While it is true that the University of Oxford snatched the number one spot in the Times Ranking Index for the fourth year in a row, there are subjects where other higher education institutions ranked better.
University of Cambridge – third (3) overall position
Overall, the University of Cambridge ranked in third place. What is more impressive, however, is the fact that there are three subject areas where Cambridge is favored over Oxford.
When it comes to subjects related to education, architecture, and veterinary science, Cambridge is a much-preferred choice. As one of the more prominent competitors, the University of Cambridge is doing an excellent job of ranking better than Oxford in the highest number of subjects.
Standford University – fourth (4) overall position
Stanford University is the close second when it comes to most prominent Oxford competitors. According to the Times Ranking Index, Stanford has snatched the first place from Oxford in three categories.
The first one is Accounting and Finance, where Stanford is first, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is second.
The second category where Stanford ranked first is Business and Management, with MIT coming at a close second position once again.
Lastly, Stanford also outperformed Oxford when it comes to communication and media sciences, with MIT and Harvard University as runner-ups.
Yale University – eight (8) overall position
While Yale University did not make it to the overall top five, the higher education institution still managed to beat Oxford to the first place in the Agriculture and Forestry category.
The second and third places for this category go to respectively the University of California, Berkeley and ETH Zurich, which share the thirteenth overall position.
University of Toronto – eighteenth (18) overall position
The University of Toronto barely managed to enter the top twenty of the overall ranking. However, the faculty notably excels in one area – Sports Sciences.
This is the only university outside of the United States which managed to compete and win against Oxford in any given category of the Times Ranking Index.
What is the Times Ranking Index?
The Times Ranking Index is one of the most renowned global higher education evaluations. It takes into account a selection of thirteen criteria, such as subject diversity, research, and quality citations.
The Times Ranking Index is one of the most valuable tools students who are about to go to university have, as it gives a detailed overview of the best universities for given subject areas. A common practice for college and university counselors around the world is to refer to indexes like this one when recommending higher education institutions to their students.