6 April 2022
According to the QS World University Rankings by subject 2022, the University of Amsterdam is the best worldwide in the field of Communication & Media Studies. This is the fifth year in a row that the UvA has taken the number one spot in this subject area. The first time was in 2018. ACTA, the joint dentistry faculty of the UvA and the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, also holds a very high position, climbing one spot from last year to 2nd place worldwide. Sociology is seventh in the world and Psychology has placed ninth. Nearly all subject areas at the UvA have risen in the global rankings. The QS World University Rankings by subject 2022 was published on Wednesday, 6 April.
In total, eight UvA subject areas are ranked in de top 20 of their field:
Subject area | Rank in 2022 | Rank in 2021 |
Communication & Media Studies | 1 | 1 |
Dentistry | 2 | 3 |
Sociology | 7 | 13 |
Psychology | 9 | 15 |
Geography | 14 | 19 |
Social Policy & Administration | 16 | 26 |
Politics & International Studies | 18 | 26 |
Anthropology |
19 | 21 |
An additional 12 other UvA subject areas have been ranked in the top 50 in the world:
Subject area | Rank in 2022 | Rank in 2021 |
Development Studies | 21 | 24 |
Linguistics | 27 | 20 |
Library & Information Management | 27 | 28 |
Medicine | 28 | 32 |
Law | 30 | 35 |
History | 31 | 35 |
Computer Science & Information Systems | 34 | 40 |
English Language & Literature | 36 | 41 |
Education | 38 | 37 |
Philosophy | 39 | 51-100 |
Physics & Astronomy | 39 | 54 |
Accounting & Finance | 49 | 54 |
Outside the top 50, universities are ranked by group instead of individually. Nine UvA subject areas are ranked between 51 and 100 in their fields:
Subject area | Rank in 2022 | Rank in 2021 |
Modern Languages | 53 | 52 |
Biological Sciences | 55 | 59 |
Economics & Econometrics | 61 | 56 |
Business & Management Studies | 79 | 87 |
Mathematics | 80 | 71 |
Chemistry | 96 | 109 |
Theology, Divinity & Religious Studies | 51-100 | 51-100 |
Statistics & Operational Research | 51-100 | 51-100 |
Archeology | 51-100 | 51-100 |
Every year, QS also ranks five broad subject areas. In four out of the five areas, the UvA is ranked within the top 100:
Broad subject areas | Rank in 2022 | Rank in 2021 |
Arts & Humanities | 21 | 26 |
Social Sciences & Management | 23 | 29 |
Life Sciences & Medicine | 34 | 36 |
Natural Sciences | 68 | 88 |
Engineering & Technology | 148 | 206 |
About the ranking
QS ranks subject areas on the basis of four criteria: employer reputation, academic reputation, citations and H-index. The latter criterion links the impact (number of citations) to the scope (number of publications) of a researcher’s work.
QS published their university-wide World University Rankings on 8 June 2021, in which the UvA placed 55th.