Best universities for arts and humanities degrees 2022

Submitted by seeta.bhardwa@… on Wed, 11/03/2021 - 10:04

Top 10 universities in the world for arts and humanities

Scroll down for the full list of best universities in the world for arts and humanities degrees

Arts and humanities rank 2022	Arts and humanities rank 2021	University	Country/region
1	1	Stanford University	United States
2	2	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	United States
3	3	University of Cambridge	United Kingdom
4	4	University of Oxford	United Kingdom
5	5	UCL	United Kingdom
6	6	Harvard University	United States
7	9	Princeton University	United States
8	7	The University of Chicago	United States
9	8	University of California, Berkeley	United States
10	10	University of Edinburgh	United Kingdom

Deciding where to study an arts or humanities degree is not easy, with hundreds of options all over the world.

But 606 of the top universities for arts and humanities have been ranked in the Times Higher Education arts and humanities ranking 2022. So where should you go to pursue your arts or humanities major?

About a quarter of the best arts and humanities schools are in the US, but a number of European countries are well represented in the ranking, too; the top 100 includes a significant number of British, German and Dutch institutions.

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If you’re hoping to study for a humanities degree in Canada or Australia, these countries offer a choice of 26 universities each, and there are more than 40 institutions in the top 500 across Asia.

Times Higher Education subject tables are based on the same 13 performance indicators used in the overall World University Rankings 202 2. However, the methodology is carefully recalibrated for each subject, with the weightings changed to suit the individual fields. The full methodology can be found here .

Arts and humanities degrees covered in the ranking include history, literature, philosophy, languages and architecture (scroll down for a full list of subjects and what you can do with them).

Top 5 universities for arts and humanities degrees

5. UCL

-The Faculty of Arts and Humanities at UCL offers students a wide variety of courses, in departments including English language and literature, philosophy, information studies, Greek and Latin, fine art, and Hebrew and Jewish studies.
-The faculty also has a strong research output including an innovative digital project around transcribing the work of Jeremy Bentham, whose ideas contributed to the founding of UCL, and an exploration into the histories of the Italian mafias.

Each year, the faculty hosts a Festival of Culture, a five-day event of talks, panels, live performances, walking tours, film screenings and exhibitions showcasing the research being undertaken at the university.

4. University of Oxford

-As one of the world’s most prestigious institutions, the University of Oxford is respected across all disciplines.
-The humanities division includes the faculties of music, history, Classics, theology and religion, and English language and literature.

There are about 20,000 students at the university, more than a third of whom are international. Students belong to a college, where undergraduates take the majority of their classes with just a few of their peers and a college tutor.

In line with the British higher education system, students entering Oxford are admitted for a specific course (in contrast to US institutions, where students can take a variety of courses before declaring their major).

It is possible for undergraduates to study for joint degrees, such as philosophy, politics and economics (PPE) – a course particularly well known at Oxford – and combinations of arts and sciences.

Many writers, actors, composers and other prominent personalities in arts and culture dating back to the 14th century are Oxford graduates, including the novelists J. R. R. Tolkien and Graham Greene and the satirist Jonathan Swift.

3. University of Cambridge

-The University of Cambridge is regularly ranked as a top university across a wide range of subjects.
-As one of the oldest universities in the world, its colleges and traditions are famous in the UK and beyond.

The university is located about 100km north of London and attracts top scholars and distinguished visitors. More than 23,000 students are enrolled at the university across 31 colleges.

College life is central to the university experience. Undergraduates live in college for at least part of their time at university and are primarily taught by tutors in small groups.

Postgraduates, however, are more loosely affiliated with their college, although many participate in recreational and academic life.

The School of Arts and Humanities teaches a variety of subjects, from Asian and Middle Eastern studies to the history of art. Many research projects are collaborative and inform student learning at all levels.

Recent projects have explored flamenco dance and its cultural significance, and an undergraduate scheme used architectural techniques to develop local allotments.

Notable Cambridge alumni in the arts and humanities include the philosopher Bertrand Russell, the artist Quentin Blake and the dramatist Christopher Marlowe.

2. Massachusetts Institute of Technology

-Although well known as a leading university in science and technology teaching, the university also provides courses across the arts and humanities.
-These include anthropology, history, linguistics, literature, media arts and sciences, and music and theatre arts.

When the School of Architecture and Planning opened in 1868, it had the first department of architecture in the US; today, it is still known for commissioning progressive buildings on campus.

The MIT library system is divided into five libraries, three of which are dedicated to the arts and humanities – Hayden Library (humanities and sciences), Lewis Music Library, and Rotch Library (art, architecture and planning). There are many notable collections within these libraries, such as the Lewis’ resources on 20th- and 21st-century music, hip hop and electronic music.

MIT is affiliated with many thought leaders in the arts and humanities, including the linguist Noam Chomsky, who is Institute Professor and professor of linguistics (emeritus) at the university. The institution has produced six Pulitzer winners, and four current or former faculty are members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

1. Stanford University

-The School of Humanities and Sciences awards 63 per cent of all Stanford undergraduate degrees and almost 40 per cent of doctorates.
-Undergraduates are taught by faculty who are pioneers in their fields.

When the university was established, the Stanford family said that its aim was to educate “cultured and useful citizens”, and the university still counts its humanities courses as the “soul” of a Stanford education.

Recent achievements in the school include a complex study of race and ethnicity, an online course on classical music appreciation and an award-winning radio show hosted by Stanford philosophy professors.

Stanford is based next to Palo Alto, known as Silicon Valley because of its density of high-tech and start-up companies. The spirit of entrepreneurship in the area was encouraged by the university itself in the early 20th century, and many Stanford students and graduates are involved at the highest levels with the world’s most influential technology companies.

Many of the students live in campus residences, near the university’s faculty buildings, museums and recreation spaces.

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Best universities for arts and humanities 2022

Click each institution to view its World University Rankings 2022 profile

Arts and humanities rank 2022	Arts and humanities rank 2021	University	Country/region
1	1	Stanford University	United States
2	2	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	United States
3	3	University of Cambridge	United Kingdom
4	4	University of Oxford	United Kingdom
5	5	UCL	United Kingdom
6	6	Harvard University	United States
7	9	Princeton University	United States
8	7	The University of Chicago	United States
9	8	University of California, Berkeley	United States
10	10	University of Edinburgh	United Kingdom
11	13	Columbia University	United States
12	11	Yale University	United States
13	12	University of California, Los Angeles	United States
14	14	University of Pennsylvania	United States
15	15	University of Toronto	Canada
16	17	University of Michigan-Ann Arbor	United States
17	16	New York University	United States
18	18	LMU Munich	Germany
19	=22	Paris Sciences et Lettres – PSL Research University Paris	France
20	24	University of Tübingen	Germany
=21	29	Cornell University	United States
=21	20	Humboldt University of Berlin	Germany
=21	28	Peking University	China
24	=22	Leiden University	Netherlands
25	25	KU Leuven	Belgium
=26	19	Durham University	United Kingdom
=26	27	Free University of Berlin	Germany
28	21	London School of Economics and Political Science	United Kingdom
29	35	Australian National University	Australia
30	26	King’s College London	United Kingdom
31	32	Duke University	United States
32	42	University of Hong Kong	Hong Kong
33	33	Heidelberg University	Germany
34	37	National University of Singapore	Singapore
35	36	McGill University	Canada
=36	30	University of Amsterdam	Netherlands
=36	39	University of St Andrews	United Kingdom
38	34	University of Vienna	Austria
39	31	University of Melbourne	Australia
40	56	Tsinghua University	China
41	41	Johns Hopkins University	United States
=42	65	Delft University of Technology	Netherlands
=42	40	Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey	United States
44	72	Lomonosov Moscow State University	Russian Federation
45	55	Lancaster University	United Kingdom
46	44	University of Sydney	Australia
47	=50	Panthéon- Sorbonne University – Paris 1	France
48	=50	University of Warwick	United Kingdom
49	53	ETH Zurich	Switzerland
50	43	University of Texas at Austin	United States
51	38	University of Manchester	United Kingdom
52	49	University of Notre Dame	United States
53	=47	The University of Tokyo	Japan
=54	57	Brown University	United States
=54	62	University of Helsinki	Finland
56	66	SOAS University of London	United Kingdom
57	45	University of York	United Kingdom
58	=47	University of Copenhagen	Denmark
59	46	University of British Columbia	Canada
60	=75	Aarhus University	Denmark
61	52	University of Freiburg	Germany
62	54	Utrecht University	Netherlands
63	=58	Sorbonne University	France
=64	68	University of Pittsburgh-Pittsburgh campus	United States
=64	71	University of Zurich	Switzerland
66	101–125	Michigan State University	United States
=67	70	University of Birmingham	United Kingdom
=67	67	University of Sheffield	United Kingdom
=69	=58	University of California, San Diego	United States
=69	64	Hebrew University of Jerusalem	Israel
71	60	University of Wisconsin -Madison	United States
=72	=75	University of Groningen	Netherlands
=72	87	The University of Queensland	Australia
74	69	Ghent University	Belgium
75	63	Northwestern University	United States
76	82	University of Oslo	Norway
77	=77	Carnegie Mellon University	United States
=78	=90	University of Maryland, College Park	United States
=78	=77	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill	United States
=80	79	University of Glasgow	United Kingdom
=80	61	Sapienza University of Rome	Italy
82	101–125	Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam	Netherlands
83	74	Monash University	Australia
84	89	University of Southern California	United States
85	=98	Chinese University of Hong Kong	Hong Kong
86	83	University of Washington	United States
=87	95	Birkbeck, University of London	United Kingdom
=87	101–125	University of Nottingham	United Kingdom
89	101–125	Georgetown University	United States
=90	81	Queen Mary University of London	United Kingdom
=90	101–125	Uppsala University	Sweden
92	96	Indiana University	United States
93	73	University of Leeds	United Kingdom
=94	92	University of Auckland	New Zealand
=94	=93	Autonomous University of Barcelona	Spain
96	80	University of Arizona	United States
97	101–125	Kyoto University	Japan
98	84	University of Exeter	United Kingdom
=99	86	University of Hamburg	Germany
=99	101–125	Lund University	Sweden
101–125	126–150	University of Antwerp	Belgium
101–125	126–150	University of Bern	Switzerland
101–125	85	University of Bologna	Italy
101–125	101–125	Boston University	United States
101–125	88	University of Bristol	United Kingdom
101–125	=98	University of California, Santa Barbara	United States
101–125	101–125	University of Cologne	Germany
101–125	126–150	Emory University	United States
101–125	101–125	University of Geneva	Switzerland
101–125	126–150	University of Göttingen	Germany
101–125	126–150	Hong Kong Polytechnic University	Hong Kong
101–125	=90	Macquarie University	Australia
101–125	126–150	University of Montreal	Canada
101–125	101–125	University of Münster	Germany
101–125	126–150	Nanyang Technological University, Singapore	Singapore
101–125	=93	Ohio State University (Main campus)	United States
101–125	100	Radboud University Nijmegen	Netherlands
101–125	126–150	University of Reading	United Kingdom
101–125	201–250	Saint Petersburg State University	Russian Federation
101–125	101–125	Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa	Italy
101–125	151–175	Seoul National University	South Korea
101–125	101–125	University of Southampton	United Kingdom
101–125	97	Stockholm University	Sweden
101–125	101–125	Tel Aviv University	Israel
101–125	101–125	Trinity College Dublin	Republic of Ireland
101–125	126–150	UNSW Sydney	Australia
126–150	151–175	Aalto University	Finland
126–150	151–175	Arizona State University (Tempe)	United States
126–150	126–150	University of Basel	Switzerland
126–150	176–200	Boston College	United States
126–150	151–175	University of California, Davis	United States
126–150	101–125	University of California, Irvine	United States
126–150	126–150	Eindhoven University of Technology	Netherlands
126–150	101–125	Fudan University	China
126–150	151–175	Georgia Institute of Technology	United States
126–150	126–150	Goethe University Frankfurt	Germany
126–150	126–150	University of Hawai’i at Mānoa	United States
126–150	101–125	University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign	United States
126–150	151–175	University of Konstanz	Germany
126–150	101–125	Université Catholique de Louvain	Belgium
126–150	101–125	University of Massachusetts	United States
126–150	101–125	National Autonomous University of Mexico	Mexico
126–150	126–150	Newcastle University	United Kingdom
126–150	101–125	Penn State (Main campus)	United States
126–150	151–175	Politecnico di Milano	Italy
126–150	126–150	University of Potsdam	Germany
126–150	151–175	University of São Paulo	Brazil
126–150	126–150	Technical University of Berlin	Germany
126–150	101–125	Tilburg University	Netherlands
126–150	101–125	University of Virginia (Main campus)	United States
126–150	126–150	University of the Witwatersrand	South Africa
151–175	126–150	University of Aberdeen	United Kingdom
151–175	126–150	University of Adelaide	Australia
151–175	176–200	University of Alberta	Canada
151–175	101–125	University of Barcelona	Spain
151–175	176–200	University of Bordeaux	France
151–175	151–175	Cardiff University	United Kingdom
151–175	126–150	Complutense University of Madrid	Spain
151–175	126–150	Erasmus University Rotterdam	Netherlands
151–175	201–250	University of Essex	United Kingdom
151–175	176–200	Goldsmiths, University of London	United Kingdom
151–175	201–250	HSE University	Russian Federation
151–175	151–175	University of Minnesota	United States
151–175	151–175	National Taiwan University (NTU)	Taiwan
151–175	126–150	Pompeu Fabra University	Spain
151–175	151–175	Queen’s University Belfast	United Kingdom
151–175	176–200	Ruhr University Bochum	Germany
151–175	151–175	Shanghai Jiao Tong University	China
151–175	151–175	Simon Fraser University	Canada
151–175	176–200	University of Sussex	United Kingdom
151–175	151–175	Tomsk State University	Russian Federation
151–175	201–250	UiT The Arctic University of Norway	Norway
151–175	151–175	University College Dublin	Republic of Ireland
151–175	126–150	University of Wollongong	Australia
151–175	126–150	Zhejiang University	China
176–200	201–250	University of Bath	United Kingdom
176–200	126–150	University of California, Santa Cruz	United States
176–200	201–250	University of Cape Town	South Africa
176–200	151–175	University of Colorado Boulder	United States
176–200	176–200	University of Connecticut	United States
176–200	176–200	University of Gothenburg	Sweden
176–200	201–250	University of Kiel	Germany
176–200	176–200	La Trobe University	Australia
176–200	176–200	University of Lausanne	Switzerland
176–200	151–175	University of Leicester	United Kingdom
176–200	151–175	University of Liverpool	United Kingdom
176–200	201–250	Nagoya University	Japan
176–200	176–200	Nanjing University	China
176–200	201–250	University of Navarra	Spain
176–200	201–250	University of Otago	New Zealand
176–200	126–150	University of Padua	Italy
176–200	176–200	Université de Paris	France
176–200	NR	Université Paris-Saclay	France
176–200	176–200	RMIT University	Australia
176–200	176–200	University of Technology Sydney	Australia
176–200	201–250	Vrije Universiteit Brussel	Belgium
176–200	176–200	Washington University in St Louis	United States
176–200	201–250	The University of Western Australia	Australia
176–200	176–200	Western University	Canada
176–200	151–175	York University	Canada

Click here to view the full ranking for arts and humanities degrees