QS ranking by subject: 462 French programmes ranked

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Quacquarelli Symonds, the British company specialised in higher education also known as QS, has just released the 12th edition of its World University Rankings by Subject, a ranking of universities and institutions from all over the world. With a total of 462 programmes and 75 institutions ranked, including six in the World Top 10 in their field, France reached very good results, and especially in arts, human and social sciences, mathematics and management. As last year, Sorbonne Université, Paris Sciences et Lettres and Paris 1 - Panthéon Sorbonne are the most frequently quoted institutions.

The three ranking professionals (Quacquarelli Symonds, Shanghai, Times Higher Education) also use to publish a number of thematic breakdowns beforehand, by employability and/or professional integration criteria, according to the quality of student life and by subjects, based on their three major annual rankings published from June to September.

Each year in April, Quacquarelli Symonds presents an abstract of its future major ranking, highlighting a ranking based on the 51 disciplines taught in higher education institutions, and grouped into five broad subject areas.

Six French institutions in the Top 10 in four disciplines

After reminding that this ranking aims “to help prospective students identify the world’s leading schools in their chosen field”, QS ranked this year 462 university programmes from 75 French institutions, up from 388 programmes and 71 universities in 2021.

More precisely, 6 French institutions are in the Top 10 of four major disciplines:

Business and Management Studies: INSEAD and HEC, two major French schools, are ranked in the first 10 world institutions;
Classics and Ancient History: Sorbonne Université reached the 7th rank and Université Paris 1 – Panthéon Sorbonne joins the Top 10 in 2022;
Politics: Sciences Po Paris is ranked 3rd this year;
Art and Design: the Conservatoire national supérieur de musique et de danse de Paris reached the 4th rank.

Ten institutions in the Top 20 and 66 in the Top 50

In addition to the Top 10, and lower in the rankings are 10 programmes of French institutions in the Top 20 by subject and 66 in the Top 50.

They include:

in mathematics: Université PSL (in 12th place), Ecole Polytechnique (14th) and Sorbonne Université (18th);
in law: Université Paris 1 - Panthéon Sorbonne is ranked 18th;
in Performing Arts, the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Lyon came 19th ;
in the hotel category (Hospitality and Leisure Management), the Ecole Vatel enters the ranking at the 11th rank.

Four institutions clearly stand out in the Top 100

In the words of QS, Sorbonne Université is “the strongest institution in France”. Indeed, this year it is once again at the top of the list of French institutions with a total of 26 inclusions in the 51 Top 100s. In addition to Sorbonne Université, the Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL) recorded 24 citations in the Top 100, while the Université Paris 1 - Panthéon Sorbonne recorded 12.

Also noteworthy is the excellent performance of the Université Paris-Saclay, which has progressed in every discipline and entered the Top 100 for eight of its programmes.

1,500 institutions in 88 countries

To produce this ranking by subject, QS analysts compared the performance of 15,200 programmes in 51 different disciplines in more than 1,500 institutions from 88 countries.

Five main criteria form the basis of the evaluation, such as academic reputation, employer reputation, the number of research citations, a new index that measures the productivity and impact of a scientist’s or academic’s published work and, new for 2022, the institution’s membership of an international research network (sustainable partnerships).