Thursday 28 July 2011

'Top 100' ranking of Universities for social sciences study


The latest world rankings for the study of social sciences has seen Harvard University ranked as number one for the study of economics, accounting and law. It is another strong appearance for the American university which earlier this year topped the rankings for biological sciences.

The rankings show the best performers in the six disciplines; accounting and finance, economics and econometrics, law, politics and international studies, sociology and statistics and operational research. The Oxbridge universities are in the top ten for each subject.

London School of Economics (LSE) beat both Oxford and Cambridge universities for economics and econometrics in the rankings which are published by the higher education and careers research company Quacquarelli Symonds (QS). LSE are also placed ahead of University College London (UCL) for all of the disciplines.

As part of the survey to compile the rankings, global graduate employers were asked to identify the universities they believe produce the best graduates overall and within a selected discipline. The results demonstrated that graduates in business, accountancy and finance, and economics were the most sought after.

With the continuing focus on universities to bring value to the education market along with their increasing fees, graduate employability has become a growing worry for future students.

"Employability is by no means the only benefit of a university education, but with £9,000 per-year fees and 83 graduates now competing for every job, it is inevitably at the forefront of many prospective students' minds", says John O'Leary, Editor of the Times Good University Guide and member of the QS Academic Advisory Board. "The reality is that students will be paying the same amount for degrees that in practice have vastly different market values."

The Guardian has compiled a list of the rankings into a spreadsheet which can be downloaded from their website.

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