Pioneering Stem Cell Research Propels Trio to Top of QS World University Rankings(R) for Medicine 2011

LONDON, May 4, 2011 /PRNewswire-Asia/ --

• Harvard tops first QS World University Rankings(R) for Life Sciences in Medicine, Biological Sciences and Psychology

• Harvard first and MIT third in medicine following joint stem cell research; Cambridge second after IVF breakthrough

• Cambridge beats Oxford but both make top 4 in all subjects

• Seven Australian universities in top 50 for Psychology, led by Melbourne (8)

• Four Canadian universities in top 50 for Medicine (Toronto 12th) and Psychology (McGill 10th)

• University of Tokyo makes top 20 and National University of Singapore top 30 in all three; Peking University 25th in Psychology

• Top universities in continental Europe: Medicine - Karolinska Institute (26); Biological Sciences - ETH Zurich (22); Psychology - Aarhus University (47)

• 31 countries represented

    Number of Top 200 universities by country:

                       Biological
    Country            Sciences        Medicine       Psychology

    US                 69              54             58
    UK                 28              30             29
    Germany            14              18             14
    Australia          9               12             17
    Canada             9               13             14
    Netherlands        7               8              8
    Japan              8               4              8
    Sweden             5               5              4
    Belgium            2               7              4
    Switzerland        6               4              3

Full results: http://www.topuniversities.com

Harvard's triumph in the QS World University Rankings(R) for Medicine follows pioneering work in stem cell research carried out in collaboration with third-placed MIT at the Harvard-MIT Health Sciences and Technology Faculty. The universities' most widely cited work was in embryonic stem cell research, the subject of a Bush administration funding ban, repealed by Barack Obama in 2009. Meanwhile, second-placed Cambridge hit the headlines in 2010 when its long-term work in embryonic stem cell research and IVF led to the Nobel Prize for Professor Martin Evans, sparking criticism from the Catholic Church. The university ranks second for both academic and employer reputation, reflecting the recent high profile of its medical faculty. Over 50,000,000 people have viewed QS World University Rankings(R) in the past 12 months, and the QS Global Academic Advisory Board has developed the first ever QS World University Rankings(R) by Subject in response to a demand for more granular detail. Universities have been ranked based on academic reputation, employer reputation and research citations, with weightings tailored to each subject.

"QS subject rankings reflect cutting-edge research in life sciences, both through highly cited research papers and academic reputation," says Ben Sowter, head of QS Intelligence Unit. "And employer evaluations correlate highly with academic opinion in these subjects."