For the fifth year in a row, the University of Arizona has earned the top spot in the U.S. for its work in the field of water resources. UArizona is again ranked No. 1 in the U.S. and No. 2 globally in water resources in ShanghaiRanking's 2021 Global Ranking of Academic Subjects.

"I am proud to see University of Arizona scientists recognized once again with this prestigious ranking," said University of Arizona President Robert C. Robbins. "Our leadership in water resources is a point of significant pride for the university, and our expertise and experience in the vitally important areas of sustainability and climate resilience will have an undeniable impact both now and in the future."

UArizona earned the No. 1 spot globally in water resources in 2019 and 2018 and finished No. 2 globally in 2020. The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich again finished No. 1 globally in the 2021 ranking, with UArizona coming in ahead of Beijing Normal University, Texas A&M and the University of New South Wales. UArizona has never finished lower than No. 3 globally since ShanghaiRanking started ranking programs in water resources in 2017.

"In 2020, Arizona experienced the second driest year in more than a century, and much of the state and the U.S. Southwest are in extreme to exceptional drought," said Elizabeth "Betsy" Cantwell, senior vice president for research and innovation. "The impacts of water security and management are wide ranging. By leveraging both the intellectual rigor of our researchers and our natural surroundings, the University is tackling urgent, consequential water resources challenges holistically for Arizonans and populations well beyond the Southwest."

The Global Ranking of Academic Subjects, or GRAS, scores more than 4,000 global universities across 54 subjects in five categories (natural sciences, engineering, life sciences, medical sciences and social sciences) based on the number of papers authored by an institution in an academic subject, the number of papers published in top journals, the amount of international collaboration and the total number of staff members that have won significant awards.

UArizona also earned high marks in the areas of library and information sciences (No. 17 globally and No. 11 in the U.S.), earth sciences (No. 28 globally and No. 14 in the U.S.), ecology (No. 30 globally and No. 11 in the U.S.), communication (No. 30 globally and No. 19 in the U.S.), atmospheric sciences (No. 31 globally and No. 19 in the U.S.), business administration (No. 38 globally and No. 28 in the U.S.), geography (No. 34 globally and No. 7 in the U.S.) and sociology (No. 43 globally and No. 31 in the U.S.).

ShanghaiRanking's institutional rankings were first published in June 2003 by the Center for World-Class Universities and the Graduate School of Education (formerly the Institute of Higher Education) of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China. The rankings are updated annually and since 2009 have been published and copyrighted by ShanghaiRanking Consultancy.