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Sydney performs strongly in latest subject rankings

4 December 2018
The University of Sydney has been ranked in the top 50 in the world for four subjects, according to the 2019 Times Higher Education World University Rankings, with improvements across humanities, law and health.
Congratulations must be extended to arts and humanities for their significant improvement.
Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research) Professor Laurent Rivory.

The University of Sydney has been ranked in the top 50 in the world for four subjects, and in the top 100 for a further four, according to the 2019 Times Higher Education World University Rankings by subject.

Arts and humanities was the most improved from last year, jumping 11 places to join the top 50, ranking 47 globally.

Further improvements included law climbing one spot to be 32 in the world and clinical, pre-clinical and health increasing its ranking by four places to be 33 globally.

“It is always pleasing to have our research and teaching excellence recognised on a global scale,” said Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research) Professor Laurent Rivory.

“Congratulations must be extended to arts and humanities for their significant improvement.

“These results continue our strong standing throughout various global rankings this year, including improvements in both the 2019 QS World University Rankings and the overall Times Higher Education World University Rankings.”

Education rounded out our top 50 offerings, placing at 33.

The four other subjects ranked in the top 100 were life sciences (51), psychology (68), engineering and technology (93) and social sciences (99).

Since the 2017-2018 results, ten of the tables now list between 400 and 800 top institutions, up from 100 in previous editions.

Subjects to make it into the expanded lists included physical sciences, computer science and business and economics, all ranked in the 101-125 band.

Rankings methodology

The methodology behind the Times Higher Education World University Rankings by subject includes a wide range of narrower subject areas under each discipline.

For example, social sciences includes communication and media studies, politics and international studies, sociology and geography

The subject tables employ the same range of performance indicators used in the overall THE World University Rankings, brought together with scores provided under five categories:

  • Teaching: the learning environment
  • Research: volume, income and reputation
  • Citations: research influence
  • International outlook: staff, students and research
  • Industry income: innovation

However, the overall methodology is recalibrated for each subject, with the weightings changed to suit the individual fields.

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