Top 50 Arts and Humanities universities

20 October 2011

Stanford University knocks Harvard University off the top spot in the arts and humanities subject rankings. With Pulitzer prizewinners and MacArthur Fellows leading its liberal-arts programme, the relative newcomer (founded in 1891) has proved more than a match for its illustrious Ivy League rival.

The University of Chicago, with a humanities department that teaches more than 50 languages, takes third position.

While the arts and humanities table, like all the others, is predominantly Anglo-American, it is the only subject area where an institution outside the US and the UK makes the top five.

The Australian National University, based in Canberra and alma mater of Kevin Rudd, the former prime minister, is ranked equal fourth alongside Princeton University.

It leads a list of three Australian institutions in the top 20, with the universities of Sydney and Melbourne taking 18th and 19th place respectively.

Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (26th) is the top-ranked institution in continental Europe.

Founded by educational reformer Wilhelm von Humboldt, it has taught some of history's greatest thinkers, such as philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer, political theorist Karl Marx, master of realpolitik Otto von Bismarck and physicist Albert Einstein.

Freie Universität Berlin (29th), established in 1948 to promote intellectual freedom in post-war Europe, also performs well in the table and is one of five German institutions featured, the country's best showing in an individual subject table.

The Netherlands has three representatives, including the University of Amsterdam (30th), Leiden University (35th) and Utrecht University (45th).

Asia has only two institutions featured (the University of Hong Kong at 36th place and the National University of Singapore at 38th), although that represents an improvement on last year, when not a single university from the region made the list.

Top 50 Arts and Humanities Universities 2011-2012
  Subject RankOrdered by this column, descending Institution Country / Region Arts and HumanitiesOverall score Arts and HumanitiesTeaching Arts and HumanitiesInternational mix Arts and HumanitiesIndustry income Arts and HumanitiesResearch Arts and HumanitiesCitations
1 Stanford University United States
88.6
95.6
60.4
47.6
94
78.9
2 Harvard University United States
87.8
94.5
64.3
36.1
93.2
77.7
3 University of Chicago United States
87.1
92.1
64.9
Data withheld by THE
95.6
67.7
4 Australian National University Australia
84
77
86.3
38.9
96.5
76.4
4 Princeton University United States
84
90.7
41.5
71.2
93.1
68.2
6 University of Cambridge United Kingdom
83.2
93
62.2
64.9
96.9
38
7 University of Oxford United Kingdom
83.1
90.2
71.4
44.9
95.2
47.6
8 University College London United Kingdom
81.5
84.1
82
38.2
91.1
58.2
8 University of California, Berkeley United States
81.5
89.5
38
38.9
94.6
57.8
10 University of Toronto Canada
79.7
81.3
60
36.1
90.5
65.8
11 University of Edinburgh United Kingdom
79.6
83.9
74.1
39
85.1
64.7
12 Yale University United States
79.5
91.9
53.2
36.2
91.5
38.6
13 University of Michigan United States
79.3
82.1
42.8
43.7
88.6
72.9
14 University of California, Los Angeles United States
79.1
86.2
39.3
Data withheld by THE
90.9
57.8
15 Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey United States
78.3
78.4
26.7
Data withheld by THE
92.1
76.4
16 New York University United States
75.5
78.2
42
39.8
89.1
57.2
17 Cornell University United States
74.8
76.5
64.6
Data withheld by THE
82.1
61.9
18 The University of Sydney Australia
74.7
79.5
75.3
59.7
82.3
45.8
19 University of Melbourne Australia
73
78.4
72.6
51.5
82.7
39.1
20 University of Texas at Austin United States
69.3
67.4
33.4
50.6
74.7
81.6
21 McGill University Canada
69
68.3
85.1
40
72.4
59
22 University of Wisconsin-Madison United States
68.9
68.6
28.5
41.3
73.6
82.9
23 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill United States
67.8
65.3
20.3
36.1
79.3
74.5
24 University of St Andrews United Kingdom
67.7
71
81.3
37.4
74.7
40.4
25 University of Pittsburgh United States
66.8
63.6
31.3
37
81.9
59.3
26 Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin Germany
66.7
71.7
52.8
Data withheld by THE
83.7
23.6
27 Brown University United States
64.8
78.4
38.2
41.3
67
42.3
28 University of British Columbia Canada
64.6
66.6
84.9
46.6
65.4
50.7
29 Freie Universität Berlin Germany
63.5
65.2
67.1
38
72.9
38.4
30 University of Amsterdam Netherlands
63.3
65.9
50
47.3
69.6
50.5
31 Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München Germany
62.6
65.1
58.5
63
71
37.2
32 University of Arizona United States
61.6
62.2
32.3
56.8
61.4
76
33 University of Massachusetts United States
60.3
63.4
21.3
43.4
65.5
61.9
34 University of Manchester United Kingdom
59.8
51.1
64.5
39.3
63.7
73
35 Leiden University Netherlands
59.1
60.8
57.4
37.5
71.3
28.8
36 The University of Hong Kong Hong Kong
58.1
58.7
92.6
50.5
52.9
53.3
37 Indiana University United States
57.9
61
39.1
Data withheld by THE
62.5
49.9
38 National University of Singapore Singapore
57.7
58.5
84.9
59.4
57.1
43.4
39 King's College London United Kingdom
57.3
57.3
79.5
36.5
63.5
34
40 University of California, San Diego United States
57.1
52.9
36.9
45.2
59.1
74.7
41 Universität Heidelberg Germany
56.3
57
71.5
36.2
58.7
44.5
42 Katholieke Universiteit Leuven Belgium
55.6
52.1
55.1
99.9
58.9
49
43 University of Auckland New Zealand
55.5
54
77.8
96.6
48
59.6
44 Lancaster University United Kingdom
55.4
52.9
49.9
37.7
53.8
71.4
45 Utrecht University Netherlands
55.3
54.4
58.8
50.8
53.3
61.3
46 The Ohio State University United States
55
54.7
53.6
36.6
54
61.8
47 University of Vienna Austria
54.9
57.8
76.6
36.7
57.4
33.4
48 Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen Germany
54.6
56.2
52.1
36.1
57.5
47.9
48 University of Leeds United Kingdom
54.6
59
44.5
37.6
55.4
49.6
50 University of Notre Dame United States
54.5
61
24.1
37.9
58.1
47.5

Uni

Arts and Humanities scores

Subject rank
101
Overall score
Teaching
International outlook
Industry income
Research
Citations
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