2 SZ universities'49 disciplines among China's best

A total of 49 subjects from two Shenzhen-based universities have been named in the 2025 Best Chinese Subjects Ranking, which was released Wednesday by higher education consultancy ShanghaiRanking.

The ranking included 5,344 disciplines from 517 universities across 98 first-level disciplines and five professional-degree categories. Eligible institutions were those authorized to confer master’s or doctoral degrees in a given discipline, and only schools in the top 50% of each discipline were listed.

An aerial view of Shenzhen University. Photo by Ning Jiewen

Shenzhen University (SZU) placed 36 disciplines on the list, eight of which were designated as first-class, and the Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) placed 13, with five first-class designations.

SZU’s first-class disciplines are Journalism & Communication, Optical Engineering, Information & Communication Engineering, Computer Science & Technology, Architecture, Civil Engineering, Urban & Rural Planning, and Basic Medical Sciences. SUSTech’s first-class entries are Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Geophysics, and Biology.

Southern University of Science and Technology. Photo from Daily Sunshine

Several disciplines ranked particularly high nationally. SZU’s Urban & Rural Planning ranked fourth nationally, with Optical Engineering sixth, Architecture eighth, and Civil Engineering ninth. SUSTech’s Geophysics also placed fourth. 

ShanghaiRanking is a leading global evaluator of higher education. Its Best Chinese Subjects assessment weighs five areas — talent cultivation, platforms and projects, achievements and awards, academic publications, and high-level personnel — using data from third-party sources such as the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, and domestic and international literature databases.