Oxford named best university in the world for two subjects

The University of Oxford has been named the best in the world for two subjects in international rankings.

The Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings by Subject for 2025 also named the University of Cambridge as one of just three institutions to feature in the top 10 in all subjects covered.

Oxford, which has held the top spot in THE’s world university rankings for the last nine years, was named as the best for medical and health – a position it has held since 2019.

It also retained the number one ranking for computer science, which the university has held since 2019, and has risen from joint fifth in 2024 to second in business and economics.

Oxford features in the top eight across the 10 subject rankings in which it is represented.

Cambridge is joined by US universities Harvard and Stanford as the only institutions to feature in the top 10 for all 11 subjects covered by the rankings.

Its best position is second for arts and humanities, computer science, life sciences and psychology.

Three other British universities feature in the top 10 for medical and health behind Oxford, Cambridge in third with Imperial College London holding the fourth spot it held in 2024 – as well as being ranked eighth in computer science – and UCL dropping one place to eighth, but rising one place to 10th in education studies. It has the same ranking for law.

UCL is sixth in arts and humanities and has moved up from 12 to 10 in Law, while the London School of Economics and Political Science goes up a place to enter the top 10 in business and economics, but drops one to ninth in social sciences.

King’s College London has jumped six places to number nine in psychology.

US universities top nine of the 11 subject rankings with Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford leading the way in three each. Harvard tops two of the rankings with California Institute of Technology first for physical sciences.

THE’s chief global affairs officer Phil Baty said: “While the western world continues to dominate the subject rankings, this new data release demonstrates the continued rise of China and east Asian nations in the global knowledge economy, and a global levelling up of excellence.”

Chinese universities are ranked in the top 50 for all subjects while Peking and Tsinghua universities make the top 10 in business and economics as well as education studies.