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Communication & Media Studies number one worldwide in QS Rankings for fifth year in a row

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.

Top 20

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

Top 50

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

Top 100       

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

Broad subject areas

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.

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