6 april 2022
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 |
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 |
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 |
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.