The 2025 Shanghai Global Ranking of Academic Subjects (GRAS) was published on Tuesday 18 November.  

This year the University of Sussex is ranked in 19 subjects, with four placed in the global top 100:

• Business Administration - 47^th
• Sociology - 51-75 band
• Economics – 76-100 band
• Political Sciences - the 76-100 band

Sussex also features strongly in the UK subject rankings, with nine subjects in the UK top 20:

• Sociology - joint 6^th
• Psychology - joint 9^th 
• Environmental Science & Engineering - joint 10^th
• Business Administration - 11^th
• Economics - joint 11^th
• Management - joint 12^th
• Political Sciences - joint 12^th
• Finance - joint 17^th
• Physics - joint 18^th

Further related highlights amongst the ranked subjects includes:

• Physics - joint 1^st in the world for Research Impact and joint 5^th in the UK for International Collaboration (joint 37^th in the world)
• Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences - joint 1^st in the UK for International Collaboration (joint 14^th in the world)
• Environmental Science & Engineering is 2^nd in the UK for Research Impact (13^th in the world)
• Sociology - 3^rd in the UK for World Class Faculty (18^th in the world)
• Environmental Science & Engineering - 4^th in the UK for World Class Faculty (joint 34^th in the world)
• Psychology - joint 6^th in the UK for Research Impact (joint 16^th in the world)
• Geography - 7^th in the UK for Research Impact (joint 49^th in the world)
• Finance - joint 7^th in the UK for International Collaboration (joint 49^th in the world)
• Political Sciences - 8^th in the UK for Research Impact (joint 113^th in the world)
• Business Administration - joint 8^th in the UK for World Class Faculty (joint 59^th in the world)
• Psychology - joint 9^th in the UK for World Class Output (joint 82^nd in the world)
• Business Administration - joint 10^th in the UK for International Collaboration (joint 80^th in the world)

Vice-Chancellor, Professor Sasha Roseneil, said: “I am delighted to see Sussex recognised so strongly in this year’s Shanghai GRAS rankings – with four subjects placed in the global top 100 and nine top 20 positions in the UK. These results reflect the expertise and dedication of our researchers, whose work is seeking to address some of the world's most pressing challenges. It is especially pleasing to see Physics at Sussex ranked joint first in the world for Research Impact, alongside strong performances from Environmental Science & Engineering, Psychology, Geography, Sociology, and Political Science across a range of metrics.”

The Shanghai Rankings GRAS rankings

The GRAS ranking uses various data to measure universities’ performance including World Class Faculty, World Class Output, Research Impact and International Collaboration.

Universities are ranked in 57 specific subject disciplines across the broad fields of Natural Sciences, Engineering, Life Sciences, Medical Sciences and Social Sciences. More than 2,000 universities across 100 countries and regions are included in the rankings.