25 March 2026
The UvA has six subject areas holding a top 20 position:
| Subject area | Position 2026 | Position 2025 |
| Communication & Media Studies | 1 | 1 |
| Dentistry | 3 | 3 |
| Geography | 8 | 8 |
| Psychology | 9 | 10 |
| Anthropology | 15 | 20 |
| Sociology | 16 | 21 |
There are nine other disciplines at the UvA that are listed in the top 50:
| Subject area | Position 2026 | Position 2025 |
| Politics & International Studies | 25 | 23 |
| Medicine | 29 | 36 |
| Library & Information Management | 30 | 28 |
| Philosophy | 32 | 36 |
| Law | 36 | 31 |
| Social Policy & Administration | 41 | 39 |
| History | 42 | 37 |
| Linguistics | 44 | 52 |
| English Language & Literature | 49 | 40 |
From place 51 onwards, QS ranks at some subject areas at individual university level and some by group (51-100). Sixteen subject areas at the UvA are in the range of 51 to 100:
| Subject area | Position 2026 | Position 2025 |
| Accounting & Finance | 53 | 54 |
| Education | 55 | 56 |
| Physics & Astronomy | 57 | 57 |
| Economics & Econometrics | 61 | 64 |
| Computer Science & Information Systems | 62 | 45 |
| Modern Languages | 72 | 54 |
| Biological Sciences | 81 | 73 |
| Mathematics | 82 | 88 |
| Business & Management Studies | 93 | 87 |
| Development Studies | 51-100 | 51-100 |
| Data Science and Artificial Intelligence | 51-100 | 51-100 |
| Statistics & Operational Research | 51-100 | 51-100 |
| Archeology | 51-100 | 51-100 |
|
Anatomy & Physiology |
51-100 | 51-100 |
| Classics & Ancient History | 51-100 | 51-100 |
| Marketing | 51-100 | 51-100 |
QS also ranks five broad subject areas each year. The UvA is in the global top 50 in three of these areas:
| Broad subject area | Position 2026 | Position 2025 |
| Social Sciences & Management | 31 | 29 |
| Arts & Humanities | 34 | 29 |
| Life Sciences & Medicine | 43 | 45 |
| Natural Sciences | 103 | 96 |
| Engineering & Technology | 209 | 173 |
QS ranks subject areas according to five indicators with variable weights: Academic Reputation, Employer Reputation, Research Citations per Paper, H-Index en International Research Network.
On 19 June 2025, QS published its university-wide World University Rankings, with the UvA in 53rd place worldwide.
The ranking is based on nine indicators: academic reputation (30%), citations per faculty (20%), employer reputation (15%), employment outcomes (5%), international faculty (5%), international research network (5%), international students (5%), faculty to student ratio (10%) and sustainability (5%).
Earlier in the year, the QS World University Rankings by Subject were published. The UvA is in the global top 100 in 32 disciplines, with Communication & Media Studies ranking number 1 worldwide and ACTA's Dentistry ranking number 3 worldwide.