Subject Strengths by Country: QS World University Rankings by Subject

The QS World University Rankings by Subject allow us to see which are the world’s best universities over 30 different subject areas. As well as looking at them on a global basis, we can also consider them country-by-country.   

QS has created a set of reports, looking at a wide range of the world’s most popular study destinations. These allow you to quickly identify the strongest institutions in each of the 30 subject areas in a specific country.

They also allow you to identify in which subject areas a country is strongest – useful for both those who want to narrow down their options, or those who want to widen them, depending on how you look at it! They also allow you to see where countries have universities that were considered for the rankings, but didn’t quite make the top 200.

You can download or view the reports for free. All you need to do is register with TopUniversities.com (also free) and log in, and then you’re free to look at them to your heart’s content. To give you an idea of what’s available, here’s a quick snapshot of which subjects ten of most popular study abroad destinations have the greatest representation in, considering only universities that made the top 200. Where a country has equal representation in more than one subject, the one with the higher ranked institutions has been chosen.

Click on any of the countries to learn more about studying there.

View the full QS World University Rankings by Subject 2013 >

Best represented in: Education, with 23 institutions in top 200.

Top three in education

The University of Melbourne (3)

Monash University (6)

The University of Sydney (8)

Also consider Australia if you want to study: psychology (20 universities), communications & media studies, law or sociology (16 each).

Best represented in: Geography, with 19 institutions in top 200.

Top three in geography

University of British Columbia (10=)

University of Toronto (13)

McGill University (39)

Also consider Canada if you want to study: English literature & language, history or philosophy (14 universities each).

Best represented in: Mathematics, with 7 institutions in top 200.

Top three in mathematics

École Polytechnique ParisTech (24)

École Normale Supérieure, Paris (50=)

Université Paris Dauphine (51-100)

Also consider France if you want to study: history, earth & marine sciences (7 universities each), or statistics & operational research (6).