Archaeology at York placed 5th in the UK and 16th in the world
Posted on Thursday 26 March 2026
This week, York’s Department of Archaeology reconfirmed its place among the world’s most highly regarded institutions for the study of Archaeology. It was ranked 5th in the UK and 16th in the world by QS World University Rankings, 2026, retaining its strong position globally.
QS provides independent comparative analysis on the performance of more than 18,300 individual university programmes, taken by students at more than 1700 universities in 100 locations around the world, across 55 academic disciplines.
Head of Department Professor Stephanie Wynne-Jones said: “It’s wonderful to see this recognition of the incredible research and teaching being done by our colleagues in the department. We know that York is one of the best places in the world to study archaeology and it’s fasntatic to have it confirmed in our global ranking.”
York's overall position
In total, three subjects at the University of York were ranked in the top 50 globally, as well as top 10 in the UK:
- Archaeology (5th in the UK, 16th globally)
- English Language & Literature (9th in the UK, 28th globally)
- Social Policy & Administration (8th in the UK, =38th globally)
Seven more ranked in the UK top 20. Six were ranked in the top 100 in the world.
- Linguistics (11th in the UK)
- History (=12th in the UK, top 100 globally)
- Philosophy (=12th in the UK, top 100 globally)
- Education and Training (13th in the UK, =81st globally)
- Performing Arts (=14th in the UK, top 100 globally)
- Sociology (17th in the UK, =95th globally)
- Psychology (19th in the UK, 98th globally)
In the broad subject of Arts and Humanities we were ranked 50th globally.