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QS World Rankings By Subject 2025

We have a best-ever 21 subjects in the world top 100.
3 Subjects
in the Top 10
8 Subjects
in the Top 50
21 Subjects
in the Top 100
World Top 100
QS World University Rankings 2026

Ranked among the world's best

We have achieved our strongest-ever performance in the prestigious QS World University Rankings by Subject 2025, with a record 21 subjects ranked among the world’s top 100, up from 19 last year.

Three of our subjects rated in the global top ten: Archaeology (6), Theology and Religion (6), and Classics and Ancient History (9).

A further five of our subjects rank highly in the World Top 50: Geography (11), Anthropology (29), Philosophy (31), English Studies (33) and History (36).

Five of our subjects have also improved their QS ranking on last year which is testimony to our commitment to academic excellence.

Join us for the next chapter of your academic journey and experience a research-led, challenging and transformative education.

University student
Durham is a world-leading university, and the excellence of our teaching and research is reflected in our global rankings successes. It is very pleasing to see so many, and such a broad range, of our subjects once again placed so highly in these most prestigious global rankings.
Professor Karen O'Brien
Vice-Chancellor and Warden

About the QS World University Rankings by Subject

The QS World University Rankings by Subject are compiled annually to help prospective students identify the leading universities in a particular subject.

In 2025, the QS team analysed the reputation and research output of over 5,200 institutions globally. From this group, 1,747 were ranked across 55 subjects and five broad subject areas, creating over 21,000 entries.

5,200 institutions ranked globally
21,000 entries

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