Rankings this year, computer science is also covered in the QS World University Rankings by Subject. THE lists the top 100 universities in this field, and QS the top 500. The Times Higher Education lists sees ETH Zurich take the top spot, while fellow Swiss institution EPFL is also in the top 10. Georgia Tech, Imperial College London and the Technical University of Munich (TUM), all in THE’s top 10, are all within the QS top 25 with the exception of TUM (36th), in accord with a wider tendency for the Times Higher Education rankings to result in higher positions for German institutions.
| ## Top 10 Universities for Computer Science |
|---|
| QS World University Rankings by Subject 2016 |
| 1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) |
| 2. Stanford University |
| 3. University of Oxford |
| 4. Harvard University |
| 5. Carnegie Mellon University |
| 6. University of Cambridge |
| 7. University of California, Berkeley |
| 8. ETH Zurich – Swiss Federal Institute of Technology |
| 9. National University of Singapore (NUS) |
| 10. Princeton University |
Business & economics
Business and economics is another new addition to the Times Higher Education Subject Rankings this year, with the top 100 universities ranked. The QS World University Rankings by Subject breaks down these two fields into two separate rankings – one profiling the top 200 universities for business and management, and one listing the top 300 for economics and econometrics. Both are shown in the table below, with the Times Higher Education top 10 generally corresponding more closely to QS’s economics table. Surprisingly, London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), which features prominently in the QS tables, is not included anywhere within THE's top 100 for this subject area.
| ## Top 10 Universities for Business & Economics |
|---|
| QS World University Rankings by Subject 2016 – Business & Management |
| 1. Harvard University |
| 2. London Business School |
| 3. INSEAD |
| 4. Stanford University |
| 5. University of Pennsylvania |
| 6. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) |
| 7. University of Cambridge |
| 8. University of Oxford |
| 9. London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) |
| 10. Bocconi University |
Engineering & technology
While the QS World University Rankings by Subject features specialized rankings for five distinct fields of engineering, here it is more relevant to compare the Times Higher Education ranking with the more general QS World University Rankings by Faculty. THE again lists the top 100 universities in this field, while QS’s engineering and technology ranking extends to 400. The comparison reflects general tendencies in which Caltech typically performs better in the Times Higher Education rankings, while Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University comes out higher in the QS rankings. In general, however, the two lists present a very similar picture of the global top 10 in this field.
| ## Top 10 Universities for Engineering & Technology |
|---|
| QS World University Rankings by Faculty 2015-2016 – Engineering & Technology |
| 1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) |
| 2. Stanford University |
| 3. University of Cambridge |
| 4. National University of Singapore (NUS) |
| 5. ETH Zurich – Swiss Federal Institute of Technology |
| 6. Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU) |
| 7. Imperial College London |
| 8. University of California, Berkeley |
| 9. University of Oxford |
| 10. Harvard University |
Social sciences
This broad field is again covered in the QS World University Rankings by Faculty, while the QS World University Rankings by Subject features tables dedicated to specific strands of social sciences – including anthropology, sociology, law and development studies, amongst others. The broader-reaching social sciences and management table from the QS World University Rankings by Faculty is shown below alongside the Times Higher Education results. Again, the specialized London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) – second in the QS list – is not featured in THE's top 10, though this time it is only five places outside.
| ## Top 10 Universities for Social Sciences |
|---|
| QS World University Rankings by Faculty 2015-2016 – Social Sciences & Management |
| 1. Harvard University |
| 2. London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) |
| 3. University of Oxford |
| 4. University of Cambridge |
| 5. Stanford University |
| 6. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) |
| 7. National University of Singapore (NUS) |
| 8. University of Chicago |
| 9. University of California, Berkeley |
| 10. Yale University |
Clinical, pre-clinical & health
Several tables featured in the QS World University Rankings by Subject could be compared with the Times Higher Education ranking for ‘clinical, pre-clinical and health’. The QS ranking for medicine is shown below, and there is a high level of correspondence between the two sets of top 10 universities in this field. QS’s rankings for nursing, dentistry and pharmacy may also be of interest to students and academics in this area.
| ## Top 10 Universities for Clinical, Pre-clinical & Health |
|---|
| QS World University Rankings by Subject 2016 – Medicine |
| 1. Harvard University |
| 2. University of Oxford |
| 3. University of Cambridge |
| 4. Stanford University |
| 5. Johns Hopkins University |
| 6. University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) |
| 7. University of California, San Francisco |
| 8. Yale University |
| 9. UCL (University College London) |
| 10. Karolinska Institute |
Physical sciences
The Times Higher Education physical sciences top 10 is shown alongside QS’s natural sciences ranking, part of the QS World University Rankings by Faculty. More specialized tables are available in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, covering mathematics, physics and astronomy, chemistry, materials sciences and several more natural science specializations. In general, the QS rankings tend to feature leading Asian universities more prominently, and this trend can be seen here, with the leading universities of Singapore and Japan both featuring in the QS top 10, while not appearing until 18th and 35th respectively in the Times Higher Education list.
| ## Top 10 Universities for Physical Sciences |
|---|
| QS World University Rankings by Faculty 2015-2016 – Natural sciences |
| 1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) |
| =2. Harvard University |
| =2. University of Cambridge |
| 4. Stanford University |
| 5. University of Oxford |
| 6. ETH Zurich – Swiss Federal Institute of Technology |
| 7. University of California, Berkeley |
| 8. California Institute of Technology (Caltech) |
| =9. National University of Singapore (NUS) |
| =9. University of Tokyo |
Arts & humanities
Again, the Times Higher Education ranking for arts and humanities is best compared with the same table from the latest QS World University Rankings by Faculty. More specialized rankings are available in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, including tables dedicated to art and design, English language and literature, history and performing arts, amongst others. Interesting, UCL comes out much higher in Times Higher Education’s ranking for this subject area, while generally much higher-placed in QS’s overall world rankings. Likewise, MIT is higher-placed in THE’s arts and humanities list, though it ranks higher in QS’s overall table.
| ## Top 10 Universities for Arts & Humanities |
|---|
| QS World University Rankings by Faculty 2015-2016 – Arts & Humanities |
| 1. University of Oxford |
| =2. Harvard University |
| =2. University of Cambridge |
| 4. University of California, Berkeley |
| 5. Stanford University |
| 6. Yale University |
| 7. Princeton University |
| 8. Columbia University |
| 9. New York University |
| 10. University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) |
Life sciences
The eighth field covered by the Times Higher Education Subject Rankings is life sciences, which can be compared to the life sciences and medicine ranking in the latest QS World University Rankings by Faculty. Other relevant rankings include QS’s dedicated tables for biological sciences, agriculture and forestry, and veterinary science. These two rankings start off in complete synergy, though the correlation does not hold for long.
| ## Top 10 Universities for Life Sciences |
|---|
| QS World University Rankings by Faculty 2015-2016 – Life Sciences & Medicine |
| 1. Harvard University |
| 2. University of Cambridge |
| 3. University of Oxford |
| 4. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) |
| =5. Johns Hopkins University |
| =5. Stanford University |
| 7. University of California, San Francisco |
| 8. Yale University |
| 9. Karolinska Institute |
| 10. University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) |
The 2015-2016 results for the QS World University Rankings by Faculty are shown here, as the 2016-2017 edition has not yet been released.*
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