Edith Smit, director of the Graduate School of Communication and professor of Persuasive Communication, is extremely pleased with the achievement. ‘It reflects our constant efforts to improve our teaching and research. We were already well respected in Europe; it’s great to see that we have now also cemented our position globally.’ Richard Rogers, professor of New Media and Digital Culture and former department chair of Media Studies is also delighted with the result: 'Our department is doing ground-breaking work and we always gain considerable international recognition in the field for the media theories and methods we develop. It's great to see this confirmed in a major international ranking like the QS.

19 listings in top 50

Last year, the UvA made the top 50 in 17 subjects; this year, there are 19. In addition to Communication & Media Studies, the subjects listed in the top 50 are: Sociology in 14th place (same as in 2016), Anthropology 14th (was 15), Geography 16th (was 14), Linguistics 17th (was 19), Psychology 17th (was 10), Education 23rd (was 35), Social Policy & Administration 32nd (was 29), Politics & International Studies 33rd (same), Development Studies 34th (was 25), Modern Languages 35th (was 39), Medicine 36th (was 34), History 38th (was 43), Philosophy 41st (was 48), Economics & Econometrics 42nd (was 41), English Language & Literature 46th (same), Statistics & Operational Research 47th (was 51-100), and Performing Arts 49th (in group 51-100 last year).

The UvA is also in the top 50 for Theology, Divinity & Religious Studies. This is the first year that QS ranked this subject. The UvA placed 44th in Religious Studies.

Top 100

From place 51 onward, the QS rankings refer to groups as opposed to individual universities. In the group 51-200, the UvA is listed in the following subjects: Accounting & Finance, Archeology, Biological Sciences, Business & Management Studies, Chemistry, Computer Science & Information Systems, Law, Mathematics and Physics & Astronomy.

Methodology

This year, QS evaluated a total of 4,438 universities; ultimately, 1,117 were ranked according to a total of 46 subjects. QS uses four criteria:

Reputation amongst employers
Employers are asked to list 10 national and 30 international universities they consider excellent for the recruitment of graduates.

Reputation amongst fellow academics
Academics are asked to list 10 national and international universities they consider excellent for research in their field

Citations
The number of times an academic publication is cited in other academic publications.

H-index
The impact (number of citations) is linked to the scope (number of articles) of the work by a scientist or scholar.

Overall ranking

The university-wide QS World University Rankings are always published in autumn. In the 2016-2017 edition, which was published on 6 September 2016, the UvA is listed in 57th place. In this ranking, the UvA is the highest rated Dutch university.