​If you want to study Food Science and Technology, Communication and Agricultural Sciences in South Africa, then Stellenbosch University (SU) is the place to be. According to the 2022 ShanghaiRanking's Global Ranking of Academic Subjects (GRAS) released recently, SU is the best university in the country in these subjects. It is the only South African university to be ranked for Food Science and Technology (in the top 150 globally) and for Communication (among the best 300 globally). In Agricultural Sciences, SU made it into the top 200 universities in the world. In addition, SU shares first place in Biotechnology with the University of Cape Town (UCT) and Political Science with UCT and the University of Johannesburg respectively. Overall, SU is one of the 500 best institutions in the world in 14 of the 54 subjects featured on the list for 2022.

ShanghaiRanking began to publish its world university ranking by academic subjects in 2009. By introducing improved methodology, the GRAS was first published in 2017. The 2022 GRAS contains rankings of universities in 54 subjects across Natural Sciences, Engineering, Life Sciences, Medical Sciences, and Social Sciences. More than 1 800 out of 5 000 universities across 96 countries and regions are finally listed in the rankings.

The Rankings use a range of objective academic indicators and third-party data to measure the performance of universities in relevant subjects, including research output, research influence, international collaboration, research quality, and international academic awards.

Earlier this year, SU also ranked among the best tertiary institutions in the world on the QS World University Rankings by Subject having achieved the top ranking of all South African universities in Agriculture and Forestry, Theology, Divinity and Religious Studies. In 2021, the Times Higher Education World University Subject Rankings listed SU as the country's best university in Computer Science.

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