On September 15, ShanghaiRanking, a leading higher education evaluation agency, released this year’s edition of the Global Ranking of Academic Subjects (GRAS). A total of 26 subjects from Hainan University (HNU) appeared on the list, putting the university 42nd in China by number of ranked subjects. This marks an increase of 4 subjects compared with the 2025 ranking, and a growth of 21 subjects — a remarkable 420% rise — from the early stage of the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025).
In this year’s ranking, three HNU subjects — HNU’s Food Science & Engineering, Hospitality & Tourism Management, and Agricultural Sciences —remained among the world’s top 50, of which Food Science & Technology rose 10 places from last year, while Hospitality & Tourism Management advanced 20 spots. Marine/Ocean Engineering remained in the global top 100. Four subjects made their debut on the GRAS list: Mechanical Engineering, Electrical & Electronic Engineering, Computer Science & Engineering, and Transportation Science & Technology. Together, these results reflect an overall leap and multiple breakthroughs in HNU’s discipline development.
The 2026 GRAS covers 57 subjects across five major fields—Natural Sciences, Engineering, Life Sciences, Medical Sciences, and Social Sciences. It evaluates universities’ performance in individual subjects across five categories:
Translated by Huang Ziteng
Proofread by Feng Jun
