QS rankings show Australian universities excel at social sciences
Cussonia Court, home to the Schools of Classics and Philosophy at the University of Melbourne. Photo: Wikicommons
AUSTRALIAN universities excel in psychology, geography, modern languages and philosophy, according to the 2010/2011 QS World University Rankings by Subject.
Based on academic reputation, employer reputation and research citations, the QS World University Rankings by Subject are the first to rank universities at individual subject level in the world, and currently cover a total of 26 disciplines.
Ben Sowter, head of research at QS, said rankings needed to become more detailed and focused to meet the demand for comparative information with the rise of global mobility and the growing cost of education.
Australian universities fared well this year, with 25 Australian universities represented across the 26 subjects.
“Australia’s strong performance across all 26 disciplines highlights the all-round excellence of the country’s universities,” Mr Sowter said.
Australian National University (ANU) came in high at sixth place worldwide for all four subjects, while an impressive 17 Australian universities were featured in the QS Top 200 for psychology, including The University of Melbourne, Monash University, La Trobe University and RMIT University.
Australian universities also did relatively well in terms of the Engineering and Technology discipline rankings. A fair few made the top 50 in each subject, and the University of Melbourne shone in particular by coming in the top 20 for all the engineering subjects.
The final batch of rankings released by QS on July 5 covered some of the most popular undergraduate degree subjects, showing Australian universities were among the world’s best universities in social science subjects.
A majority of the Australian universities were ranked among the top 200 for sociology, economics and accounting. The University of Melbourne once again excelled in the rankings, making the top 20 in the world for every social science subject.
The QS World University Rankings are among the most trusted world university rankings available online.