THE World University Rankings by Subject ranks universities by discipline in 11 fields. The results of this ranking are based on five groups of indicators including Citations, Industry income, International outlook, Research and Teaching. THE uses data sources from survey (done by THE), Scopus database (by Elsevier Publishing House) and data provided by higher education institutions themselves. Accordingly, VNU has three academic disciplines ranked by THE, namely:

- Computer Sciences, evaluated for the first time, was placed in Group 501-600 globally and ranked 1^st in Vietnam.

- Physical Sciences was included in Group 601-800 globally and ranked 1^st in Vietnam. Compared with this ranking in 2020, VNU remains in Group 601-800 globally, but its indicator scores have improved significantly. Specifically, the citation score increased by 30.5%, the industry income increased by 14.6%, the international outlook and research both increased by 13.9%.

- Engineering and Technology featured in Group 401 - 500 globally and ranked 1^st in Vietnam.In this year ranking, 80% of VNU’s evaluation indicator scores increased. In particular, the International outlook strongly increased (24%), followed by the Teaching (17.3%); the Industry income and Research increased slightly, 0.6% and 2.7%, respectively.

Previously, on September 2, 2020, the Times Higher Education (THE) announced the results of World University Rankings, WUR 2021. Accordingly, VNU and 2 other Vietnamese higher institutions along with 1,527 leading higher education institutions in the world were ranked by THE. According to the ranking results report, VNU was listed in Group 801-1000 globally; Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi University of Science and Technology were in Group 1001+. Thus, VNU is the only higher education institution in Vietnam listed in the group of 1,000 leading universities in the world in this Ranking.