The 16 best universities in the world by excellence in subjects

Every year QS releases a ranking of all the best universities in the world by subject and region. The study takes into account the opinions of thousands of academics and employers, as well as the number of times work done by people at the university is cited in academic research. It's a hugely comprehensive survey, and is respected across the world.

In its 2016 list, released on Tuesday, QS, a British company specialising in education and study abroad, ranked 42 different academic disciplines across the board, more than any other ranking it has ever done. To honour this Business Insider decided to rank the world's universities based on how many different categories they rank first in.

In total, 16 different universities came top of at least one of the 42 subjects, which range from economics to history, all the way to mineral and mining engineering. The universities right at the top are well-known, and there aren't too many surprises. However, further down the list, there are some pretty unknown institutions.

Check out the list below. The number in brackets represents the number of academic disciplines each university topped QS' ranking in.