Philosophy at York placed 12th in the UK and in the world top-100
Posted on Thursday 2 April 2026
This week, York’s Department of Philosophy reconfirmed its place among the world’s most highly regarded departments for the study of philosophy. It was ranked joint 12th in the UK and in the world top-100 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 Keith Allen said: “We are delighted by these results, which recognise both the national and global reputation of philosophy at York.”
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)
- Psychology (19th in the UK, 98th globally)
- Sociology (17th in the UK, =95th globally)
In the broad subject of Arts and Humanities we were ranked 50th globally.