The University of Sussex – home to the ESRC STEPS Centre – has been named as the top university in the world for development studies by Higher Education data specialist QS.

Sussex has topped the league table of 100 universities, above Harvard in the number two slot, Oxford at number four and Cambridge at eight. The STEPS Centre is co-hosted by SPRU Science Policy Research Unit and the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), working closely with the School of Global Studies at Sussex.

“I’m delighted that Sussex has been recognised as the top university for development studies globally. The STEPS Centre’s work on sustainability and development is a leading contributor across IDS, SPRU and also Global Studies,” said Professor Ian Scoones, Director of the STEPS Centre.

QS ranks universities based on academic reputation, employer reputation and research impact (the methodology is explained on their website) and in the development studies sector took in to account courses offered across the Sussex campus including by SPRU, IDS, the School of Global Studies and Centre for International Education.

Sussex joins an elite group of just six UK universities this year that ranked the best in the world for one of the 36 different subject areas surveyed.

IDS Director Prof. Melissa Leach said. “We are delighted that development studies at Sussex has been ranked first in the world. Sussex has a long and rich tradition in this area, and of cross-campus collaboration in producing innovative and cutting edge research and attracting first-class students from across the globe. We must continue to seek to build on this success, particularly as we move into a post 2015 era in which development studies has a critical role to play in reframing global development as transformational change for everyone, everywhere.”