Overall, Austrian universities achieved a top 50 placement in twelve subjects, the University of Vienna six times. For the subject ranking by QS Quacquarelli Symonds, more than 100,000 academics and almost 50,000 employers were asked about graduates' reputation and employability in the respective subjects. Besides, citations of scientific papers from the Elsevier Scopus database were evaluated. As in previous years, the Vienna University of Music delivered the best individual results of an Austrian university: However, it slipped from first place (2019) to third in 2020 to seventh place in the performing arts. The Mozarteum in Salzburg improved in this category from 22nd place (2020) to eleventh place this year.
The University of Vienna achieved its best placement in media and communication studies (24). There were also top 50 ranks in theology (29), linguistics (30), ancient studies (32), archaeology (46) and anthropology (49). The University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (Boku) Vienna made it to place 30 in agriculture and forestry, the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna to place 31 in veterinary medicine and the University of Economics and Business (WU) Vienna to place 42 in business and management.
The Central European University (CEU), which has recently moved to Vienna, made it into the top 50 twice. However, the ranking operators still rate it as a Hungarian university with the location Vienna. It scored 25th in political science and 35th in philosophy.
Internationally, as in all university rankings, US and British universities have the lead: The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard came out on top in twelve subjects each, Oxford in five. As the best continental European university, ETH Zurich leads the rankings in geology, geophysics and earth and marine sciences.
Source: red, wien.ORF.at/Agenturen
