Corvinus has reached its highest-ever position in two subject areas in the September edition of the Global Ranking of Academic Subjects, published by the international higher education ranking organisation ShanghaiRanking. The University was placed in the 201–300 band in both Economics and Political Sciences. 

The biggest improvement came in Economics. Corvinus was ranked 401–500 last year, meaning it climbed around 200 places in a single year. In 2026, it remains the only Hungarian university included in the ranking in this field. Corvinus has appeared in ShanghaiRanking’s Economics list since 2017, and this is its best result to date. 

The result is also significant in global terms. In Economics, Corvinus is now approximately among the top two per cent of higher education institutions worldwide. To put that into perspective, there are around eight times as many higher education institutions offering business and economics programmes globally as there are institutions specialising in pharmaceutical sciences. Applying a similar proportion, the result would be roughly comparable to placing among the world’s top 50 in pharmaceutical sciences. 

Corvinus was also ranked 201–300 in Political Sciences, tied with Eötvös Loránd University. The result is particularly notable as no Hungarian institution had appeared in this part of the Political Sciences ranking over the previous two years. 

“Guided by our Bridge Strategy, we have worked consistently in recent years to strengthen Corvinus’s research performance and international visibility. It is encouraging to see that this work is now clearly reflected in our international ranking results as well,” said Bruno van Pottelsberghe, Rector of Corvinus University of Budapest. 

US universities dominate the top of both subject rankings. In Economics, the University of Chicago leads the 2026 ranking, followed by MIT and Harvard University. In Political Sciences, Harvard ranks first, Stanford second and Princeton third. 

ShanghaiRanking’s subject rankings assess factors including research performance, the impact of academic publications, international collaboration and outstanding scholarly achievements. The 2026 results therefore also indicate that Corvinus has strengthened its research performance in both fields within the international academic landscape.