The Colorado School of Mines was named the top mining school in the world by the QS World University Rankings by Subject.

The rankings include 46 individual subject areas and are based on data for academic reputation from a survey of more than 70,000 academics, research citations per paper and its H-index, which measures the impact of a scholar or scientist.

What sets QS apart from similar rankings of educational institutions is a fourth component of the ranking – employer reputation. A survey of more than 40,000 employers ranks schools according to the quality of recruits.

The QS engineering – mining and mineral field has 51 entries and the top tier is dominated by US, Australian and Canadian universities. Top-rated Colorado School of Mines, established in 1859, leads the competition — again — with a score of more than 95.

Curtin University in Western Australia is in second place with 87.3 and the University of Queensland takes third place with a score of 81.8. Canada’s McGill University and Australia’s University of New South Wales in Syndey round out the top five, with scores nearly neck and neck of 80.5 and 80.4, respectively.