Top 10 universities in the world for life sciences degrees
Scroll down for the full list of the best universities in world for life sciences degrees
If you’re choosing where to study pharmacy, biochemistry, zoology or other related subjects, Times Higher Education’s ranking for life sciences can help you find the best universities in the world for your degree.
The top colleges for life sciences are concentrated in the US and the UK: 199 of the 1,017 universities in the THE ranking for life sciences are in these two countries.
Older prestigious institutions take the top spots, including Harvard University in first place, with the University of Cambridge, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Oxford following closely behind.
Best universities for arts and humanities
Best universities for business and economics
Best universities for clinical, pre-clinical and health
Best universities for computer science
Best universities for engineering and technology
Best universities for physical sciences
Best universities for social sciences
Best universities for law
Best universities for education degrees
Best universities for psychology degrees
Life sciences takes in a range of subjects, from forestry to biotechnology. A full list of degrees and what you can do with them appears below.
Graduates of life sciences degrees go on to work in a variety of fields. Many jobs directly use life science research and knowledge, such as roles in pharmaceutical companies, environmental work and even forensic science.
The life sciences ranking assesses universities using 13 indicators of excellence that evaluate teaching, research, research influence, innovation and international outlook. The full methodology can be found here.
Best universities for life sciences degrees in Canada
Best universities for life science degrees in the US
Best universities for life sciences degrees in the UK
Best universities for life sciences degrees in Australia
Top five universities for life sciences degrees
Stanford University is particularly renowned for science and innovation, and university researchers, students and alumni contribute significantly to technological development in Silicon Valley, which is located right near the university.
Stanford’s department of biology leads the way for life sciences research, while the bioengineering department creates a fusion of engineering and life sciences by inventing new technologies.
The biology department offers courses in biochemistry, biophysics, computational biology, conservational biology and many other subdisciplines.
Many Stanford alumni have won prestigious accolades, such as Nobel prizes, Rhodes scholarships and Turing awards.
Of the more than 15,000 students, more than 20 per cent are international.
Life sciences degrees at the University of Oxford are spread across a number of specialised departments within both the science and the clinical divisions of the university.
Many world-leading academics work at the university. Richard Dawkins, the famous evolutionary biologist, is affiliated to the university and can often be seen around town or at public events.
Oxford students belong to a college, where they live, eat and attend small-group tutorials with teachers. Postgraduate students are more likely to live off campus and will not necessarily be taught within their college.
In general, Oxford graduates progress to high-profile careers, and many prominent politicians, cultural figures and award-winning scientists are associated with the university.
What can you do with an agriculture degree?
What can you do with a biology degree?
What can you do with a sports science degree?
What can you do with a veterinary science degree?
Many academic departments at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology offer courses in life sciences subjects, to contribute towards a major or minor degree subject.
Courses range from biological engineering – a pioneering new discipline that combines principles of engineering and biological systems – to “Science, technology and society”, which offers a more comprehensive overview of life sciences and its applications.
The university offers undergraduate and postgraduate life sciences degrees. Although an undergraduate major in a life science subject is excellent preparation for many jobs, further study in health sciences or engineering is a common post-graduation option.
Many life sciences graduates will continue on to medical school. Other career paths suggested by the School of Life Sciences are finance, intellectual property law and forensics.
The University of Cambridge’s School of Biological Sciences contains nine departments and various research centres, including the departments of biochemistry, pharmacology and zoology.
There is also a Graduate School of Life Sciences, which is responsible for master’s degrees and doctorates.
Four major undergraduate programmes in life sciences are offered: biological sciences as a natural science specialism, a pre-clinical veterinary science programme, a psychological and behavioural sciences programme, and medical science.
Students have close interaction with teachers through the tutorial system and are automatically members of their college community, where they eat meals, live in college-owned buildings and attend recreational activities.
Charles Darwin, perhaps the most famous life scientist of them all, was an alumnus of Christ’s College, Cambridge, and many other prominent biologists have studied or taught at the university.
As is the case at many US colleges, undergraduates at Harvard University have the opportunity to take a variety of different courses before declaring a major subject.
Within life sciences, there are many interdisciplinary foundational courses grouped in nine concentrations to help students “explore the diversity of living systems”. The majors include biomedical engineering, neurobiology and human evolutionary biology.
According to the university, life science graduates often go on to postgraduate work, including medical or scientific research. Other graduates have recently pursued careers in business, consulting and environmental advocacy.
Harvard is perhaps the world’s best-known university; it regularly takes the top spot in global reputation surveys. It has built its reputation, wealth and influence over more than 400 years, having been founded in 1636.
Although tuition is expensive, students from low-income families are fully supported by university grants.
Trading America for Australia: my mother sent me to study 9,000 miles away!
Women in STEM: undertaking PhD research in cancer
Pursuing a PhD in neuroscience
Why I chose to study at Osaka City University
Why I chose to study at the National University of Singapore
Attending a small agricultural university
Best universities for life sciences 2023
Click each institution to view its World University Rankings 2023 profile
Life sciences rank 2023 |
Life sciences rank 2022 |
University |
Country/region |
1 |
1 |
Harvard University |
United States |
2 |
2 |
University of Cambridge |
United Kingdom |
3 |
=3 |
Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
United States |
4 |
=3 |
University of Oxford |
United Kingdom |
5 |
7 |
Stanford University |
United States |
6 |
6 |
California Institute of Technology |
United States |
7 |
8 |
Yale University |
United States |
8 |
5 |
Princeton University |
United States |
9 |
9 |
University of California, Berkeley |
United States |
10 |
10 |
Johns Hopkins University |
United States |
11 |
13 |
Tsinghua University |
China |
12 |
11 |
Columbia University |
United States |
13 |
14 |
ETH Zurich |
Switzerland |
14 |
15 |
Imperial College London |
United Kingdom |
15 |
17 |
University of California, San Diego |
United States |
16 |
18 |
University of Washington |
United States |
17 |
12 |
The University of Chicago |
United States |
18 |
=19 |
Peking University |
China |
19 |
16 |
Cornell University |
United States |
20 |
=19 |
Wageningen University & Research |
Netherlands |
21 |
23 |
University of Pennsylvania |
United States |
22 |
22 |
UCL |
United Kingdom |
23 |
24 |
National University of Singapore |
Singapore |
=24 |
=19 |
University of California, Los Angeles |
United States |
=24 |
25 |
University of Toronto |
Canada |
26 |
26 |
Duke University |
United States |
27 |
34 |
Heidelberg University |
Germany |
28 |
30 |
University of California, Davis |
United States |
29 |
31 |
University of Edinburgh |
United Kingdom |
30 |
27 |
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor |
United States |
31 |
=28 |
Karolinska Institute |
Sweden |
32 |
40 |
The University of Queensland |
Australia |
=33 |
33 |
University of British Columbia |
Canada |
=33 |
=28 |
LMU Munich |
Germany |
35 |
=43 |
Technical University of Munich |
Germany |
36 |
32 |
Washington University in St Louis |
United States |
37 |
35 |
University of Melbourne |
Australia |
38 |
37 |
The University of Tokyo |
Japan |
39 |
39 |
King’s College London |
United Kingdom |
40 |
36 |
New York University |
United States |
41 |
42 |
University of Hong Kong |
Hong Kong |
42 |
=49 |
Fudan University |
China |
=43 |
52 |
University of Göttingen |
Germany |
=43 |
46 |
Kyoto University |
Japan |
45 |
38 |
École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne |
Switzerland |
46 |
=60 |
University of Sydney |
Australia |
=47 |
48 |
Ghent University |
Belgium |
=47 |
64 |
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore |
Singapore |
=49 |
=49 |
McGill University |
Canada |
=49 |
51 |
Northwestern University |
United States |
=49 |
=43 |
University of Wisconsin-Madison |
United States |
52 |
=56 |
Uppsala University |
Sweden |
53 |
41 |
Paris Sciences et Lettres – PSL Research University Paris |
France |
54 |
63 |
Monash University |
Australia |
55 |
58 |
KU Leuven |
Belgium |
56 |
45 |
Sorbonne University |
France |
=57 |
54 |
Humboldt University of Berlin |
Germany |
=57 |
=60 |
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill |
United States |
=57 |
62 |
University of Tübingen |
Germany |
60 |
65 |
Australian National University |
Australia |
61 |
=66 |
University of Manchester |
United Kingdom |
62 |
=69 |
University of Freiburg |
Germany |
63 |
47 |
Utrecht University |
Netherlands |
64 |
59 |
Zhejiang University |
China |
65 |
=56 |
University of Zurich |
Switzerland |
66 |
73 |
Emory University |
United States |
67 |
151–175 |
Shanghai Jiao Tong University |
China |
68 |
80 |
Seoul National University |
South Korea |
=69 |
55 |
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign |
United States |
=69 |
71 |
University of Minnesota |
United States |
=71 |
53 |
Université Paris-Saclay |
France |
=71 |
81 |
Vanderbilt University |
United States |
73 |
74 |
University of California, Santa Barbara |
United States |
74 |
=66 |
University of Science and Technology of China |
China |
75 |
68 |
Boston University |
United States |
=76 |
=69 |
Free University of Berlin |
Germany |
=76 |
83 |
University of Helsinki |
Finland |
78 |
=92 |
University of Massachusetts |
United States |
79 |
=98 |
University of Basel |
Switzerland |
80 |
101–125 |
Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH) |
South Korea |
81 |
79 |
The University of Western Australia |
Australia |
82 |
77 |
University of Groningen |
Netherlands |
=83 |
84 |
Institut Polytechnique de Paris |
France |
=83 |
=75 |
Lund University |
Sweden |
=83 |
85 |
Stockholm University |
Sweden |
=86 |
=100 |
Aarhus University |
Denmark |
=86 |
=89 |
University of Bonn |
Germany |
=88 |
101–125 |
University of Glasgow |
United Kingdom |
=88 |
=98 |
University of Southern California |
United States |
=90 |
=100 |
University of Bristol |
United Kingdom |
=90 |
72 |
University of Florida |
United States |
92 |
151–175 |
Chinese University of Hong Kong |
Hong Kong |
93 |
88 |
UNSW Sydney |
Australia |
94 |
=89 |
University of Vienna |
Austria |
=95 |
=86 |
University of Dundee |
United Kingdom |
=95 |
91 |
University of Würzburg |
Germany |
97 |
82 |
Trinity College Dublin |
Ireland |
=98 |
126–150 |
University of Lausanne |
Switzerland |
=98 |
=75 |
Michigan State University |
United States |
=100 |
101–125 |
University of California, Santa Cruz |
United States |
=100 |
126–150 |
The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology |
Hong Kong |
=100 |
94 |
Osaka University |
Japan |
101–125 |
95 |
University of Aberdeen |
United Kingdom |
101–125 |
126–150 |
University of Adelaide |
Australia |
101–125 |
101–125 |
University of Amsterdam |
Netherlands |
101–125 |
=86 |
University of Birmingham |
United Kingdom |
101–125 |
126–150 |
University of California, Irvine |
United States |
101–125 |
101–125 |
University of California, Riverside |
United States |
101–125 |
126–150 |
City University of Hong Kong |
Hong Kong |
101–125 |
101–125 |
University of Cologne |
Germany |
101–125 |
=96 |
Dartmouth College |
United States |
101–125 |
=92 |
University of East Anglia |
United Kingdom |
101–125 |
101–125 |
University of Exeter |
United Kingdom |
101–125 |
151–175 |
King Abdulaziz University |
Saudi Arabia |
101–125 |
=96 |
University of Leeds |
United Kingdom |
101–125 |
101–125 |
McMaster University |
Canada |
101–125 |
101–125 |
Newcastle University |
United Kingdom |
101–125 |
126–150 |
Université Paris Cité |
France |
101–125 |
126–150 |
University of Pittsburgh-Pittsburgh campus |
United States |
101–125 |
101–125 |
Queen Mary University of London |
United Kingdom |
101–125 |
301–400 |
Sichuan University |
China |
101–125 |
101–125 |
University of Tasmania |
Australia |
101–125 |
101–125 |
Technical University of Denmark |
Denmark |
101–125 |
78 |
University of Texas at Austin |
United States |
101–125 |
126–150 |
TU Dresden |
Germany |
101–125 |
251–300 |
Yonsei University (Seoul campus) |
South Korea |
126–150 |
101–125 |
University of Alberta |
Canada |
126–150 |
126–150 |
University of Bremen |
Germany |
126–150 |
126–150 |
Brown University |
United States |
126–150 |
201–250 |
Cardiff University |
United Kingdom |
126–150 |
101–125 |
University of Colorado Boulder |
United States |
126–150 |
176–200 |
Friedrich Schiller University Jena |
Germany |
126–150 |
101–125 |
University of Geneva |
Switzerland |
126–150 |
NR |
Hong Kong Polytechnic University |
Hong Kong |
126–150 |
101–125 |
James Cook University |
Australia |
126–150 |
101–125 |
University of Luxembourg |
Luxembourg |
126–150 |
151–175 |
Nanjing University |
China |
126–150 |
101–125 |
Ohio State University (Main campus) |
United States |
126–150 |
151–175 |
University of Oslo |
Norway |
126–150 |
126–150 |
Penn State (Main campus) |
United States |
126–150 |
NR |
Purdue University West Lafayette |
United States |
126–150 |
126–150 |
Radboud University Nijmegen |
Netherlands |
126–150 |
126–150 |
University of Reading |
United Kingdom |
126–150 |
151–175 |
Rice University |
United States |
126–150 |
126–150 |
University of Sheffield |
United Kingdom |
126–150 |
126–150 |
University of Southampton |
United Kingdom |
126–150 |
126–150 |
Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) |
China |
126–150 |
101–125 |
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences |
Sweden |
126–150 |
126–150 |
Texas A&M University |
United States |
126–150 |
101–125 |
Wuhan University |
China |
151–175 |
126–150 |
University of Antwerp |
Belgium |
151–175 |
151–175 |
University of Auckland |
New Zealand |
151–175 |
176–200 |
University of Barcelona |
Spain |
151–175 |
151–175 |
University of Bern |
Switzerland |
151–175 |
176–200 |
University of Cape Town |
South Africa |
151–175 |
126–150 |
Colorado State University, Fort Collins |
United States |
151–175 |
151–175 |
Delft University of Technology |
Netherlands |
151–175 |
151–175 |
École Normale Supérieure de Lyon |
France |
151–175 |
126–150 |
University of Hamburg |
Germany |
151–175 |
126–150 |
Iowa State University |
United States |
151–175 |
176–200 |
University of Konstanz |
Germany |
151–175 |
151–175 |
Université Catholique de Louvain |
Belgium |
151–175 |
151–175 |
University of Maryland, College Park |
United States |
151–175 |
101–125 |
Montpellier University |
France |
151–175 |
126–150 |
University of Nottingham |
United Kingdom |
151–175 |
201–250 |
Qatar University |
Qatar |
151–175 |
201–250 |
Queen’s University Belfast |
United Kingdom |
151–175 |
126–150 |
University of São Paulo |
Brazil |
151–175 |
151–175 |
University of St Andrews |
United Kingdom |
151–175 |
151–175 |
University of Stuttgart |
Germany |
151–175 |
151–175 |
University of Tartu |
Estonia |
151–175 |
176–200 |
University of Technology Sydney |
Australia |
151–175 |
201–250 |
Temple University |
United States |
151–175 |
176–200 |
Tohoku University |
Japan |
151–175 |
176–200 |
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam |
Netherlands |
176–200 |
201–250 |
University of Arizona |
United States |
176–200 |
151–175 |
Arizona State University (Tempe) |
United States |
176–200 |
201–250 |
Autonomous University of Barcelona |
Spain |
176–200 |
201–250 |
Bangor University |
United Kingdom |
176–200 |
201–250 |
University of Bergen |
Norway |
176–200 |
176–200 |
Goethe University Frankfurt |
Germany |
176–200 |
201–250 |
University of Gothenburg |
Sweden |
176–200 |
201–250 |
University of Guelph |
Canada |
176–200 |
251–300 |
University of Hawai’i at Mānoa |
United States |
176–200 |
176–200 |
Hokkaido University |
Japan |
176–200 |
151–175 |
University of Iceland |
Iceland |
176–200 |
201–250 |
University of Kiel |
Germany |
176–200 |
151–175 |
Lancaster University |
United Kingdom |
176–200 |
176–200 |
Université Libre de Bruxelles |
Belgium |
176–200 |
201–250 |
University of Liverpool |
United Kingdom |
176–200 |
126–150 |
University of Macau |
Macao |
176–200 |
151–175 |
University of Montreal |
Canada |
176–200 |
101–125 |
National Taiwan University (NTU) |
Taiwan |
176–200 |
176–200 |
University of Padua |
Italy |
176–200 |
201–250 |
Queensland University of Technology |
Australia |
176–200 |
251–300 |
Semmelweis University |
Hungary |
176–200 |
151–175 |
University of Stirling |
United Kingdom |
176–200 |
176–200 |
Tallinn University of Technology |
Estonia |
176–200 |
151–175 |
Vrije Universiteit Brussel |
Belgium |
176–200 |
151–175 |
University of York |
United Kingdom |
Click here to view the full life sciences ranking