Five Dutch universities make the top 10 in a new global ranking of higher educational institutions on a subject by subject basis, the QS organisation said on Thursday.

Delft University of Technology is ranked second best in the world for civil and structural engineering, third best for architecture, and is also highly rated for environmental sciences, chemical engineering and mechanical engineering.

Wageningen University is the next best Dutch performer with a third global ranking for agriculture and forestry and a 7th place for environmental science.

Utrecht is fifth for veterinary science, Amsterdam is 8th in the list for communications and media studies and Leiden is 9th in the list for pharmaceutical studies.

‘The Dutch higher education system confirms its strong global competitiveness in these new rankings with five different universities achieving a top 10 placement in at least one subject,’ said Ben Sowter, QS head of research.

The rankings are based on research citations, alongside reputational surveys of over 126,000 academics and graduate employers worldwide.

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