Fifteen universities in Guangzhou have had a combined 239 academic subjects listed in ShanghaiRanking's 2026 Global Ranking of Academic Subjects (GRAS), accounting for more than 60 percent of all subjects ranked at universities across Guangdong Province.
(Photo: ShanghaiRanking)
ShanghaiRanking, a higher education evaluation organization, released its 2026 Global Ranking of Academic Subjects on September 15. The ranking covers 57 academic subjects across natural sciences, engineering, life sciences, medical sciences and social sciences, assessing universities on indicators including internationally recognized academic awards, research output, research quality and international collaboration.
Across Guangdong, 30 universities had 381 subjects included in the ranking, placing the province third nationally by the total number of ranked subjects.
Sun Yat-sen University led the Guangzhou group with 52 ranked subjects, followed by South China University of Technology with 38 and Jinan University with 31.
(Photo: Sun Yat-sen University)
Other Guangzhou universities with ranked subjects included Guangzhou University, with 25; Guangdong University of Technology, with 19; Southern Medical University, with 18; South China Normal University, with 15; South China Agricultural University and Guangzhou Medical University, with 12 each; and The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou), with 6.
(Photo: Southern Medical University)
The results put Guangzhou among the major centers of higher education in southern China, with a broad spread of ranked disciplines across science, engineering, medicine, agriculture and the social sciences.
Sun Yat-sen University had four subjects in the global top 10: Hospitality & Tourism Management and Biomedical Engineering were both ranked fourth; Remote Sensing was fifth; and Environmental Science & Engineering was eighth. The university had 24 subjects in the global top 50 and 40 in the top 100.
(Photo: South China University of Technology)
South China University of Technology had three subjects in the global top 10. Food Science & Technology ranked fourth, while Energy Science & Engineering and Textile Science & Engineering were both eighth. The university also had 18 subjects in the global top 50 and 21 in the top 100. Chemical Engineering, Civil Engineering and Nanoscience & Nanotechnology were ranked 14th, 16th and 19th, respectively.
Author | Feng Huiting
