The Lens

The 2025 edition of the QS World University Rankings by Subject features 55 individual subjects across five broad subject areas. This year's rankings are our biggest yet, with 171 institutions included this year who were not present in the 2024 edition. Several subjects, including medicine, computer science and information systems, and materials science now feature more ranked institutions than ever before.

Eastern Asian countries such as South Korea, mainland China and Hong Kong SAR have all seen notable improvements from their universities, while there has also been notable growth in the number of ranked institutions from Western Asia and the Arab Region.

Arts and Humanities

At a time when disciplines in the Arts & Humanities are facing an existential crisis in countries like the UK, with for example the University of Kent’s proposal to phase out 6 core subjects including art history, music and philosophy, and another round of similar culls involving 170 full-time positions proposed at the University of East Anglia and other universities, it is important to reflect on the impact graduates in Arts & Humanities have made.

What would a world without actors, artists, dancers, designers, gallery curators, graphic designers, journalists, illustrators, musicians, novelists, philosophers, poets and writers look like? And what would replace them as we move towards a world dominated by AI solutions, much of which has been built on the contributions of the above. The original and creative contributions to the public good these disciplines have made for many generations is too big to be erased in a pencil stroke at any given moment with minimal consultation at local at national levels. Their loss is irreplaceable.

Good governance requires such fundamental changes in the DNA of a University to be understood by the academic, student and administrative communities that share a common home, and part of a wider national dialogue of what it means to be a University, and how to increase the public good role of higher education. ‘Strategic’ decisions made behind closed doors won’t do.

Meanwhile, leading universities on the European Continent, in France, Germany and Italy, are rising in this field, with the Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne breaking into the top 15, up 4 places from 2024. The Humboldt University of Berlin and the Free University of Berlin are in 26th and 38th position, up 3 places each, while the Sapienza University of Rome squeezes into the top 40, the University of Bologna rises from 50th to 42nd place and Politecnico di Milano comes in at joint 50th. National and publicly funded flagship universities of China, Singapore and Japan also rise, with the University of Tokyo up in joint 29th position, the National University of Singapore up 6 places to 31st and Nanyang Technological University leapfrogging from 66th position to 48th and China’s renowned Tsinghua up 3 places in joint 33rd position. In South America, the leading institution is Argentina’s Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA), which moves up 2 places to joint 24th position. This is a cautionary tale for those institutions and countries ready to ditch this field for currently more alluring government and tech funded disciplines, at the expense of those subjects that have their roots in the origins of the University and the artistic and moral development of mankind, one that cultivates critical thinking, ethical leadership and empathy. It appears for many of the current and aspiring global knowledge powers of tomorrow, the choice is not a zero sum game and while funding is made readily available for STEM and other new disciplines, the Arts & Humanities are still valued.

Trinity College Dublin break into the top 50 in 49th position, while University College Dublin (UCD) breaks into the top 100 in joint 92nd position. The positioning of these 2 historic Dublin universities among the world’s top 100 is no surprise. Dublin was one of the first UNESCO Cities of Literature, a label recognizing the city’s illustrious past and present in producing some of the world’s most inspiring writers, poets and contribution not literature, from Trinity College Dublin graduates Oscar Wilde to Sally Rooney, the author of Normal People, while University College Dublin is the alma mater of James Joyce and Maeve Binchy, a testament to these universities’ contribution to the literary arts, both old and modern, touching the lives and imaginations of hundreds of millions. With lower tuition fees than neighbouring Britain, Ireland’s leading universities have become ever more popular with international students, on top of being well connected to European partners through schemes such as Erasmus+, thus guaranteeing a healthy flow of inbound and outbound exchange students.

A trend set to continue thanks to the Global Citizens 2030 International Talent and Innovation Strategy launched by the Irish government in early 2024, for Ireland to become a first-choice destination for international students and researchers. This is in stark contrast to the so-called “big four” international student destinations (USA, UK, Canada and Australia), which have recently imposed a barrage of policy changes impacting international students including enrollment caps, visa changes and a ban of dependents. Conversely to the UK where applications where 20% down from India alone, Indian students in particular have been flocking to Irish universities and this inbound flow of international mobile students is coupled with innovative partnerships including institution-wide MoUs and specific academic and research partnerships between Irish and Indian universities in subjects such as Engineering, Design, and Law. Examples include Trinity’s joint undergraduate degree in Engineering programme with Thapar Institute of Engineering & Technology and its collaborative undergraduate partnership with Manipal Academy of Higher Education, while Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT) and UCD signed a MoU in 2023 to establish academic and research collaborations. Trinity rose to break into the top 150 for Engineering & Technology and further solidify its position in the top 100 for Social Sciences & Management, rising from 100th to joint 86th place.