- Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in theUnited Statesleadsthe rankings withfirst place in three subject rankings:Arts and Humanities, Business and Economics,and Social Sciences
- ߣߣƵpublishes university rankings in11subject areas, using the same rigorousmethodologyas its overall World University Rankings, deploying 18performance metrics across teaching, research, knowledgetransferand internationalisationto provide the world’s most comprehensive and balanced subject rankings
- United Statestops eight subject rankings
- United Kingdomis number one in three subject rankings
- University of Cambridgetakes anumber onespotfor first time since 2022, topping thePsychologytable
- Chinaenters top 10 for first time in Computer Science and Physical Sciences– and has seventop-10places across the subject rankings overall, up from four last year
- Three Asian universities in top 10 for Business and Economics for the first time
- ߣߣƵrejoins top 10 in Law with University of Melbourne in eighth place
- Mainland Europe has onetop-10university: ETH Zurich inSwitzerlandis third for Computer Science andninth in Physical Sciences
- Scroll down for all 11top-10tables
TheUnited StatesandUnited Kingdomdominate theߣߣƵWorld University Rankings by Subjecttop 10s, butEastAsia is making significant strides forwardat the top of the tables,demonstratingthe region’s growing strengthincompetingat the very highest levels.
Chinais the best performing Asian country at the top of the rankings with seventop-10places, up from four last year. Peking University has become thefirst Chinese university to join the top 10 in Computer Sciencein 10th place, up from 12th. Meanwhile,Tsinghua University is the first Chineseuniversity to make the top 10 for Physical Sciences in 10th place.And in Engineering,Peking Universityrises toeighth position from 11th, giving Asia two universities in the top 10,asSingapore’s National University of Singapore istenth.
Singaporealso enters the top 10 for Business and Economics with NUS in joint10thposition –bringing the total number oftop-10Asian universities for Business and Economics to three– andjoinstheArts and Humanities top 20asNUSrises to 19thplace from 25th.Meanwhile,Hong Kongremainsin the top 10for Education with University of Hong Kong in seventh place,down from sixth.
Globally,USuniversity MIT tops the highest number of rankings, coming first inthree subjects:Arts and Humanities, Business and Economics,and Social Sciences. Stanford University is first for Education and Law but no longer leads the Psychologyranking as it gets pushed to second place by theUK’s University of Cambridge.
Harvard University is number one for Engineering and Life Sciences, and California Institute for Technology comes first in Physical Sciences.
The remaining top spots are taken byUKuniversities. University of Oxford(rankedglobal number one in theoverallTHEWorld University Rankings)topsthe subject rankings inMedicaland Health and Computer Science, while University of Cambridge is number one for Psychologyfor the first time since 2022, marking the only first place change across the11 subject tables.
TheUShas by far the highest number oftop-10places across the rankings with68, followed by theUKwith 29 andChinawith seven.Only three universities appear in all 11 subject rankings’top 10s:HarvardUniversity, StanfordUniversityandtheUniversity ofCambridge.
Switzerlandis the only mainland Europeancountry to rank in the top 10s:ETH Zurich is third for Computer Science and ninth in Physical Sciences.ߣߣƵhas rejoined the Law ranking top 10with University of Melbournein eighth place, after dropping out of the top 10 last year down to 11th.AndCanadahas one top 10 university:University of Toronto is ninth inMedical and Health.
Phil Baty,chiefglobalaffairsofficer atߣߣƵ,said:
“ߣߣƵ’ssubjectrankings deploy the sametrusted,gold-standardmethodologyas theTHEWorld University Rankings toprovidethe world’s most comprehensive viewof universities’subject strengthacross18performance metrics coveringteaching, research, knowledgetransferand international outlook.
“This year’s exceptionally rich data provides further evidence of an emerging new world order – where Western dominance of higher education and research is steadily being challenged by the rapidly rising powers of East Asia.East Asian nations, led by China, are making particularly remarkable stridesin geopolitically strategic areas, including Computer Science and Physical Sciences.”
Global top 10s for each of the 11 subject rankings
If you reproduce any part of these ranking tables or charts, please attribute it to “ߣߣƵWorld University Rankings by Subject 2026”, and link to the full list on our website (included under each top 10). All 11 tables are also available to view from this landing page.
Arts and Humanities
|
Institution |
Country/Territory |
Rank 2026 |
Rank 2025 |
|
Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
United States |
1 |
1 |
|
Stanford University |
United States |
2 |
4 |
|
University of Cambridge |
United Kingdom |
3 |
2 |
|
University of Oxford |
United Kingdom |
4 |
3 |
|
Harvard University |
United States |
5 |
5 |
|
University of California, Berkeley |
United States |
6 |
=7 |
|
Princeton University |
United States |
7 |
6 |
|
UCL |
United Kingdom |
8 |
=7 |
|
Yale University |
United States |
9 |
10 |
|
The University of Chicago |
United States |
10 |
9 |
Full table for Arts and Humanities 2026
Businessand Economics
|
Institution |
Country/Territory |
Rank 2026 |
Rank 2025 |
|
Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
United States |
1 |
1 |
|
Stanford University |
United States |
2 |
3 |
|
Tsinghua University |
China |
3 |
6 |
|
University of Oxford |
United Kingdom |
4 |
2 |
|
University of California, Berkeley |
United States |
5 |
8 |
|
University of Cambridge |
United Kingdom |
6 |
5 |
|
Peking University |
China |
7 |
4 |
|
Harvard University |
United States |
8 |
7 |
|
The University of Chicago |
United States |
9 |
9 |
|
National University of Singapore |
Singapore |
=10 |
12 |
|
University of Pennsylvania |
United States |
=10 |
13 |
Full table for Business and Economics 2026
Computer Science
|
Institution |
Country/Territory |
Rank 2026 |
Rank 2025 |
|
University of Oxford |
United Kingdom |
1 |
1 |
|
University of Cambridge |
United Kingdom |
2 |
2 |
|
ETH Zurich |
Switzerland |
3 |
4 |
|
Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
United States |
4 |
3 |
|
Princeton University |
United States |
5 |
=6 |
|
Stanford University |
United States |
6 |
5 |
|
Carnegie Mellon University |
United States |
7 |
=6 |
|
Harvard University |
United States |
8 |
10 |
|
Imperial College London |
United Kingdom |
9 |
=8 |
|
Peking University |
China |
10 |
12 |
Full table for Computer Science 2026
Education Studies
|
Institution |
Country/Territory |
Rank 2026 |
Rank 2025 |
|
Stanford University |
United States |
1 |
1 |
|
University of California, Berkeley |
United States |
2 |
2 |
|
University of Oxford |
United Kingdom |
3 |
3 |
|
University of Cambridge |
United Kingdom |
4 |
4 |
|
Tsinghua University |
China |
5 |
7 |
|
Harvard University |
United States |
6 |
5 |
|
University of Hong Kong |
Hong Kong |
7 |
6 |
|
Peking University |
China |
8 |
8 |
|
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor |
United States |
9 |
12 |
|
UCL |
United Kingdom |
10 |
10 |
Full table for Education Studies 2026
Engineering
|
Institution |
Country/Territory |
Rank 2026 |
Rank 2025 |
|
Harvard University |
United States |
1 |
1 |
|
University of Oxford |
United Kingdom |
2 |
4 |
|
Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
United States |
=3 |
3 |
|
Stanford University |
United States |
=3 |
2 |
|
University of Cambridge |
United Kingdom |
5 |
6 |
|
University of California, Berkeley |
United States |
6 |
5 |
|
California Institute of Technology |
United States |
7 |
7 |
|
Peking University |
China |
8 |
11 |
|
Princeton University |
United States |
9 |
8 |
|
National University of Singapore |
Singapore |
10 |
9 |
Full table for Engineering 2026
Law
|
Institution |
Country/Territory |
Rank 2026 |
Rank 2025 |
|
Stanford University |
United States |
1 |
1 |
|
New York University |
United States |
2 |
3 |
|
University of Cambridge |
United Kingdom |
3 |
4 |
|
Columbia University |
United States |
4 |
5 |
|
University of Oxford |
United Kingdom |
5 |
7 |
|
Harvard University |
United States |
6 |
2 |
|
University of California, Berkeley |
United States |
7 |
6 |
|
University of Melbourne |
ߣߣƵ |
8 |
11 |
|
The University of Chicago |
United States |
=9 |
8 |
|
Yale University |
United States |
=9 |
9 |
Life Sciences
|
Institution |
Country/Territory |
Rank 2026 |
Rank 2025 |
|
Harvard University |
United States |
1 |
1 |
|
University of Cambridge |
United Kingdom |
2 |
2 |
|
Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
United States |
3 |
3 |
|
Stanford University |
United States |
4 |
5 |
|
University of Oxford |
United Kingdom |
5 |
4 |
|
Yale University |
United States |
6 |
6 |
|
Princeton University |
United States |
7 |
7 |
|
University of California, Berkeley |
United States |
8 |
8 |
|
California Institute of Technology |
United States |
=9 |
10 |
|
Johns Hopkins University |
United States |
=9 |
9 |
Medical and Health
|
Institution |
Country/Territory |
Rank 2026 |
Rank 2025 |
|
University of Oxford |
United Kingdom |
1 |
1 |
|
University of Cambridge |
United Kingdom |
2 |
3 |
|
Harvard University |
United States |
3 |
2 |
|
Imperial College London |
United Kingdom |
4 |
4 |
|
Johns Hopkins University |
United States |
=5 |
5 |
|
Stanford University |
United States |
=5 |
=6 |
|
Yale University |
United States |
7 |
=6 |
|
UCL |
United Kingdom |
8 |
8 |
|
University of Toronto |
Canada |
9 |
9 |
|
University of California, Berkeley |
United States |
10 |
11 |
Full table for Medical and Health 2026
Physical Sciences
|
Institution |
Country/Territory |
Rank 2026 |
Rank 2025 |
|
California Institute of Technology |
United States |
1 |
1 |
|
Harvard University |
United States |
=2 |
=2 |
|
Stanford University |
United States |
=2 |
=2 |
|
Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
United States |
4 |
4 |
|
Princeton University |
United States |
=5 |
5 |
|
University of Cambridge |
United Kingdom |
=5 |
7 |
|
University of California, Berkeley |
United States |
7 |
6 |
|
University of Oxford |
United Kingdom |
8 |
8 |
|
ETH Zurich |
Switzerland |
9 |
9 |
|
Tsinghua University |
China |
10 |
=12 |
Full table for Physical Sciences 2026
Psychology
|
Institution |
Country/Territory |
Rank 2026 |
Rank 2025 |
|
University of Cambridge |
United Kingdom |
1 |
2 |
|
Stanford University |
United States |
2 |
1 |
|
University of California, Berkeley |
United States |
3 |
5 |
|
Princeton University |
United States |
4 |
3 |
|
Harvard University |
United States |
5 |
4 |
|
UCL |
United Kingdom |
6 |
6 |
|
Yale University |
United States |
7 |
7 |
|
University of Pennsylvania |
United States |
8 |
8 |
|
King’s College London |
United Kingdom |
9 |
9 |
|
The University of Chicago |
United States |
10 |
=11 |
Full table for Psychology 2026
Social Sciences
|
Institution |
Country/Territory |
Rank 2026 |
Rank 2025 |
|
Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
United States |
1 |
1 |
|
University of Oxford |
United Kingdom |
2 |
2 |
|
Stanford University |
United States |
3 |
3 |
|
Harvard University |
United States |
4 |
4 |
|
Princeton University |
United States |
5 |
5 |
|
University of California, Berkeley |
United States |
6 |
7 |
|
University of Cambridge |
United Kingdom |
7 |
6 |
|
Yale University |
United States |
8 |
11 |
|
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor |
United States |
9 |
8 |
|
London School of Economics and Political Science |
United Kingdom |
10 |
9 |
Full table for Social Sciences 2026
Methodology
TheTHEWorld University Rankings by Subject 2026are derived fromourWorld University Rankingsmethodology, which is recognised as the world’smost comprehensive evaluation of university performance.
The subject tables employ the same range of18performance indicators used in the overall World University Rankings 2026, brought together with scores provided under five categories. However, the overallmethodologyis carefully recalibrated for each subject, with the weightings changed to suit the individual fields.
Two criteriadetermineeligibility for theTHEsubject rankings: a publication threshold by discipline and an academic staff threshold by discipline. For each of the 11 subject rankings, the publication thresholds are different. The academic staff eligibility criterion also changes depending on the subject. An institution needs to have either a minimum proportion of its staff or a minimum number of staff in this discipline to be included in the subject ranking.
View the World University Rankings by Subject 2026methodology.
Notes to editors
- For more information, or to arrange an interview, please emailmedia@timeshighereducation.com
- THEis the trusted global data partner for higher education. Drawing on five decades ofexpertisein the sector, millions of individual data points and with more unique institutionsparticipatingin our flagship university rankings than any other, we offer deeper and richer insight into university performance than anyone else. From powerful data-driven insights and strategic consultancy support to agenda-setting events, student recruitment and hiring solutions, our products and services enable everyone in higher education to make smarter, more informed decisions. For more information, visitor find us on X: aԻ .