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THE World University Rankings by subject: Business and Economics
THE World University Rankings by subject: Education
THE World University Rankings by subject: Law
THE World University Rankings by subject: Social Sciences
New Times Higher Education subject rankings for education and law reveal more diverse lists than the overall global league table, with institutions from around the world making the top 10s.
While Switzerland is the only country outside the US and the UK that makes the top 20 of the THE World University Rankings, universities in Australia, Canada, Hong Kong and the Netherlands achieve the same heights in a new THE table of the world’s best 100 universities for law. Australia’s University of Melbourne and Canada’s University of Toronto both break into the top 10.
THE World University Rankings 2018 by subject: law top 10
| 2018 rank | University | Country | WUR 2018 rank |
| 1 | Duke University | United States | 17 |
| 2 | Stanford University | United States | =3 |
| 3 | Yale University | United States | 12 |
| 4 | University of Chicago | United States | 9 |
| 5 | University of Cambridge | United Kingdom | 2 |
| 6 | University of Oxford | United Kingdom | 1 |
| 7 | University of Melbourne | Australia | 32 |
| 8 | University College London | United Kingdom | 16 |
| 9 | Harvard University | United States | 6 |
| 10 | University of Toronto | Canada | =22 |
Browse the full list of universities in this year’s law rankings
Meanwhile, a new ranking of the top 100 universities for education marks the first time that an Asian university has made a top-five position in a THE World University Rankings table. The University of Hong Kong is fourth in the education list (compared with 40th in the overall table), largely because of its very high score for research. It is 18th in the law table.
Other Asian institutions also perform much more strongly in the education table compared with the overall world rankings. The Chinese University of Hong Kong is 20th (compared with 58th overall), National Taiwan Normal University is 22nd (501-600) and Nanyang Technological University is 27th (52nd).
THE World University Rankings 2018 by subject: education top 10
| 2018 rank | University | Country | WUR 2018 rank |
| 1 | Stanford University | United States | =3 |
| 2 | Harvard University | United States | 6 |
| 3 | University of Oxford | United Kingdom | 1 |
| 4 | University of Hong Kong | Hong Kong | 40 |
| 5 | University of California, Berkeley | United States | 18 |
| 6 | University of Wisconsin-Madison | United States | 43 |
| =7 | University of California, Los Angeles | United States | 15 |
| =7 | University of Michigan | United States | 21 |
| 9 | University of Pennsylvania | United States | =10 |
| 10 | Michigan State University | United States | =83 |
Browse the full list of universities in this year’s education rankings
Peter Mathieson, president of the University of Hong Kong, said that education and law are both strong at the institution “because of their ability to span the demands of being internationally recognised while maintaining local and regional significance”.
The departments contribute to the “development of their respective professions by providing superb environments for teaching and research as well as leadership in policy development and provision of expert advice”, he added.
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Edward Iacobucci, dean of the Faculty of Law at the University of Toronto, said that its success in the law table is due to its “vision” that “legal education should be grounded on the idea that we’re teaching students how to think about law...and not what the law is”.
THE’s global rankings for social sciences subjects and for business and economics have also been updated for 2018.
The University of Oxford tops the social sciences table, marking the first time that a UK institution takes first position in the eight-year history of the listing. It overtakes Stanford, which saw large drops in its scores for research and teaching, while Oxford improved its teaching performance.
THE World University Rankings 2018 by subject: social sciences top 10
| 2018 rank | 2017 rank | University | Country | WUR 2018 rank |
| 1 | 2 | University of Oxford | United Kingdom | 1 |
| =2 | 5 | Harvard University | United States | 6 |
| =2 | 6 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | United States | 5 |
| 4 | 1 | Stanford University | United States | =3 |
| 5 | 8 | Princeton University | United States | 7 |
| 6 | 11 | University of Cambridge | United Kingdom | 2 |
| 7 | 4 | University of Chicago | United States | 9 |
| 8 | 3 | Yale University | United States | 12 |
| 9 | 7 | University of Michigan | United States | 21 |
| 10 | 15 | London School of Economics and Political Science | United Kingdom | =25 |
Browse the full list of universities in this year’s social sciences rankings
Meanwhile, three Asian universities now make the top 30 for social sciences for the first time; the National University of Singapore has jumped 16 places to 37th, Peking University has leaped 13 places to 22nd, and the University of Hong Kong has crept into 30th after moving up one place. No universities in the continent had reached the top 30 last year.
The subject rankings for business and economics, education, law and social sciences are based on the same range of 13 performance indicators used in the overall THE World University Rankings 2018, but the methodologies have been recalibrated to suit the individual fields.
– World University Rankings 2018 by subject: law methodology
– World University Rankings 2018 by subject: business and economics methodology
– World University Rankings 2018 by subject: social sciences methodology
– World University Rankings 2018 by subject: education methodology
THE World University Rankings 2018 by subject: business and economics top 10
| 2018 rank | 2017 rank | University | Country | WUR 2018 rank |
| 1 | 2 | Stanford University | United States | =3 |
| 2 | 1 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | United States | 5 |
| 3 | 3 | University of Oxford | United Kingdom | 1 |
| 4 | Not ranked | London Business School | United Kingdom | Not ranked |
| 5 | 7 | University of Cambridge | United Kingdom | 2 |
| 6 | 5 | Harvard University | United States | 6 |
| 7 | 4 | University of Chicago | United States | 9 |
| 8 | 6 | Northwestern University | United States | 20 |
| 9 | 9 | University of Pennsylvania | United States | =10 |
| 10 | 8 | University of California, Berkeley | United States | 18 |
