The University of Pretoria (UP) now features amongst the world's elite institutions in 11 of the 36 subjects featured in the 2015 Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings.

The number of subjects in which UP is ranked has grown from 3 in 2011 to 11 in 2015, with the six new subject rankings in 2015 being Biological Sciences, Communication and Media Studies, Development Studies, Environmental Sciences, Medicine and Philosophy. Other subjects where UP has continued to hold its position in the top 200 subject rankings  internationally are English Language and Literature, Agriculture and Forestry, Education, Geography and Law.

UP leads among South African universities in three subjects, namely Philosophy, Veterinary Science, and Accounting and Finances.

The annual QS World University Rankings by Subject is a comprehensive guide to the world’s top universities in a range of prominent subject areas. Using data on reputation and research citations, the rankings highlight the top universities in the world for each of 36 individual subjects.

"While we are pleased to have retained our rankings in the established areas for which we are already well-recognised, (namely English Language and Literature, Agriculture and Forestry, Education, Geography and Law), having no less than six new subject rankings  in the respected QS Rankings system is extremely encouraging. This bears testimony to the high regard UP enjoys in a number of fields of study internationally. We are obviously also very proud to be the leading university in South Africa in Philosophy, Veterinary Science and Accounting and Finances, and we believe there is no better place in the country to study these subjects," says Prof Stephanie Burton, Vice-Principal for Research and Postgraduate Education at UP.

The QS World University Rankings by Subject was conducted for the fifth time this year. For this edition 3 551 universities were evaluated of which 2 186 qualified and 894 institutions were ranked in total. Over 100 million citations attributions were analysed and more than 14 000 programmes verified.