Top Universities for Economics in 2015

Click here to discover the top universities for economics in 2019.

Aspiring economists will not only want to ensure they get the best value for money with their economics degree, they’ll want to ensure their qualification is well-respected among employers, to guarantee a strong long-term return on investment.

To help with this, the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2015 provides a ranking of the world’s 200 top universities for economics and econometrics, based on a methodology which assesses academic reputation, employer reputation and research impact.

Below you’ll find this year’s top 10 universities for economics, followed by a closer look at the best economics schools in each world region. To see the full interactive table, click here.

Top universities for economics in the US & Canada

Including the seven making it into the top 10 (above), the US claims 54 of the world’s best universities for economics in this year’s ranking, almost a quarter of all schools featured. Also in the top 50 are Columbia University (14^th in the world rankings), University of Pennsylvania (13^th in the world rankings), New York University (NYU, 41^st in the world rankings), University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA, 37^th in the world rankings), Northwestern University (34^th in the world rankings), University of California, San Diego (UCSD, 59^th in the world rankings), University of Michigan (23^rd in the world rankings), Duke University (25^th in the world rankings), Cornell University (19^th in the world rankings), Boston University (78^th in the world rankings), Brown University (52^nd in the world rankings), the University of Minnesota (119^th in the world rankings), the California Institute of Technology (CalTech, 8^th in the world rankings) and Carnegie Mellon University (65^th in the world rankings).

Canada boasts 11 top economics schools, including the University of Toronto (20^th in the world rankings) and the University of British Colombia (43^rd in the world rankings) in the world’s top 50, as well as McGill University (21^st in the world rankings) within the top 100.

Learn more about studying in the US and Canada here.

Top universities for economics in Europe

The UK is home to 24 of the world’s top 200 universities for economics, with 10 of these within the top 100. In addition to the three UK entries in the top 10, the top 50 features UCL (University College London, 5^th in the world rankings), London Business School (unranked in the world rankings) and the University of Warwick (61^st in the world rankings).

Germany offers nine top economics schools, including one within the world’s top 50; this is Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn (177^th in the world rankings). Meanwhile  France has five representatives, including Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (228^th in the world rankings) at 51-100.

Eight of the world’s best economics schools are located in the Netherlands, including Tilburg University (367^th in the world rankings), Erasmus University Rotterdam (90^th in the world rankings) and the University of Amsterdam (50^th in the world rankings) all within the world’s top 50. Italy also has eight ranked schools, including specialist institution Università Commerciale Luigi Bocconi (unranked in the world rankings) in the economics top 20. Spain meanwhile makes six appearances, including two within the top 50: Universitat Pompeu Fabra (298^th in the world rankings) and Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (355^th in the world rankings).

With five schools featured is Sweden, including the Stockholm School of Economics in the top 50. Switzerland is next in Europe, alongside Belgium, each claiming four of the world’s best economics schools, with the Swiss ETH Zurich (12^th in the world rankings) at 44^th and the Belgian Université Catholique de Louvain (UCL, 154^th in the world rankings) at 45=.

Each with two offerings are Austria, Denmark and Ireland. While both Danish entrants – Aarhus University (96^th in the world rankings) and the University of Copenhagen (45^th in the world rankings) – make the top 100, the Austrian and Irish representatives all rank in the 101-150 range, including the University of Vienna (156^th in the world rankings) and Trinity College Dublin (71^st in the world rankings).

Finland claims two top schools in this subject, including Aalto University (187^th in the world rankings), while Norway offers one – BI Norwegian Business School.

Six more European countries feature in the economics ranking: the Czech Republic, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Norway and Russia. All of these are ranked in the 151-200 range, except Norway’s University of Oslo (101^st in the world rankings) at 101-150.

Learn more about studying in Europe with our comprehensive country guides.

Top universities for economics in Asia

Asia claims 22 of the world’s best economics schools, led by Japan with seven entrants. While the University of Tokyo (31^st in the world rankings) ranks within the top 50, also in the top 100 are Hitotsubashi University (unranked in the world rankings) and Kyoto University (36^th in the world rankings).

Mainland China is close behind with six of the world’s top economics schools, including Peking University (57^th in the world rankings) in the top 50. Hong Kong has six entrants, of which three are among the world’s top 50 – Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST, 40^th in the world rankings) and University of Hong Kong (28^th in the world rankings) and the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK, 46^th in the world rankings)

Of the four leading economics departments located in South Korea, all are within the top 100, and Seoul National University (SNU, 31^st in the world rankings) comes within the top 50. Singapore’s three offerings are also all within the top 100, led by the National University of Singapore (22^nd in the world rankings) at 21^st for this subject.

Malaysia and Taiwan each have one representative: the Malay Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM, 376^th in the world rankings) and the Taiwanese National Taiwan University (NTU, 76^th in the world rankings).

Heading into the Middle East, Israel offers two of the world’s best economics schools, with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (138^th in the world rankings) and Tel Aviv University (195^th in the world rankings) both in the top 100.

Learn more about studying abroad in Asia with our country guides, or discover more leading universities in the region with the latest QS University Rankings: Asia.

Top universities for economics in Latin America

Five countries in Latin America appear in the economics ranking, with three ranked schools in Brazil, two in Mexico, and one each in Argentina, Chile and Colombia. Of these, Chile’s Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (167^th in the world rankings) is the highest ranked at 51-100, followed by Brazil’s Fundação Getulio Vargas (FGV, unranked in the world rankings) and the Universidade de São Paulo (USP, 132^nd in the world rankings), both in the 101-150 range.

Also ranked among the top 200 economics departments are Argentina’s Universidad Torcuato Di Tella (601-650 in the world rankings), Colombia’s Universidad de Los Andes Colombia (262^nd in the world rankings) and Mexico’s Instituto Tecnológico Autonomo de México (ITAM, 651-700 in the world rankings).

View our full range of Latin American country guides, or discover more leading schools in the region with the latest edition of the QS University Rankings: Latin America.

Top universities for economics in Australia & New Zealand

As many as 11 of the world’s best universities for economics are located in Australia, including six in the world’s top 100. In the top 50 are the University of Melbourne (33^rd in the world rankings), Australian National University (ANU, 25^th in the world rankings), Monash University (70^th in the world rankings), the University of New South Wales (48^th in the world rankings) and the University of Sydney.

Four of the world’s best economics schools can also be found in New Zealand. Of these, the University of Auckland (92^nd in the world rankings) is the highest ranked at 51-100, while the University of Canterbury (242^nd in the world rankings), the University of Otago (159^th in the world rankings) and the University of Waikato all rank 151-200.

Find out more about studying in Australia and New Zealand with our country guides.

Want more content like this? Register for free site membership to get regular updates and your own personal content feed.