Best universities for psychology degrees 2023

Top 10 universities for psychology

Scroll down for the full list of best universities for psychology degrees

Psychology rank 2023	Psychology rank 2022	University	Country/region
1	2	Stanford University	United States
2	1	University of Cambridge	United Kingdom
3	3	Princeton University	United States
4	6	UCL	United Kingdom
5	4	Harvard University	United States
6	5	University of California, Berkeley	United States
7	8	Yale University	United States
8	12	King’s College London	United Kingdom
9	9	University of Pennsylvania	United States
10	10	University of Michigan-Ann Arbor	United States

Psychology is the study of the mind and human behaviour. Psychology students will learn about emotions, what motivates us and how we interact with each other.

Many psychology graduates go on to become professional psychologists; however, a degree in psychology can also lead to careers in childcare, social work or in the legal profession. Scroll down for a full guide to what you can do with a psychology degree.

This year, Times Higher Education has released a ranking of the 600 best universities for psychology degrees. The ranking features 47 countries.

Stanford University is back in the number one position after conceding the spot to newcomer the University of Cambridge last year. The University of Cambridge is now in second place position.

Nearly a quarter of the universities in the overall ranking (153 universities) are in the US. The next most-represented country is the UK, with 79 universities present. Australia, Germany and Canada are also well represented, with 35, 32 and 29 universities, respectively.

The ranking uses the same methodology as the Times Higher Education World University Rankings, but with a higher weighting for citations and a lower weighting for teaching. The full methodology can be found here.

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Best universities for psychology degrees in Canada
Best universities for psychology degrees in Australia
Best universities for psychology degrees in the UK
Best universities for psychology degrees in the US

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The top 5 universities for psychology degrees

5. Harvard University

Psychology is one of the most popular courses of study at undergraduate level at Harvard University.

Undergraduate students can choose one of three study tracks: the general track, which offers the greatest flexibility; the cognitive neuroscience and evolutionary psychology track; and the cognitive science track.

The graduate programme covers four major research themes: cognition, brain and behaviour; developmental psychology; social psychology; and clinical science.

4. UCL

The UCL Division of Psychology and Language Sciences is the largest department of its kind in the UK, with more than 120 academic staff members and approximately 1,500 students.

The undergraduate programme at UCL is accredited by the British Psychological Society, and graduates are eligible to become members.

As well as undergraduate courses, the department offers 20 master’s degrees in topics including business psychology, neuroscience, decision science and human-computer interaction.

3. Princeton University

The psychology department at Princeton University has produced six Distinguished Contributions awards from the American Psychological Association, one Nobel prizewinner and three William James Fellow Awards from the Association for Psychological Science.

Graduate study is focused on systems neuroscience, cognitive neuroscience, perception and cognition, personality and social psychology, and physiological psychology.

The department is closely affiliated with the Princeton Neuroscience Institute, which conducts research on neuroscience and psychological function.

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2. University of Cambridge

The psychological and behavioural sciences tripos at the University of Cambridge covers teaching in cognitive, social, developmental and biological psychology within the broader context of the behavioural sciences.

Undergraduates are able to conduct laboratory work from their second year onwards to supplement their coursework and seminar learning.

As students progress through the course, there are opportunities to specialise further.

Potential study areas include statistics, neuroanatomy, neurotransmitters, neuroimaging, developmental psychology, psychopathology, cognitive psychology, language, gender, family relationships and influences, personality and group social behaviour.

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What can you do with a psychology degree?

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1. Stanford University

The department of psychology at Stanford University was one of the first to be established at the institution.

Research is carried out in areas including addictive behaviours, psychopathology and risk, and stereotyping.

Undergraduate and postgraduate programmes are available, with the latter emphasising research training. The department is split into five research groups known as department areas, namely science, neuroscience, cognitive psychology, developmental psychology and social psychology.

The department has close ties with many other departments at Stanford, such as biology, law, medicine and business. There are also aims to increase participation in various interdisciplinary programmes on campus.

Top universities for psychology degrees 2023

Click on each institution to view its World University Ranking 2023 profile

Psychology rank 2023	Psychology rank 2022	University	Country/region
1	2	Stanford University	United States
2	1	University of Cambridge	United Kingdom
3	3	Princeton University	United States
4	6	UCL	United Kingdom
5	4	Harvard University	United States
6	5	University of California, Berkeley	United States
7	8	Yale University	United States
8	12	King’s College London	United Kingdom
9	9	University of Pennsylvania	United States
10	10	University of Michigan-Ann Arbor	United States
11	11	University of California, Los Angeles	United States
12	7	The University of Chicago	United States
13	17	University of Amsterdam	Netherlands
14	=13	University of British Columbia	Canada
15	=13	New York University	United States
16	16	Columbia University	United States
17	27	LMU Munich	Germany
18	15	Northwestern University	United States
19	19	University of Toronto	Canada
20	=25	KU Leuven	Belgium
21	20	Cornell University	United States
22	24	University of Melbourne	Australia
=23	=22	Carnegie Mellon University	United States
=23	21	Duke University	United States
=23	28	Johns Hopkins University	United States
26	35	Utrecht University	Netherlands
27	45	Peking University	China
28	46	The University of Queensland	Australia
=29	18	University of Edinburgh	United Kingdom
=29	38	University of Minnesota	United States
31	41	McGill University	Canada
32	34	University of California, Davis	United States
33	32	University of California, San Diego	United States
34	=25	University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign	United States
=35	44	Karolinska Institute	Sweden
=35	=36	University of Virginia (Main campus)	United States
37	30	University of Texas at Austin	United States
38	31	University of Washington	United States
39	=22	University of Wisconsin-Madison	United States
40	43	London School of Economics and Political Science	United Kingdom
41	=49	Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam	Netherlands
42	61	Humboldt University of Berlin	Germany
43	=59	University of Zurich	Switzerland
44	42	Vanderbilt University	United States
45	29	UNSW Sydney	Australia
=46	=67	Cardiff University	United Kingdom
=46	=65	University of Vienna	Austria
=48	51	Boston University	United States
=48	58	National University of Singapore	Singapore
=48	47	Tilburg University	Netherlands
51	57	Radboud University Nijmegen	Netherlands
52	33	University of California, Irvine	United States
53	=39	Ohio State University (Main campus)	United States
54	151–175	Monash University	Australia
55	=39	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill	United States
56	62	University of Groningen	Netherlands
57	=78	University of California, Santa Barbara	United States
58	69	Washington University in St Louis	United States
59	=59	Indiana University	United States
60	=53	Penn State (Main campus)	United States
=61	=73	University of Auckland	New Zealand
=61	=67	Brown University	United States
63	=36	University of Sydney	Australia
=64	101–125	University of Bristol	United Kingdom
=64	48	University of Rochester	United States
66	81	University of Maryland, College Park	United States
67	=82	Maastricht University	Netherlands
68	=65	University of Mannheim	Germany
=69	64	Ghent University	Belgium
=69	=49	University of Kent	United Kingdom
71	=53	University of Hong Kong	Hong Kong
=72	126–150	University of Birmingham	United Kingdom
=72	=70	The University of Tokyo	Japan
=74	72	Dartmouth College	United States
=74	63	University of Tübingen	Germany
76	=82	Free University of Berlin	Germany
=77	=95	University of Exeter	United Kingdom
=77	98	Leiden University	Netherlands
79	77	Australian National University	Australia
80	88	Chinese University of Hong Kong	Hong Kong
81	52	Arizona State University (Tempe)	United States
82	57	University of Manchester	United Kingdom
83	=70	University of St Andrews	United Kingdom
84	=95	The University of Western Australia	Australia
85	101–125	Ruhr University Bochum	Germany
86	=73	Nanyang Technological University, Singapore	Singapore
87	99	Kyoto University	Japan
88	126–150	University of Padua	Italy
89	92	University of Colorado Boulder	United States
90	101–125	University of Pittsburgh-Pittsburgh campus	United States
91	NR	Heidelberg University	Germany
92	=95	University of York	United Kingdom
93	101–125	University of Bath	United Kingdom
94	91	University of Glasgow	United Kingdom
=95	84	Université Catholique de Louvain	Belgium
=95	76	University of Warwick	United Kingdom
97	101–125	University of Basel	Switzerland
98	126–150	University of Konstanz	Germany
99	=78	Aarhus University	Denmark
100	101–125	TU Dresden	Germany
101–125	89	Beijing Normal University	China
101–125	126–150	Birkbeck, University of London	United Kingdom
101–125	126–150	Curtin University	Australia
101–125	80	Emory University	United States
101–125	101–125	University of Erlangen-Nuremberg	Germany
101–125	126–150	University of Freiburg	Germany
101–125	201–250	University of Lausanne	Switzerland
101–125	NR	Leuphana University of Lüneburg	Germany
101–125	251–300	University of Liverpool	United Kingdom
101–125	151–175	University of Macau	Macao
101–125	151–175	Macquarie University	Australia
101–125	55	Michigan State University	United States
101–125	201–250	University of Neuchâtel	Switzerland
101–125	151–175	University of Notre Dame	United States
101–125	=93	University of Otago	New Zealand
101–125	=93	University of Potsdam	Germany
101–125	NR	Purdue University West Lafayette	United States
101–125	101–125	University of Sheffield	United Kingdom
101–125	201–250	Simon Fraser University	Canada
101–125	101–125	University of Southampton	United Kingdom
101–125	75	University of Southern California	United States
101–125	126–150	Stony Brook University	United States
101–125	87	Trinity College Dublin	Ireland
101–125	=85	University of Waterloo	Canada
101–125	176–200	University of the West of England	United Kingdom
126–150	201–250	University of Adelaide	Australia
126–150	126–150	Australian Catholic University	Australia
126–150	151–175	University of Bern	Switzerland
126–150	126–150	University of Calgary	Canada
126–150	301–400	Central Queensland University	Australia
126–150	126–150	University of Cologne	Germany
126–150	101–125	University of Copenhagen	Denmark
126–150	201–250	Flinders University	Australia
126–150	90	Georgia Institute of Technology	United States
126–150	151–175	Goldsmiths, University of London	United Kingdom
126–150	101–125	Lancaster University	United Kingdom
126–150	176–200	Maynooth University	Ireland
126–150	126–150	University of Münster	Germany
126–150	126–150	University of Nottingham	United Kingdom
126–150	101–125	Nottingham Trent University	United Kingdom
126–150	126–150	University of Regina	Canada
126–150	201–250	Royal Holloway, University of London	United Kingdom
126–150	101–125	Rutgers University – New Brunswick	United States
126–150	101–125	Sapienza University of Rome	Italy
126–150	101–125	University of Sussex	United Kingdom
126–150	176–200	Ulm University	Germany
126–150	126–150	University of Victoria	Canada
126–150	100	Victoria University of Wellington	New Zealand
126–150	151–175	Yonsei University (Seoul campus)	South Korea
126–150	151–175	York University	Canada
151–175	126–150	University of Arizona	United States
151–175	101–125	University of Barcelona	Spain
151–175	201–250	Boston College	United States
151–175	126–150	University of California, Santa Cruz	United States
151–175	101–125	University of Connecticut	United States
151–175	101–125	Durham University	United Kingdom
151–175	151–175	University of Florida	United States
151–175	176–200	University of Geneva	Switzerland
151–175	151–175	University of Georgia	United States
151–175	126–150	University of Graz	Austria
151–175	251–300	University of Jyväskylä	Finland
151–175	151–175	University of Leeds	United Kingdom
151–175	251–300	University of Leicester	United Kingdom
151–175	101–125	Linköping University	Sweden
151–175	126–150	University of Luxembourg	Luxembourg
151–175	176–200	University of Massachusetts	United States
151–175	151–175	University of Miami	United States
151–175	151–175	Mizzou - University of Missouri	United States
151–175	101–125	National Taiwan University (NTU)	Taiwan
151–175	151–175	Newcastle University	United Kingdom
151–175	251–300	University of Newcastle	Australia
151–175	251–300	University of North Carolina at Greensboro	United States
151–175	201–250	University of Surrey	United Kingdom
151–175	101–125	University of Twente	Netherlands
151–175	151–175	Western University	Canada
176–200	151–175	Aston University	United Kingdom
176–200	251–300	Chung-Ang University	South Korea
176–200	201–250	Dalhousie University	Canada
176–200	201–250	University of Denver	United States
176–200	201–250	Eötvös Loránd University	Hungary
176–200	251–300	University of Essex	United Kingdom
176–200	126–150	Florida State University	United States
176–200	176–200	Friedrich Schiller University Jena	Germany
176–200	201–250	Goethe University Frankfurt	Germany
176–200	126–150	University of Innsbruck	Austria
176–200	151–175	University of Iowa	United States
176–200	NR	Jönköping University	Sweden
176–200	176–200	King Abdulaziz University	Saudi Arabia
176–200	NR	Korea University	South Korea
176–200	201–250	Université Libre de Bruxelles	Belgium
176–200	151–175	McMaster University	Canada
176–200	176–200	Northeastern University	United States
176–200	176–200	University of Oslo	Norway
176–200	126–150	University of Reading	United Kingdom
176–200	=85	Tel Aviv University	Israel
176–200	151–175	University of Turku	Finland
176–200	251–300	University College Cork	Ireland
176–200	301–400	Washington State University	United States
176–200	151–175	University of Würzburg	Germany

View the full table of the best universities for psychology degrees

Editors note: As part of our THE statement on Ukraine published on 2 March 2022, Russian universities have been given less prominence in our rankings. Russian and Belarusian universities that met the criteria for this ranking are not displayed in the table above.