Top 20 for Top 10s: QS World University Rankings by Subject 2013

The results are in! For the third year, QS has released its World University Rankings by Subject, designed to help students identify the best universities in the world in their discipline. Why is this useful? Because sometimes the institutions which are strongest overall may not be the best in your subject. And on many occasions, universities which do not fare quite as well in the overall QS World University Rankings may be extremely strong in certain subject areas.

However, though the rankings are not intended to be considered as whole, it can be an interesting to look at which universities appear most frequently in the top 10 across the 30 subjects.

The list contains a lot of familiar names. It is led by the UK powerhouse of Cambridge, followed by Oxford and the University of California, Berkeley. The entire top 10 of the overall rankings feature in this list (unsurprising, as it is their strength in depth which got them to the top in the first place). However, the subject rankings are not a straightforward reproduction of the main QS World University Rankings either! A total of six countries are represented at top-ten level – click to learn more about studying in these destinations: the US, the UK, Singapore, Australia, Switzerland and Japan.

The only table-topping university not included in the list below is the University of California, Davis, which tops the ranking for agriculture and forestry, a new addition this year.

Once again, this isn't intended to be a ranking so don't take it as one!

View the full QS World University Rankings by Subject now >

We've also produced reports looking at the peformance of top universities in detail. You can download these for free if you're a member of the TopUniversities.com community (which is also free to sign up to!) >

1
University of Cambridge

Number of top 10 appearances: 27

Number one in: History, linguistics, mathematics.

Position in QS World University Rankings 2012/13: 2

Country: UK

2=
University of Oxford

Number of top 10 appearances: 23

Number one in: English language & literature, geography, modern languages, philosophy.

Position in QS World University Rankings 2012/13: 5

Country: UK

2=
University of California, Berkeley

Number of top 10 appearances: 23

Number one in: Communication & media studies, environmental sciences, sociology, statistics.

Position in QS World University Rankings 2012/13: 22

Country: US

4
Stanford University

Number of top 10 appearances: 22

Position in QS World University Rankings 2012/13: 15

Country: US

5
Harvard University

Number of top 10 appearances: 21

Number one in: Accounting & finance, biological sciences, earth & marine sciences, economics & econometrics, education, law, medicine, pharmacy, politics & international studies, psychology.

Position in QS World University Rankings 2012/13: 3

Country: US

6
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Number of top 10 appearances: 17

Number one in: Chemistry, computer science, chemical engineering, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, materials sciences, physics.

Position in QS World University Rankings 2012/13: 1

Country: US

7
University of California Los Angeles

Number of top 10 appearances: 13

Position in QS World University Rankings 2012/13: 31

Country: US

8
National University of Singapore

Number of top 10 appearances: 12

Position in QS World University Rankings 2012/13:25

Country: Singapore

9
ETH Zürich

Number of top 10 appearances: 11

Position in QS World University Rankings 2012/13: 13

Country: Switzerland

10
Princeton University

Number of top 10 appearances: 10

Position in QS World University Rankings 2012/13: 9

Country: US

11
Yale University

Number of top 10 appearances: 9

Position in QS World University Rankings 2012/13: 7

Country: US

12
Columbia University

Number of top 10 appearances: 8

Position in QS World University Rankings 2012/13: 11

Country: US

13=
London School of Economics and Political Science

Number of top 10 appearances: 7

Position in QS World University Rankings 2012/13: 69

Country: UK

13=
Imperial College London

Number of top 10 appearances: 7

Number one in: Civil engineering

Position in QS World University Rankings 2012/13: 6

Country: UK

15=
University of Tokyo

Number of top 10 appearances: 6

Position in QS World University Rankings 2012/13: 30

Country: Japan

15=
University of Melbourne

Number of top 10 appearances: 6

Position in QS World University Rankings 2012/13: 36

Country: Australia

17=
University of Chicago

Number of top 10 appearances: 5

Position in QS World University Rankings 2012/13: 8

Country: US

17=
Australian National University

Number of top 10 appearances: 5

Position in QS World University Rankings 2012/13: 24

Country: Australia

19
University of Queensland

Number of top 10 appearances: 4

Position in QS World University Rankings 2012/13: 46

Country: Australia

20=
University College London

Number of top 10 appearances: 3

Position in QS World University Rankings 2012/13: 4

Country: UK

20=
University of Sydney

Number of top 10 appearances: 3

Position in QS World University Rankings 2012/13: 39

Country: Australia

20=
University of Wisconsin-Madison

Number of top 10 appearances: 3

Position in QS World University Rankings 2012/13: 38

Country: US

20=
California Institute of Technology

Number of top 10 appearances: 3

Position in QS World University Rankings 2012/13: 10

Country: US

• Get the key stats on this year's Subject Rankings >