Research across the academic spectrum at the University of Exeter has been ranked among the world’s best in a new league table.

The Global Rankings of Academic Subjects 2024 has placed nine academic research areas in the world’s top 100, and a further 11 in the top 200.

The results, compiled by Shanghai Rankings, assess 5,000 universities in 96 countries on 55 subjects, spanning Natural Sciences, Engineering, Life Sciences, Medical Sciences, and Social Sciences.

On a global level, Ecology was Exeter’s highest placed subject at 4th in the world, followed by Earth Sciences (20th), Geography (22nd) Atmospheric Science (25th), Environment Science & Engineering (37th) and Water Resources (43rd) 

Three further subjects – Public Administration, Oceanography, and Sociology – were ranked between 51st-100 in the global table.

Nationally, Environment Science and Engineering was ranked 1st , Earth Sciences and Ecology both 2nd, and both Atmospheric Science and Water Resources 3rd.   

The GRAS rankings have been running since 2009 and use a range of objective academic indicators and third-party data to measure the performance of world universities in respective subjects. They encompass research output, research influence, international collaboration, research quality, and international academic awards.

In total, Exeter features in 32 of the 55 subjects listed. For more information please visit the Shanghai Rankings website.