The latest iteration of the ranking reveals the top universities for 55 subjects, with US institutions leading in 32 subjects, followed by the UK with 16 top rankings, an increase of one on last year’s findings.

Harvard University is the top-performing institution globally, top in 19 disciplines, followed by Massachusetts Institute of Technology with 11, the University of Oxford with four top rankings.

Elsewhere, Switzerland boasts the highest concentration of number one entries, with four, proportionally to its ranked universities, QS highlighted, with ETH Zurich continental Europe’s strongest institution.

While China is ranked eighth overall four top 10 entries, this year it has the largest number of new institutions ranked for the first time (eight).

It is the third most represented country, with 882 ranked entries, behind the US’s 3,039 and the UK’s 1,569. Thereafter follows Australia’s 797, Germany’s 774 and Canada’s 646.

Photo: QS

In China, Tsinghua University achieves three of the country’s eight top-10 subjects.

A total of 805 institutions have earned entries in subject and faculty areas they haven’t previously achieved a ranking in, with the US, UK and Mainland China having the most institutions doing so.

Further, France has six new institutions ranked, and is the “most internationally collaborative research hub”, with 23 entries among the top-10 for International Research Network.

India meanwhile has five new entries and is “soaring” with a 19% rise in ranked entries and 17% boost in overall performance.

Japan in turn has reversed “more than five years of decline”, with an overall improvement of 5%.

“Supporting higher education and international student mobility has never been more critical”

“With rising global inflation, geo-political instability and general elections in 50+ countries, supporting higher education and international student mobility has never been more critical as it drives innovation and societal advancement,” QS senior vice president Ben Sowter said.

“QS’s largest ever-university comparative analysis highlights the importance of diversity, research partnerships, investment, and cross-border academic and industry collaborations.”

The ranking has analysed the more than 16,400 individual programs at 1,500+ universities in 96 locations worldwide.

Computer Sciences & Information Systems, and Medicine are QS’s largest subject areas with over 700 universities ranked, followed by Biological Sciences and Chemistry.

MIT has maintained its top rank for Computer Science and Information Systems for the fourth year in a row, while there is no change in the top medicine programs with Harvard keeping the top spot.

QS noted that other notable features of the 2024 ranking include that the number of institutions ranked in most of the specific subject areas has expanded and that Université de Tunis El Manar in Tunisia has made its debut this year.

Brazil is Latin America’s most-represented country overall, with Mexico’s four entries meaning it boasts the region’s most in the top-20.

Saudi Arabia’s KFUPM offers the Arab Region’s highest-ranked programs, with its Petroleum Engineering course ranked fifth and its Mineral & Mining Engineering program eighth globally.

Cape Town University is Africa’s leader, ranked 15th globally in Development Studies.