Top rankings for Essex in QS World University Rankings by Subject 2020

Essex is ranked top 30 in the world for politics and international studies, and 44th in the world for sociology in the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2020.

The strength of our global academic reputation and an increase in the number of scholars around the world who cite world-leading research published by Essex academics have contributed to Essex’s improved performance in these subject areas in the QS rankings.

Essex is also ranked in the top 200 in the world for accounting and finance (151^st to 200^th), economics and econometrics (101^st to 150^th), law (151^st to 200^th), linguistics (101^st to 150^th), philosophy (151^st to 200^th), and social sciences and management (178^th).

Out of UK universities the QS World University Rankings by Subject also show Essex is ranked 6^th for politics and international studies, 7^th for sociology, 11^th for economics and econometrics, 13^th for linguistics, 22^nd for law, 24^th for philosophy, 25^th for social sciences and management, 26^th for accounting and finance, and 28^th for computer science and information systems.

In November 2019, Essex was also ranked in the top 50 for the social sciences in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings by Subject.

Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor Lorna Fox O’Mahony said: “Our world-leading research addresses problems of global importance, developing new ideas and solutions to meet the challenges of our time.

“I’m delighted to see our global reputation for research and the relevance of Essex research, as demonstrated through high levels of citations, reflected by the QS World University Rankings by Subject. I’m also proud the transformative educational experience we deliver for our students is supported by this research strength.”

In this academic year the University of Essex is further increasing its research power by appointing 50 new posts at lecturer through to professorial level across four cross disciplinary themes: Environment, Sustainability and Society; Socio-genomics; Artificial Intelligence, Data, Ethics and Rights; and Brain Sciences and Engineering.

The University of Essex has an outstanding reputation for the social sciences. Essex has been number one for politics in all UK Government research assessments (REF 2014, mainstream universities).

Essex is also the only University in the UK to be awarded a Regius Professorship for political science by HM The Queen. In 2017 we were awarded a prestigious Queen’s Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education for the world-leading social science research undertaken at the Institute for Social and Economic Research.

In September 2019, Essex was ranked in the top 300 overall in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2020. This includes being ranked 21st for 'international outlook', reflecting our ability to attract students and research talent from around the world and our commitment to working with leading institutions across the globe.