Out Now: QS World University Rankings by Subject 2021

Consistently high standards at the world's top universities mean that there aren't many changes towards the top of this year's subject rankings. However, there are plenty of interesting trends in each region of the world which you might want to consider when choosing a university.

In Asia, Chinese universities now have a record number of top-50 positions across the entire subject rankings, while two subjects are topped by universities from Singapore. However, Japanese universities continue to decline in performance, partly due to decades of underfunding for research and PhD students. 

Australian universities have also under-performed compared to last year, with the lowest number of university programs ranked in the top 10 for three years. 

Elsewhere, there's good news for Russian universities which now have a record number of top-20 appearances. And no university around the world is included in the top 50 for a subject more than the University of Toronto in Canada.

Jack Moran, QS spokesperson for the subject rankings, identifies three factors that are shared by this year's best-performing universities:

"First, an international outlook – both in terms of faculty body and research relationships – correlates strongly with improved performance.

"Second, rising universities have received strong targeted investment from governments over a decade or more – particularly in China, Russia, and Singapore.

"Third, improving relationships with industry is correlated with better employment, research, and innovation outcomes.” 

Obviously, this doesn't mean that every top university benefits from these three factors - or that lower-ranked universities have none of them - but this observation hopefully provides useful context for why some universities have improved this year.

If you're starting out in your search for the right university program for you, the subject rankings provide a quick and simple way to identify the top universities for your chosen area of study which can help you build an initial shortlist.

You can also use our Course Matching Tool or Program Directory to get more information about the individual university programs that are available and identify the one(s) that are right for you.

Once you have some specific universities in mind, check if they'll be appearing at an upcoming QS event for your region, as this will provide a perfect opportunity to learn more about the university and ask any questions you have about the program. Plus, attending a QS event means you automatically qualify for a QS scholarship!