Final Results of First Global Ranking of Universities by Subject Revealed

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Jul 04, 2011, 04:00 ET

LONDON, July 4, 2011 /PRNewswire/ --

New world rankings in six Social Sciences disciplines: Statistics, Sociology, Politics, Law, Economics, Accounting
Business, Accounting, and Economics graduates are most popular with employers
119 US universities make rankings in at least one subject, followed by UK (64), Germany (39), Australia (31), France (31), Canada (21), Japan (18), China (14) and the Netherlands (14)
Full 2011 QS World University Rankings by Subject in 26 disciplines now available at topuniversities.com

The full 2011 QS World University Rankings by Subject covering 26 disciplines are now available at http://www.topuniversities.com, providing the most comprehensive comparison of the world's universities at departmental level.

The QS World University Rankings® by subject are the first to rank universities at individual subject level in the world. With a methodology tailored to fit each subject, the rankings are based on Academic Reputation, Employer Reputation and Citations per Paper.

The research asked global graduate employers to identify the universities that produce the best graduates, both overall and within a given discipline. The most sought-after graduates were those in Business, Accountancy and Finance, and Economics.

Table-topping performances are shared between Harvard (in a remarkable 17 subjects), ahead of MIT (6), Cambridge (2) and Oxford and Stanford (one apiece). In the six Social Sciences disciplines, Harvard tops Sociology, Politics, Law, Economics and Accounting, while Stanford comes first in Statistics.

Top 5 ranked universities by employer reputation

                                         Employer
    Subject    University Overall rank   rank
    Sociology  Cambridge     4            1
               Harvard       1            2
               Oxford        3            3
               LSE          10            4
               MIT          19            5

       
    Statistics Harvard       2            1
               Cambridge     4            2
               Oxford        6            3
               LSE          15            4
               University of
               Melbourne    16            5
              
    Politics   Harvard       1            1
               Oxford        2            2
               Cambridge     3            3
               Stanford      7            4
               Yale          6            5

     Law       Oxford        2            1
               Harvard       1            2
               Cambridge     3            3
               Stanford      5            4
               LSE           7            5

     Economics Harvard       1            1
               Oxford        5            2
               Cambridge     6            3
               LSE           4            4
               Stanford      3            5

   Accounting  Harvard       1            1
               Oxford        2            2
               Cambridge     4            3
               LSE           6            4
               Stanford      5            5

Ben Sowter, head of research at QS says, "As global mobility and the fee burden on individual students increases, rankings need to become more detailed and focused to meet the demand for comparative information. Taking on board the views of global employers means that these rankings move away from research and give a sense of the real-world market value of different degree programs."

SOURCE QS Quacquarelli Symonds