Eight Austrian universities have made it into the top 50 in one of the 55 subject rankings in the current "QS World University Ranking by Subject." As in previous years, the best result was delivered by the Vienna University of Music and Performing Arts (mdw) with sixth place in Performing Arts. The University of Vienna once again has the most mentions in the top 50 - namely seven - with the highest ranking in Communication and Media Studies (13).

For its ranking, Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) annually surveys scientists and employers about the reputation and employability of graduates in the respective fields of study. Additionally, citations of scientific papers from the Elsevier Scopus database are evaluated, and research partnerships with other higher education institutions are considered.

Premiere for Academy of Fine Arts

Among the domestic art universities, a total of three made it into the top 50 in 2026, in Performing Arts alongside the mdw also the Mozarteum in Salzburg (17). In Music, the mdw reached 19th place and the Mozarteum ranked 26-50, for the first time a place among the top 50 was achieved in Art and Design for the Academy of Fine Arts (26). At the University of Vienna, in addition to Media Studies, the subjects Theology (rank 22), Anthropology (34), Geography (35), Archaeology (36), Philosophy (49), and History (50) were particularly well ranked.

Among the top 50 for 2026 are also the University of Veterinary Medicine (rank 27), the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (rank 30 in Agriculture and Forestry), the Vienna University of Technology (rank 44 in Architecture), and the Central European University (CEU), which has been based in Vienna for several years, with 45th place in Political Science.

South Asia Provides Most Climbers

A total of over 1,900 universities participated in the QS subject ranking 2026. The lists are once again led by American and British universities. In the overarching fields of study Life Sciences and Medicine, Natural Sciences, and Social Sciences and Management, Harvard University is at the forefront, in Arts and Humanities the University of Oxford, and in Engineering and Technology the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The most climbers in the QS subject ranking this year came from South Asia.

(APA/Red)

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