Exeter University ranked among the best in the world for 20 subjects in new league table

According to a new league table, the University of Exeter’s research in 20 academic disciplines is among the best in the world.

The Global Rankings of Academic Subjects (GRAS) 2024 placed nine academic research areas in the top 100 worldwide, and a further 11 are ranked in the top 200.

Exeter’s top-ranked subject was ecology, with a global ranking of fourth. Followed by earth sciences at 20th, geography at 22nd, and atmospheric science placed at 25th.

Additionally, environment science and engineering both positioned 37th, with water resources in 43rd.

sociology, public administration, and oceanography were three other subjects that ranked between 51st and 100th in the global table.

On a national scale, environment science and engineering ranked first, followed by earth sciences and ecology at second, and atmospheric science and water resources third.

The Shanghai Rankings, an annual publication of world university rankings, compiled results that evaluated 5,000 universities across 96 countries on 55 subjects, including social sciences, engineering, life sciences, medical sciences, and natural sciences.

Since 2009, the GRAS rankings have been used to evaluate how well universities throughout the world perform in their particular fields using a variety of objective academic metrics and data from third parties. These include research quality, research output, research influence, international collaboration, and international academic awards.

The Shanghai Rankings positioned Exeter far better than in the QS World Rankings where only two subjects, engineering and computer science, were ranked within the top 200, with nine additional subjects making it into the top 100.