ShanghaiRanking releases list of world's top schools by academic subject

The consultancy firm ShanghaiRanking released its Global Ranking of Academic Subjects 2021 on May 26. This year's league table contains rankings of universities in 54 subjects across the natural sciences, engineering, life sciences, medical sciences and social sciences. More than 1,800 out of 4,000 universities across 93 countries and regions are listed.

Universities from the United States hold top positions in 30 subjects. Harvard University came first in 15 subjects, six from the social sciences, four from medical sciences, three from engineering, and two from life sciences. MIT topped the list in six subjects, five of which are related to engineering.

Compared to last year's ranking, the number of universities taking top spot more than one subject declined from seven to four - Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Colorado — Boulder from the US, and the University of Oxford from the United Kingdom.

Chinese universities secured top spots in 13 subjects, an increase of two compared to last year. Three Chinese universities — Southeast University, Xi'an Jiaotong University and Xidian University — took a top ranking for the first time in the subjects of transportation science and technology, mechanical engineering and telecommunication engineering.

The rankings are based on a range of objective academic indicators and third-party data to measure the performance of world universities in relevant subjects, including international academic awards, top academic achievements, research quality and international collaboration.

For GRAS 2021, the index of international academic awards is based on the Academic Excellence Survey conducted by ShanghaiRanking. By February 2021, more than 1,000 professors from top global universities have participated. A full list can be viewed on ShanghaiRanking's official website.