Communication & Media Studies again number one worldwide in QS Ranking

4 March 2021

This year the University of Amsterdam (UvA) has once again been ranked best in the world for Communication Science & Media in the QS World University rankings by subject. This is the fourth year in a row that UvA Communication Science & Media has been ranked number one. Another subject area with a top position this year is Dentistry, which is ranked 3rd in the world. A variety of other subjects areas at the UvA also are also ranked in the top 100.

Top 20

There are a total of six UvA subject areas in the top 20 of their field:

Subject area	Rank in 2021	Rank in 2020
Communication & Media Studies	1	1
Dentistry	3	2
Sociology	13	10
Psychology	15	15
Geography	19	18
Linguistics	20	16

Top 50

Eleven subject areas at the UvA have placed in the top 50:

Subject area	Rank in 2021	Rank in 2020
Anthropology	21	19
Development Studies	24	17
Politics & International Studies	26	26
Social Policy & Administration	26	28
Liberary & Information Management	28	19
Medicine	32	30
Law	35	34
History	35	36
Education	37	51-100
Computer Science & Information Systems	40	45
English Language & Literature	41	43

Top 100

Outside the top 50, universities are ranked by group instead of individually. Ten UvA subject areas are ranked between 51 and 100 in their fields:

Subject area	Rank in 2021	Rank in 2020
Modern Languages	52	49
Physics & Astronomy	54	50
Accounting & Finance	54	51-100
Economics & Econometrics	56	51-100
Biological Sciences	59	51-100
Mathematics	71	51-100
Business & Management Studies	87	51-100
Philosophy	51-100	40
Theology, Divinity & Religious Studies	51-100	51-100
Statistics & Operational Research	51-100	51-100

Broad subject areas

Every year, QS also ranked five broad subject areas. In four out of the five areas, the UvA is ranked within the top 100.

Broad subject areas	Rank in 2021	Rank in 2020
Arts & Humanities	26	29
Social Sciences & Management	29	35
Life Sciences & Medicine	36	33
Natural Sciences	88	96
Engineering &Technology	206	183

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 10 June 2020, in which the UvA placed 61st.

See full QS Rankings by Subject Find out how the UvA performs in other global rankings