Singapore leads Asia in university subject rankings

It managed to achieve more top-20 placements.

The latest QS Quacquarelli Symonds' QS World University Rankings by Subject revealed that Singapore has managed to achieve more top-20 placements than any other Asian nation. Singapore’s two universities take over a quarter (27.6%) of the top-20 positions achieved by Asian universities this year (34 of 122).

Though this is a slightly smaller proportion than in 2016, when Singapore’s two leading universities took 34.6% of Asia’s top-20 places, the nation’s performance still represents a stellar achievement. For example, Singapore is responsible for more than twice as many top-20 subjects as China (34 v 14), and more than any other Asian nation (ahead of Japan, with 32 top-twenty placements).

The National University of Singapore (NUS) and Nanyang Technological University (NTU) are represented ten times in the top 10 of this year’s 46 tables – down from 15 top-10 finishes in 2016. The two universities also see their cumulative share of top-20 positions drop from thirty-six to thirty-four.

Though several Singapore’s top-20 finishes involve downward movements, it is essential to note that these downward movements are minor – an average drop of 3 places – and can predominantly be explained by the typical fluctuations that occur at the top end of the global rankings.

Check out the table below:

Here's more from the study:

NUS’s thirty-five top-50 finishes is the joint-highest number achieved by any Asian university: The University of Tokyo also achieves thirty-five top-50 placements.
NTU is the best university in the country for the study of Environmental Sciences (23rd), Mathematics (43rd), and Physics & Astronomy (47th);
NUS is the best university in the country for the study of Computer Science (10th), Mathematics (14th), and Business & Management Studies (15th);
Singapore Management University is also featured. It is ranked in six subject tables, and ranks in the top 100 for Accounting & Finance and Business & Management Studies;
For those seeking to study internationally, Harvard is number-one in 15 tables, ahead of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (12 number-one spots). The University of Cambridge achieves a top-10 position in 36 different subjects, more than any other university;
QS have added four new subjects to this year’s project. These new subjects are: Anatomy & Physiology, Hospitality & Leisure Management, Sports-related Subjects, and Theology, Divinity, and Religious Studies

The people you want to reach are already in this room.

Every quarter, SBR lands on the desks of the founders, CFOs, and directors running Asia's most consequential companies. Every day, they open our newsletter and read our website. It's a room that took twenty years to build — and it's the one most of our partners are trying to get into.

The good news is that the door is open. We work with companies on thought leadership articles, sponsored content, industry summits across Southeast Asia, regional awards programmes, podcasts, and media placements in print and digital. The shape of the right partnership depends on what you're trying to do, which is why we'd rather start with a conversation than send a rate card.

If you have something this room should know about, tell us. We'll tell you honestly whether we can help, and how.

No rate cards until we understand the brief. It's a better use of everyone's time.

Book a meeting

| Or download the media kit (PDF)

240,000 senior readers quarterly in print Top 1,700 Singapore companies reached

7 markets across Southeast Asia