QS Global Rankings 2025: The QS World University Rankings 2025 by subject features 55 individual subjects across five broad subject areas. This year, 171 institutions have joined the global rankings and subjects like medicine, computer science and information systems, and materials science feature more institutions than ever before.
Eastern Asian countries such as South Korea, mainland China and Hong Kong SAR have made notable growth with their universities.
Here are the top universities providing the best courses as per the QS World Rankings 2025 for each of the five subject areas.
1. Arts and Humanities
Arts and Humanities include a total of 13 subjects including history, modern languages and performing arts. The number one university providing courses in this subject area is Harvard University, US with an Employer Reputation (ER) of 100, followed by:
- University of Oxford, UK with an Employer Reputation of 97.4
- University of Cambridge, UK with an Employer Reputation of 96.8
- Stanford University, US with 96.5 ER
- University of California, US with 89.9 ER
Employer reputation reflects how highly employers worldwide regard a university's graduates.
2. Engineering and Technology
Engineering and Technology comprise of eight individual subjects including Electrical and Electronic, Computer Science and Information Systems and Data science and Artificial Intelligence.
The top university providing the best courses in Engineering and Technology is Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), US with an Employer Reputation ER of 98.2, followed by:
- University of Oxford, UK with 97.7 ER
- Stanford University, US with 95.8 ER
- University of Cambridge, UK with 97.1 ER
- ETH Zurich, Switzerland with 91.8 ER
Tsinghua University from China has improved the most this year in this subject area, having jumped four places to seventh position.
3. Life Sciences and Medicine
Life Sciences and Medicine cover nine subjects including Agriculture and Forestry, Nursing, Psychology, Dentistry, Anatomy and Physiology and Veterinary Science.
This year also, UK and US continue to dominate the top 10 of this subject area.
The number one university providing the best courses in Life Sciences and Medicine is Harvard University with an Employer Reputation of 100, followed by:
- University of Oxford with an ER of 98.6
- Johns Hopkins University, US with 83.2 ER
- Stanford University, US with an ER of 97.1
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), US with 99.8 ER
4. Natural Sciences
Natural Sciences include nine subjects including Chemistry, Geography, Mathematics, Geophysics and Physics. Out of the top 10 universities in this subject domain, eight of them are from US and UK with ETH Zurich (sixth) and Tsinghua University (10th) as the only exceptions.
The top university providing the best courses in this subject area is Harvard University with an Employer Reputation of 99.8, followed by:
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) with 100 ER
- University of Oxford with 98.1 ER
- University of Cambridge with 97.9 ER
- Stanford University with 97.3 ER
5. Social Sciences and Management
Social Sciences and Management cover a total of 16 subjects including Business, Marketing, Law, Accounting and Finance, Communication and Media Studies, Politics, Sociology etc.
The top 10 universities in this subject area are dominated by the US and UK with National University of Singapore (ranked 10th) as the only exception.
Employer Reputation is a key indicator of a university's perceived ability to produce employable graduates.
The number one university providing best courses in this subject area is Harvard University with an Employer Reputation of 100, followed by:
- University of Oxford with 97.2 ER
- Stanford University with an ER of 95.1
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) with 97.2 ER
- University of Cambridge with 96.4 ER
Each year, more universities continue to improve and prove their excellence in different subject fields. As per the QS Global Rankings 2025, institutions from Western Asia and the Arab Region have also seen a notable growth in these subject areas.
