Essex continues to lead in social sciences

Essex’s continued position as a global leader in social sciences has been confirmed by the latest QS World University Rankings by Subject.

Once again we’re in the top 40 for Politics and Sociology. As well as looking at individual subjects, the rankings group subjects into five broad areas and we’ve moved into the top 150 for Social Sciences and Management – up 32 places from 2017.

Professor Sasha Roseneil, Executive Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences said: “Our Faculty of Social Sciences has long been the site of outstanding, cutting edge research, and this significant rise in the QS Rankings for Social Sciences and Management is recognition of the hard work and collective endeavour of our academics. 

“We have made some fantastic appointments in recent years, as we grow our research base and open up new areas of study. I am particularly delighted with our top 40 rankings for Politics and Sociology.”

Professor Andrew Canessa, Head of our Department of Sociology said: “We are proud to maintain our position as one of the top 40 sociology departments in the QS rankings. The Department is at the cutting edge of new developments in areas such as green criminology, migration studies, and social theory, to name just a few.”

Professor Lawrence Ezrow, Head of our Department of Government said: “We are pleased to be consistently ranked among the top political science departments in the world. It’s great that our staff’s commitment to excellence in research and teaching is reflected in this ranking.”

The QS World University Rankings by Subject rank the world’s top universities in individual subject areas to help prospective students identify leading institutions in their chosen field. One of the factors used to produce the rankings is reputation among employers – an area in which all Essex subjects ranked scored higher this year.

Essex is ranked in nine subjects – one more than last year, with mathematics entering the rankings for the first time. 

The rankings follow Essex being presented a prestigious Queen’s Anniversary Prize for our outstanding social science research, being ranked 22nd in the Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide and  achieving the highest rating of Gold in the government’s Teaching Excellence Framework.