University Rankings

QS 2026 Subject Rankings: Biggest Movers

Which universities climbed the most in the QS 2026 Subject Rankings, and which fell? We analysed rank movements across 55 subjects for universities in the global top 100, comparing their 2025 and 2026 positions.

Biggest Risers

Top 20

#	Change	University	Subject	Country	Rank change	Score
1	75	Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin	Medicine	Germany	93 → 18	81.5
2	63	Indian Institute of Management (IIM) - Kozhikode	Business & Management Studies	India	141 → 78	71.5
3	61	University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB)	Linguistics	United States of America	92 → 31	76.7
4	60	Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona	Medicine	Spain	141 → 81	71.1
5	56	Indian Institute of Management (IIM) - Lucknow	Business & Management Studies	India	131 → 75	72.2
6	54	University of Jordan	Pharmacy & Pharmacology	Jordan	100 → 46	75.8
7	54	Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM)	Chemistry	Mexico	142 → 88	72.6
8	54	University of Birmingham	Biological Sciences	United Kingdom	145 → 91	71.5
9	53	Weizmann Institute of Science	Biological Sciences	Israel	150 → 97	70.5
10	51	University of Colorado Boulder	Physics & Astronomy	United States of America	108 → 57	76.5
11	50	Estonian University of Life Sciences	Agriculture & Forestry	Estonia	93 → 43	68.9
12	49	HUFS - Hankuk (Korea) University of Foreign Studies	Modern Languages	Republic of Korea	95 → 46	78.8
13	47	Universidade de São Paulo	Pharmacy & Pharmacology	Brazil	90 → 43	76.2
14	45	Abai Kazakh National Pedagogical University (Abai University)	Education	Kazakhstan	86 → 41	75.0
15	45	Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IITD)	Engineering - Chemical	India	93 → 48	76.8
16	45	Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IITK)	Computer Science & Information Systems	India	110 → 65	70.3
17	44	University of Florida	Pharmacy & Pharmacology	United States of America	80 → 36	77.0
18	43	O.P. Jindal Global University (JGU)	Law	India	78 → 35	77.6
19	43	Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur (IIT-KGP)	Computer Science & Information Systems	India	110 → 67	70.1
20	42	Beijing Institute of Technology	Environmental Sciences	China (Mainland)	137 → 95	76.6

Biggest Fallers

Top 20

#	Change	University	Subject	Country	Rank change	Score
1	68	Zhejiang University	Pharmacy & Pharmacology	China (Mainland)	26 → 94	71.0
2	67	Renmin (People's) University of China	Sociology	China (Mainland)	28 → 95	71.9
3	51	Zhejiang University	Linguistics	China (Mainland)	28 → 79	68.7
4	49	Cornell University	Art & Design	United States of America	50 → 99	60.0
5	48	Beijing Foreign Studies University	Linguistics	China (Mainland)	18 → 66	70.7
6	48	Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA)	Politics & International Studies	Argentina	51 → 99	65.1
7	46	Fudan University	Linguistics	China (Mainland)	12 → 58	71.9
8	46	Universität Heidelberg	Pharmacy & Pharmacology	Germany	52 → 98	70.6
9	44	Renmin (People's) University of China	Law	China (Mainland)	34 → 78	72.0
10	44	Korea University	Economics & Econometrics	Republic of Korea	46 → 90	72.8
11	44	Nanjing University	Modern Languages	China (Mainland)	56 → 100	71.8
12	42	The University of Tokyo	Art & Design	Japan	30 → 72	63.0
13	42	Shanghai Jiao Tong University	Linguistics	China (Mainland)	35 → 77	68.9
14	42	University of Science and Technology of China	Engineering - Mechanical, Aeronautical & Manufacturing	China (Mainland)	48 → 90	72.2
15	42	Huazhong University of Science and Technology	Engineering - Electrical & Electronic	China (Mainland)	52 → 94	71.8
16	41	Zhejiang University	Law	China (Mainland)	49 → 90	70.3
17	40	Tsinghua University	Pharmacy & Pharmacology	China (Mainland)	23 → 63	73.4
18	40	Shanghai Jiao Tong University	Environmental Sciences	China (Mainland)	31 → 71	78.6
19	40	Fudan University	Engineering - Chemical	China (Mainland)	32 → 72	74.2
20	39	King Abdulaziz University (KAU)	Pharmacy & Pharmacology	Saudi Arabia	15 → 54	74.4

Explore all 55 subject rankings

Browse the full QS 2026 World University Rankings by Subject and compare the world's leading universities.

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