Pioneering Stem Cell Research Propels Trio to Top of QS World University Rankings(R) for Medicine 2011

LONDON, May 3, 2011 /PRNewswire/ –

– Harvard tops first QS World University Rankings(R) for Life Sciences in
Medicine, Biological Sciences and Psychology

– Harvard first and MIT third in medicine following joint stem cell
research; Cambridge second after IVF breakthrough

– Cambridge beats Oxford but both make top 4 in all subjects

– Seven Australian universities in top 50 for Psychology, led by
Melbourne (8)

– Four Canadian universities in top 50 for Medicine (Toronto 12th) and
Psychology (McGill 10th)

– University of Tokyo makes top 20 and National University of Singapore
top 30 in all three; Peking University 25th in Psychology

– Top universities in continental Europe: Medicine – Karolinska Institute
(26); Biological Sciences – ETH Zurich (22); Psychology – Aarhus University
(47)

    - 31 countries represented

    Number of Top 200 universities by country:

                       Biological
    Country            Sciences        Medicine       Psychology

    US                 69              54             58
    UK                 28              30             29
    Germany            14              18             14
    Australia          9               12             17
    Canada             9               13             14
    Netherlands        7               8              8
    Japan              8               4              8
    Sweden             5               5              4
    Belgium            2               7              4
    Switzerland        6               4              3

Full results: http://www.topuniversities.com

Harvard’s triumph in the QS World University Rankings(R) for Medicine
follows pioneering work in stem cell research carried out in collaboration
with third-placed MIT at the Harvard-MIT Health Sciences and Technology
Faculty. The universities’ most widely cited work was in embryonic stem cell
research, the subject of a Bush administration funding ban, repealed by

Barack Obama in 2009. Meanwhile, second-placed Cambridge hit the headlines in
2010 when its long-term work in embryonic stem cell research and IVF led to
the Nobel Prize for Professor Martin Evans, sparking criticism from the
Catholic Church. The university ranks second for both academic and employer
reputation, reflecting the recent high profile of its medical faculty. Over
50,000,000 people have viewed QS World University Rankings(R) in the past 12
months, and the QS Global Academic Advisory Board has developed the first
ever QS World University Rankings(R) by Subject in response to a demand for
more granular detail. Universities have been ranked based on academic
reputation, employer reputation and research citations, with weightings
tailored to each subject.

“QS subject rankings reflect cutting-edge research in life sciences, both
through highly cited research papers and academic reputation,” says Ben
Sowter, head of QS Intelligence Unit. “And employer evaluations correlate
highly with academic opinion in these subjects.”

SOURCE QS Quacquarelli Symonds