Exeter subjects excel in global ranking
University of Exeter research has ranked among the world’s best in a recently published league table.
The Global Ranking of Academic Subjects (GRAS) 2025 placed 12 academic research areas in the global top 100 – three more than last year – with particularly strong performances from subjects related to climate and the environment.
Six Exeter subjects featured in the global top 50, with Ecology as Exeter’s highest placed subject at 2nd in the world, followed by Earth Sciences and Geography (both 18th), Atmospheric Science (19th), Environmental Science and Engineering (28th) and Public Administration (40th).
Nationally, Environmental Sciences was 1st, Ecology and Atmospheric Science 2nd, Earth Sciences 3rd, Public Administration 7th and Geography 10th.
University of Exeter Business School subjects also performed well, with Management breaking into the global top 100 for the first time and Economics and Business Administration both in the world’s top 150.
The results, compiled by Shanghai Rankings, covered research in 57 subjects in the Natural Sciences, Engineering, Life Sciences, Medical Sciences, and Social Sciences.
Around 2,000 universities in 100 countries were assessed, with Exeter ranked in 33 subjects.
Professor Lisa Roberts, President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Exeter said: “I’m delighted to see another global research ranking recognise Exeter’s excellence, with a particularly strong performance in subjects related to climate and the environment. This reflects how we’re leading the way to creating a greener, healthier, fairer world, most recently demonstrated by the key role we played at COP30. I’d like to thank everyone involved in this outstanding and important work.”
The GRAS rankings use a range of objective academic indicators and third-party data to measure the performance of subjects at world universities.
They place emphasis around prestige indicators and citation-based measures, which may not capture all high-quality research, as they are not direct measures of research quality.
See here for the methodology and for more information visit the Shanghai Rankings website.
