The QS World University Rankings is an annual publication of university rankings in a range of popular subject areas, reviewing 36 subjects offered in 894 universities as of 2015. The latest QS World University Rankings were released on Wednesday 29 April 2015. This year’s rankings highlight the commendable performance of French higher education institutions… but also that of Australian universities.

In business and management, France leads the way with the European Institute of Business Administration (INSEAD) ranked 3^rd, but also with renowned HEC ranked 13^th, ahead of the University of Melbourne (15^th), which is Australia's top-ranked university in this field. As for Australia, 6 of its programs rank among the top 50 worldwide in business and management.

In finance, INSEAD and HEC continue to ride high – they are respectively ranked 21^st and 31^st worldwide. In the same discipline, 6 Australian universities make the top 50, with UNSW ranked 12^th, the University of Melbourne 14^th, and the University of Sydney 19^th.

France is also in the lead in arts and humanities. Sciences Po Paris comes 5^th in political science and international relations, followed by ANU in 7^th spot. In law, Australia performs extremely strongly with 4 universities in the top 20: the University of Melbourne (8^th), the University of Sydney (13^th), UNSW (15^th), and ANU (16^th). French University Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne comes in at No.25 – it is the only French university featured in the top 50 in law.

Also noteworthy: University Paris-Sorbonne (Paris IV) comes in 9^th in modern languages whilst its rival ANU comes in 24th spot ; and University Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne comes in 16^th in history, behind ANU in 9^th spot.

Whilst the rankings consolidate France’s reputation for excellence in arts and humanities, economics and finance, with a solid advantage over Australia, the quality of post-secondary education in hard sciences in France is somewhat downplayed, whereas Australia rides high in these subjects. Only mathematics remains France’s strength with Ecole Polytechnique ranked 17^th best institution in maths worldwide.  

Whilst the rankings consolidate France’s reputation for excellence in arts and humanities, economics and finance, the quality of post-secondary education in hard sciences in France is somewhat downplayed, with a few exceptions.

In mathematics, France outperforms Australia with Ecole Polytechnique ranked 17^th; next comes ANU in 31^st spot.

Both Australia and France score highly in agriculture and forestry, with ANU taking out 7^th spot, and Agro ParisTech 13^th spot.

Australia sits comfortably in the top 100 for civil and structural engineering, with 10 universities in the top 100, including the University of Sydney and UNSW in the top 20. France has some way to go to rival the best institutions in this field, as its best ranked institution, INSA Lyon, only comes into the top 200.

In architecture, Australia has 10 universities in the top 100 in the world – including the University of Melbourne coming in 15^th and the University of Sydney coming in 17^th – whilst no French university is featured in the top 100.

There is also a significant gap between French and Australian universities in the fields of mechanical, aeronautical & manufacturing engineering, medicine, environmental sciences and psychology. Whilst Australia excels in these fields, with at least 7 universities featuring in the top 100 in each of these subjects – including 8 in medicine, 8 in environmental sciences, and 9 in psychology – France has no univerisities in the top 100 in these fields.

Australia outperforms France in biological sciences with 3 universities in the top 50 and a total of 8 in the top 100, whereas no French university is listed in the top 100 in this subject. Similarly, in earth & marine sciences, Australia has 12 universities in the top 100 – ANU takes out the top ranking in the country at No. 21 in the world – versus only 3 French univerisities in the top 100 – Ecole Polytechnique reaches 37^th spot nonetheless.

Overall, as QS Head of Research Ben Sowter underlined, the 2015 QS World University Rankings highlight French universities’ commendable performance and their specific strengths in a more efficient manner than global university rankings. 

For the 2015 edition, 894 institutions were ranked in total, out of 3,551 universities evaluated. The subject rankings' methodology draws together such indicators as academic reputation, employer reputation, citations per faculty, and faculty productivity and impact, to form an international ranking of universities.

More information and a full list of 2015 rankings are available on the QS website.