UCL has retained its number one position for both education and for architecture and the built environment in the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2025.
The rankings reflect UCL's strength across disciplines, as the university ranks in the top 20 globally in 20 subject areas.
This is the 12th consecutive year that UCL has ranked top for Education, led by the IOE, UCL's Faculty of Education and Society, and UCL's third year ranking first for Architecture & Built Environment, recognising the academic excellence of The Bartlett, UCL's Faculty of the Built Environment.
UCL is also featured in the top five worldwide in Archaeology (3), Pharmacy & Pharmacology (3), Geography (4), Anthropology (4), and also ranks in the top 20 in Psychology, Medicine, Anatomy & Physiology, English Language & Literature, Development Studies, Library & Information Management, Law, History, Biological Sciences, Modern Languages, Classics & Ancient History, Economics & Econometrics, Linguistics, and Chemical Engineering.
UCL appears in the rankings in all 46 subject areas that are ranked, featuring in the top 50 for 42 of them.
Professor Geraint Rees, UCL Vice-Provost (Research, Innovation & Global Engagement), said: "These rankings reaffirm UCL's position as a global leader across a remarkable breadth of disciplines. I am delighted that the IOE has once again been ranked as the best in the world for the 12th consecutive year, and that the Bartlett has retained its position as the world's top architecture and built environment faculty for the third year running.
"My warmest congratulations to our exceptional academics, researchers, and professional services staff whose dedication, talent, and pioneering work continue to push boundaries and shape the future. Our students have the life-changing opportunity to learn from and collaborate with our world-leading experts, tackling society's biggest challenges together."
Professor Jacqui Glass, Dean of The Bartlett Faculty of the Built Environment, said: "I'm so proud to be a part of such a special, diverse and vibrant community at The Bartlett. I would like to share my sincere thanks for the outstanding dedication and support that each of our staff and students contributes to the life of our faculty and the built environment disciplines as a whole. I also recognise the exceptional commitment of our many partners without whom achievements like this would not be possible. It is wonderful to see our work recognised internationally in this year's QS global ranking and we look forward to another strong and vibrant year ahead."
Professor Li Wei, Dean and Director of the IOE, said: "We are absolutely delighted to once again have been ranked first in the world in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, for Education. I would like to thank and congratulate my colleagues on this continued recognition of their work. It would not, though, be possible without our many funders, partners, students and alumni, who very much share in this success. Above all, we are committed to improving the lives of children and their families and communities. We work towards this in the fields of education, including teacher education at scale, social research and social policy and culture and communication. IOE's research excellence across this unique footprint is helping to progress research, policy and practice agendas around the world, as reflected in this year's rankings."
To compile the subject rankings, comparing over 1,600 universities across the globe, QS used five key metrics (academic reputation, employer reputation to reflect graduate employability, and research performance based on citations, impact and international partnerships), the precise weighting of which varies by subject to reflect differing research practices across disciplines.
The QS World University Rankings, which rank universities overall rather than at subject level, will be published later this year. The last edition of these rankings placed UCL at ninth in the world.
