On October 15, ShanghaiRanking, an independent higher education evaluation institute, released the 2026 Best Chinese Subjects Ranking. Eight disciplines of CUEB were selected, namely Applied Economics, Business Administration, Statistics, Theoretical Economics, Management Science and Engineering, Law, Marxist Theory and Public Administration, with one more than in the 2025 edition. Applied Economics has maintained steady progress, rising one place from 2025 to the 9th nationwide and 5th among universities specializing in finance and economics. Both Applied Economics and Business Administration were recognized as China Top-Tier Subjects by ShanghaiRanking. CUEB’s discipline development has improved in both quality and scope, further highlighting its core competitiveness.

The ranking covers 100 first-level disciplines and five professional degree categories. It assesses all universities offering postgraduate degree programs in relevant disciplines and only presents the top 50 percent of institutions for each subject. Overall, 5,343 discipline sites from 531 universities appear on the list. The evaluation framework for first-level disciplines consists of five major categories: personnel training, platforms and projects, research achievements and awards, academic papers, and high-level talents. It includes 20 indicators and more than 200 observational variables to measure disciplinary strength. All data are sourced from third-party bodies, including the Ministry of Education (MOE), the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), and domestic and international literature databases.

Looking ahead to the 15th Five-Year Plan period, CUEB will align with national strategic needs and high-quality development of Beijing, work toward the Double First-Class initiative (a national drive to build world-class universities and disciplines) and prioritize discipline development by building four discipline clusters with prominent strengths, interdisciplinary synergy and distinct features. It will strengthen its major advantaged disciplines, make forward-looking arrangements for emerging disciplines and nurture interdisciplinary disciplines. It will establish a New Liberal Arts system with finance and economics characteristics empowered by digital intelligence and featuring deep integration of industry and education, and steadily boost disciplinary strength and the quality of personnel training.