SOURCE: https://www.timeshighereducation.com
Universities across Asia continue to improve in STEM fields in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings by Subject 2026 and are now rising faster than their European and North American rivals in other areas such as the arts.
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) topped the tables in arts and humanities, business and economics, and social sciences – in a repeat of last year. Elsewhere in the US, Stanford University ranked number one in education and law, Harvard University in engineering and life sciences, and California Institute of Technology in physical sciences.
The other three of the 11 subject tables were topped by UK institutions. The University of Oxford led the way in computer science and medical and health, while the University of Cambridge overtook Stanford in psychology. Only Harvard, Stanford and Cambridge appear in all 11 subject rankings’ top 10s.
View the full World University Rankings by Subject 2026 results
– Arts and Humanities
– Business and Economics
– Computer Science
– Education Studies
– Engineering
– Law
– Life Sciences
– Medical and Health
– Physical Sciences
– Psychology
– Social Sciences
While the upper echelons of the tables may seem familiar, analysis reveals larger shifts at play across the full rankings. The US occupied 68 of the 111 top-10 slots (compared with 67 out of 110 last year), but the UK’s total fell slightly to 29.
In addition to the four top-10 positions across education and business that it had last year, China has gained three more in 2026. Peking University moved up to 10th place in computer science and eighth place in engineering, while Tsinghua University broke into the top 10 for physical sciences.
In life sciences there are now three top-20 Asian universities for the first time as the National University of Singapore rises to 19th place.
Among Asian universities, 17 per cent went up in the rankings for life sciences, 16 per cent for physical sciences and 19 per cent for computer science.
But the 2026 data suggests that Asian institutions are rising even faster in other areas, and quicker than those in North America and Europe.
Futao Huang, professor at the Research Institute for Higher Education at Hiroshima University, said growth in science across Asia has not stalled, but has clearly slowed relative to the past decade.
“As institutions approach the global frontier, marginal gains naturally become harder. At the same time, policy attention and institutional investment in many Asian systems are now expanding beyond STEM, which partly explains the faster upward movement we are seeing in areas such as law, education, and arts and humanities.”
Almost half of Asian institutions (47 per cent) improved their law ranking, while 32 per cent did so for education, 29 per cent for arts and humanities and 26 per cent for business and economics. Three Asian universities made the top 10 for business and economics for the first time.
In contrast, just 13 per cent of their counterparts in Europe and 17 per cent in North America improved in arts and humanities.
Under supportive conditions, Huang said Asian universities could enter the global top 10 in arts and humanities within the next decade, but progress will likely be uneven across countries.
