World University Rankings by Subject 2025: Results Announced

Sino Turkish
9 February 2025

Despite Asia’s success in various academic fields, its leading universities face challenges in competing globally in arts and humanities. Patrick Jack explores whether this needs to change for them to be considered world-class.

Concerns over the “crisis” in humanities persist, but an analysis of the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings by Subject 2025 underscores its ongoing importance to elite institutions.

Stanford University dominated for nearly a decade. Still, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has secured the top position in the arts and humanities, business and economics, and social sciences.

Historically renowned for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), MIT has emerged as a leading institution for arts studies, excelling in research quality and international outlook. This success has propelled MIT to second place in the World University Rankings 2025, marking its highest-ever performance and positioning it as the top-ranked U.S. institution.

View the full World University Rankings by Subject 2025 results:

Arts and Humanities
Business and Economics
Computer Science
Education Studies
Engineering
Law
Life Sciences
Medical and Health
Physical Sciences
Psychology
Social Sciences

Among the 11 subject rankings, Stanford secured the top spot in education studies, law, and psychology, while Harvard University led in engineering and life sciences. The California Institute of Technology (Caltech) topped physical sciences, and the University of Oxford ranked first in computer science and medical and health fields.

Although no Asian universities claimed the top spot in any subject, the region remains well-represented in the rankings. China and Singapore are in the top 50 for all 11 subjects, Hong Kong is ninth, and Japan is eighth.

Asia’s strongest performance was in business and economics, where Peking University and Tsinghua University ranked fourth and sixth, respectively. Alongside the University of Hong Kong, these Chinese institutions ranked in the top 10 in education studies. The National University of Singapore ranked ninth in engineering and became the first Asian institution to enter the top 10 in physical sciences, securing 10th place.

According to Simon Marginson, a professor of higher education at the University of Oxford, Asia’s growing influence in global rankings reflects an increasingly multipolar higher education landscape. He noted that Western institutions face intensified competition as academic capacity expands globally.

Higher education systems in East and Southeast Asia have advanced due to rising student enrollment, increased government funding, performance-oriented management, and selective internationalization policies.

However, the trend in the arts and humanities is different. MIT is followed by the University of Cambridge, the University of Oxford, and several other top-ranked institutions from the U.S. and the U.K.

The National University of Singapore is the highest-ranking university outside of Europe and North America in arts and humanities, ranked 25th. In contrast, Peking and Tsinghua universities dropped to 38th and 39th, respectively.

Could this be why China’s top universities have yet to break into the top 10?

“China and Asia have made significant progress in social sciences, but arts and humanities still lag due to structural, historical, and political factors,” said Futao Huang, vice director of the Research Institute for Higher Education at Hiroshima University.

Asian governments have historically prioritized applied sciences over arts and humanities, a trend that persists through restrictive policies.

Huang pointed out that institutions such as Caltech, which led the overall World University Rankings from 2012 to 2016 despite its STEM focus, prove that global excellence is achievable without strong humanities programs.

“While arts and humanities are not a strict requirement for world-class status, they contribute significantly to interdisciplinary research, cultural enrichment, and addressing societal challenges,” he said.

Comprehensive universities like Tsinghua and Peking aim for a broader academic mission. Arts and humanities are essential for producing well-rounded graduates and sustaining global recognition despite lower rankings in these fields.

Joseph Chinyong Liow, chair of comparative and international politics at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, believes that the arts and humanities are crucial for truly world-class institutions. However, he notes that many universities claiming interdisciplinary excellence still treat these fields as secondary.

“Often, when institutions emphasize interdisciplinarity, arts and humanities merely serve as an embellishment rather than a core focus,” he said.

Liow said the dominance of English in academic publishing may also contribute to Asian universities’ lower rankings in humanities, where language plays a central role.

However, trends suggest a gradual shift. While European and North American universities comprised 80% of the arts and humanities rankings in 2021, this figure dropped to 70% by 2025. Asian universities now hold 16% of the top 750 positions, up from 9% four years ago.

To sustain this progress, Huang suggests key strategies for Asian universities: “Increase investment in arts and humanities, cultivate an open academic environment with greater academic freedom, and ensure these disciplines receive equal support as STEM fields in national higher education policies.”

Source: Times Higher Education