QS rankings boost for Arts and Humanities

Wednesday 29 March 2023

University Crest

Arts and Humanities subjects at the University of St Andrews are amongst the strongest in the world for teaching and research, according to a new international ranking published this week (Thursday 23 March).

Five schools and departments feature in the top 50 of the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2023, while a further eight are ranked amongst the top 100 in the world.

St Andrews’ Department of Philosophy is 10th in the world, while the School of Classics is 14th, Divinity also 14th, History 43rd, and English 47th.

Across the piece, St Andrews is ranked 43rd in the world as a centre for Arts and Humanities study and research, climbing six places on the 2022 results.

The University ranked in the top 100 for a further eight of the narrow subject areas:

  • Modern Languages (66, up from 73)
  • Archaeology (band 51 to 100, up from 101 to 150)
  • Earth and Marine Sciences (band 51 to 100, no change)
  • Geography (band 51 to 100, no change)
  • Geology (band 51 to 100, no change)
  • Geophysics (band 51 to 100, no change)
  • Anthropology (band 51 to 100, no change)
  • Politics and International Studies (band 51 to 100, no change)

The QS World University Rankings by Subject ranks universities by individual subject areas for 54 disciplines. The Subject Rankings are comprised of five metrics, Academic Reputation, Employer Reputation, Citations Per Papers, the H-index (which measures the stability of impact and quality of the work published by the institutions’ scientists and scholars), and International Research Networks.


Published by the University of St Andrews Communications Office.

Category University news

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