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Arts & Humanities
English Language & Literature Ranking
QS World University Rankings by Subject 2026
102 universities
Click any university to view its application strategy timeline
| Rank | Change | University | Country | Score | Academic | Employer | Citations | H | IRN |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | University of Cambridge | United Kingdom | 97.8 | 99.4 | 98.3 | 84.3 | — | — | |
| 2 | 1 | University of Oxford | United Kingdom | 97.7 | 100.0 | 98.9 | 77.6 | — | — |
| 3 | Harvard University | United States of America | 95.6 | 96.2 | 100.0 | 85.9 | — | — | |
| 4 | 1 | Yale University | United States of America | 91.3 | 92.4 | 90.7 | 83.1 | — | — |
| 5 | 1 | University of California, Berkeley (UCB) | United States of America | 90.1 | 91.0 | 87.0 | 86.0 | — | — |
| 6 | 1 | The University of Edinburgh | United Kingdom | 89.0 | 91.1 | 79.3 | 82.2 | — | — |
| 7 | 1 | Stanford University | United States of America | 88.9 | 89.1 | 95.5 | 81.1 | — | — |
| 8 | 1 | Columbia University | United States of America | 87.7 | 88.7 | 85.0 | 81.9 | — | — |
| 9 | 1 | University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) | United States of America | 87.3 | 87.2 | 85.8 | 89.8 | — | — |
| 10 | Princeton University | United States of America | 86.5 | 87.3 | 84.8 | 81.3 | — | — | |
| 10 | 3 | University of Toronto | Canada | 86.5 | 86.8 | 84.2 | 86.3 | — | — |
| 12 | UCL | United Kingdom | 86.1 | 86.6 | 84.7 | 83.3 | — | — | |
| 13 | 2 | University of Chicago | United States of America | 85.9 | 86.2 | 81.2 | 87.8 | — | — |
| 14 | 2 | King's College London | United Kingdom | 84.2 | 84.7 | 81.6 | 83.1 | — | — |
| 15 | National University of Singapore (NUS) | Singapore | 84.1 | 84.0 | 88.7 | 80.5 | — | — | |
| 15 | 1 | New York University (NYU) | United States of America | 84.1 | 83.9 | 83.9 | 86.1 | — | — |
| 17 | 6 | University of British Columbia | Canada | 82.3 | 83.0 | 79.3 | 79.6 | — | — |
| 18 | 3 | The University of Melbourne | Australia | 82.0 | 82.6 | 81.3 | 77.8 | — | — |
| 19 | 6 | University of Pennsylvania | United States of America | 81.0 | 80.8 | 80.8 | 82.7 | — | — |
| 19 | 8 | Trinity College Dublin, The University of Dublin | Ireland | 81.0 | 82.1 | 75.0 | 78.4 | — | — |
| 21 | 2 | Cornell University | United States of America | 80.9 | 80.6 | 80.7 | 83.8 | — | — |
| 22 | 5 | The University of Hong Kong | Hong Kong SAR, China | 80.8 | 80.1 | 80.7 | 86.5 | — | — |
| 22 | 4 | The University of Manchester | United Kingdom | 80.8 | 80.2 | 81.8 | 84.8 | — | — |
| 24 | 2 | Duke University | United States of America | 80.6 | 80.5 | 75.6 | 86.8 | — | — |
| 25 | 1 | The University of Sydney | Australia | 80.5 | 80.4 | 79.4 | 82.0 | — | — |
| 26 | 7 | Durham University | United Kingdom | 80.3 | 80.5 | 77.6 | 81.6 | — | — |
| 27 | 7 | The University of Warwick | United Kingdom | 79.3 | 78.9 | 78.9 | 82.6 | — | — |
| 28 | 4 | University of York | United Kingdom | 79.2 | 80.0 | 63.6 | 88.2 | — | — |
| 29 | 7 | University of Leeds | United Kingdom | 78.9 | 79.0 | 74.0 | 82.7 | — | — |
| 30 | 6 | Peking University | China (Mainland) | 78.5 | 76.6 | 88.4 | 83.6 | — | — |
| 30 | 4 | University of Glasgow | United Kingdom | 78.5 | 79.7 | 70.3 | 76.8 | — | — |
| 30 | 1 | University of Birmingham | United Kingdom | 78.5 | 79.2 | 71.3 | 80.2 | — | — |
| 33 | 5 | University of Michigan-Ann Arbor | United States of America | 78.3 | 78.6 | 74.0 | 79.9 | — | — |
| 34 | 8 | Queen Mary University of London | United Kingdom | 78.2 | 78.6 | 67.3 | 85.6 | — | — |
| 35 | 16 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) | United States of America | 77.5 | 76.5 | 94.9 | 68.3 | — | — |
| 36 | 6 | Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) | Singapore | 77.3 | 75.8 | 84.7 | 82.3 | — | — |
| 37 | Australian National University (ANU) | Australia | 76.6 | 75.0 | 78.1 | 88.3 | — | — | |
| 38 | 5 | McGill University | Canada | 76.5 | 75.4 | 81.5 | 80.0 | — | — |
| 39 | 1 | Lancaster University | United Kingdom | 76.3 | 76.5 | 72.8 | 78.1 | — | — |
| 40 | 12 | University of St Andrews | United Kingdom | 76.2 | 76.5 | 75.1 | 74.8 | — | — |
| 41 | University College Dublin | Ireland | 76.0 | 76.7 | 67.6 | 78.6 | — | — | |
| 42 | 19 | University of Bristol | United Kingdom | 75.8 | 74.6 | 75.3 | 85.6 | — | — |
| 43 | 12 | The University of Tokyo | Japan | 75.7 | 78.1 | 84.5 | 48.0 | — | — |
| 44 | 1 | Brown University | United States of America | 75.6 | 76.2 | 67.6 | 78.4 | — | — |
| 44 | 7 | Monash University | Australia | 75.6 | 74.9 | 76.4 | 80.2 | — | — |
| 44 | 3 | University of Exeter | United Kingdom | 75.6 | 75.5 | 70.0 | 82.0 | — | — |
| 47 | 11 | Pennsylvania State University | United States of America | 75.3 | 75.1 | 66.7 | 85.0 | — | — |
| 48 | Freie Universitaet Berlin | Germany | 75.1 | 76.4 | 67.4 | 72.8 | — | — | |
| 49 | 9 | University of Amsterdam | Netherlands | 74.9 | 73.3 | 72.9 | 89.5 | — | — |
| 50 | 4 | The University of Auckland | New Zealand | 74.8 | 73.4 | 73.7 | 86.8 | — | — |
| 51 | 12 | Seoul National University | Republic of Korea | 74.4 | 74.8 | 78.2 | 67.4 | — | — |
| 52 | 4 | University of Texas at Austin | United States of America | 73.7 | 74.4 | 64.6 | 77.6 | — | — |
| 53 | 7 | Universiti Malaya (UM) | Malaysia | 73.6 | 71.9 | 72.8 | 87.6 | — | — |
| 54 | 17 | Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München | Germany | 73.3 | 73.8 | 70.1 | 72.1 | — | — |
| 55 | 2 | Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin | Germany | 73.2 | 74.2 | 66.1 | 71.8 | — | — |
| 56 | 12 | The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) | Hong Kong SAR, China | 73.1 | 75.4 | 75.8 | 52.1 | — | — |
| 57 | 6 | University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign | United States of America | 72.9 | 72.5 | 65.4 | 83.6 | — | — |
| 58 | 35 | University of Nottingham | United Kingdom | 72.7 | 71.2 | 72.0 | 84.9 | — | — |
| 59 | 1 | The University of Queensland | Australia | 72.5 | 71.1 | 74.1 | 82.3 | — | — |
| 60 | 40 | The University of Sheffield | United Kingdom | 72.4 | 71.4 | 70.5 | 82.7 | — | — |
| 60 | 19 | University of Sussex | United Kingdom | 72.4 | 72.3 | 56.7 | 89.1 | — | — |
| 62 | 1 | The University of New South Wales (UNSW Sydney) | Australia | 72.3 | 69.3 | 77.9 | 90.6 | — | — |
| 62 | 15 | Sorbonne University | France | 72.3 | 74.4 | 72.1 | 55.7 | — | — |
| 62 | 29 | Cardiff University | United Kingdom | 72.3 | 72.2 | 70.3 | 75.2 | — | — |
| 65 | 17 | Newcastle University | United Kingdom | 71.6 | 71.2 | 68.9 | 77.6 | — | — |
| 65 | 36 | University of Alberta | Canada | 71.6 | 69.2 | 73.2 | 89.0 | — | — |
| 67 | 9 | University of Virginia | United States of America | 71.2 | 70.9 | 61.7 | 83.2 | — | — |
| 68 | 14 | Rutgers University–New Brunswick | United States of America | 71.1 | 70.3 | 63.2 | 85.2 | — | — |
| 68 | Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna | Italy | 71.1 | 71.2 | 70.1 | 71.4 | — | — | |
| 70 | 3 | The Ohio State University | United States of America | 71.0 | 70.7 | 58.7 | 85.8 | — | — |
| 70 | 12 | Johns Hopkins University | United States of America | 71.0 | 69.8 | 76.1 | 75.1 | — | — |
| 72 | 6 | Northwestern University | United States of America | 70.9 | 69.7 | 69.8 | 81.4 | — | — |
| 72 | 29 | Queen's University Belfast | United Kingdom | 70.9 | 69.8 | 67.6 | 83.1 | — | — |
| 74 | 2 | University of Vienna | Austria | 70.8 | 70.5 | 58.4 | 85.2 | — | — |
| 74 | 3 | University of Helsinki | Finland | 70.8 | 70.5 | 56.8 | 87.1 | — | — |
| 76 | 25 | Macquarie University (Sydney, Australia) | Australia | 70.7 | 68.5 | 71.1 | 87.5 | — | — |
| 76 | 12 | SOAS University of London | United Kingdom | 70.7 | 68.3 | 64.7 | 96.1 | — | — |
| 78 | 18 | York University | Canada | 70.6 | 68.8 | 64.7 | 91.0 | — | — |
| 78 | 23 | Leiden University | Netherlands | 70.6 | 71.0 | 57.7 | 80.1 | — | — |
| 80 | 11 | Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) | Mexico | 70.5 | 69.8 | 78.2 | 68.2 | — | — |
| 80 | 1 | Universität Heidelberg | Germany | 70.5 | 70.7 | 63.3 | 75.8 | — | — |
| 82 | 8 | University of Wisconsin-Madison | United States of America | 70.2 | 70.2 | 55.9 | 84.0 | — | — |
| 82 | 19 | University College Cork | Ireland | 70.2 | 69.9 | 65.7 | 76.6 | — | — |
| 84 | 36 | Yonsei University | Republic of Korea | 70.1 | 70.0 | 74.9 | 65.9 | — | — |
| 85 | 28 | Tsinghua University | China (Mainland) | 69.9 | 69.2 | 88.0 | 57.0 | — | — |
| 85 | 16 | Birkbeck, University of London | United Kingdom | 69.9 | 72.4 | 41.7 | 78.2 | — | — |
| 87 | 31 | Fudan University | China (Mainland) | 69.7 | 68.2 | 81.1 | 70.3 | — | — |
| 87 | 21 | Kyoto University | Japan | 69.7 | 69.7 | 77.4 | 62.1 | — | — |
| 87 | 14 | University of Galway | Ireland | 69.7 | 70.7 | 61.8 | 69.1 | — | — |
| 90 | 21 | Victoria University of Wellington | New Zealand | 69.6 | 67.6 | 68.4 | 87.2 | — | — |
| 90 | University of Liverpool | United Kingdom | 69.6 | 68.8 | 69.4 | 76.6 | — | — | |
| 90 | 11 | Boston University | United States of America | 69.6 | 67.8 | 74.9 | 78.8 | — | — |
| 93 | 11 | City University of Hong Kong (CityUHK) | Hong Kong SAR, China | 69.5 | 69.3 | 69.4 | 71.3 | — | — |
| 94 | 22 | University of Copenhagen | Denmark | 69.3 | 67.5 | 62.3 | 90.8 | — | — |
| 95 | 6 | Arizona State University | United States of America | 69.1 | 67.0 | 69.7 | 85.7 | — | — |
| 96 | 21 | KU Leuven | Belgium | 68.9 | 68.1 | 64.1 | 80.2 | — | — |
| 97 | 18 | Korea University | Republic of Korea | 68.7 | 69.9 | 74.7 | 52.8 | — | — |
| 98 | 3 | Chulalongkorn University | Thailand | 68.6 | 67.6 | 66.0 | 79.6 | — | — |
| 98 | 5 | National Taiwan University (NTU) | Taiwan | 68.6 | 67.9 | 80.2 | 62.1 | — | — |
| 100 | 1 | University of Minnesota (System) | United States of America | 68.4 | 67.6 | 59.1 | 83.7 | — | — |
| 100 | 1 | University of Reading | United Kingdom | 68.4 | 66.9 | 66.8 | 82.3 | — | — |
| 2026 | 1 | INSTITUTION | COUNTRY/TERRITORY | — | — | — | — | — | — |
1
University of Cambridge
United Kingdom
97.8·Acad: 99.4·Empl: 98.3
21
University of Oxford
United Kingdom
97.7·Acad: 100.0·Empl: 98.9
3
Harvard University
United States of America
95.6·Acad: 96.2·Empl: 100.0
41
Yale University
United States of America
91.3·Acad: 92.4·Empl: 90.7
51
University of California, Berkeley (UCB)
United States of America
90.1·Acad: 91.0·Empl: 87.0
61
The University of Edinburgh
United Kingdom
89.0·Acad: 91.1·Empl: 79.3
71
Stanford University
United States of America
88.9·Acad: 89.1·Empl: 95.5
81
Columbia University
United States of America
87.7·Acad: 88.7·Empl: 85.0
91
University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
United States of America
87.3·Acad: 87.2·Empl: 85.8
10
Princeton University
United States of America
86.5·Acad: 87.3·Empl: 84.8
103
University of Toronto
Canada
86.5·Acad: 86.8·Empl: 84.2
12
UCL
United Kingdom
86.1·Acad: 86.6·Empl: 84.7
132
University of Chicago
United States of America
85.9·Acad: 86.2·Empl: 81.2
142
King's College London
United Kingdom
84.2·Acad: 84.7·Empl: 81.6
15
National University of Singapore (NUS)
Singapore
84.1·Acad: 84.0·Empl: 88.7
151
New York University (NYU)
United States of America
84.1·Acad: 83.9·Empl: 83.9
176
University of British Columbia
Canada
82.3·Acad: 83.0·Empl: 79.3
183
The University of Melbourne
Australia
82.0·Acad: 82.6·Empl: 81.3
196
University of Pennsylvania
United States of America
81.0·Acad: 80.8·Empl: 80.8
198
Trinity College Dublin, The University of Dublin
Ireland
81.0·Acad: 82.1·Empl: 75.0
212
Cornell University
United States of America
80.9·Acad: 80.6·Empl: 80.7
225
The University of Hong Kong
Hong Kong SAR, China
80.8·Acad: 80.1·Empl: 80.7
224
The University of Manchester
United Kingdom
80.8·Acad: 80.2·Empl: 81.8
242
Duke University
United States of America
80.6·Acad: 80.5·Empl: 75.6
251
The University of Sydney
Australia
80.5·Acad: 80.4·Empl: 79.4
267
Durham University
United Kingdom
80.3·Acad: 80.5·Empl: 77.6
277
The University of Warwick
United Kingdom
79.3·Acad: 78.9·Empl: 78.9
284
University of York
United Kingdom
79.2·Acad: 80.0·Empl: 63.6
297
University of Leeds
United Kingdom
78.9·Acad: 79.0·Empl: 74.0
306
Peking University
China (Mainland)
78.5·Acad: 76.6·Empl: 88.4
304
University of Glasgow
United Kingdom
78.5·Acad: 79.7·Empl: 70.3
301
University of Birmingham
United Kingdom
78.5·Acad: 79.2·Empl: 71.3
335
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
United States of America
78.3·Acad: 78.6·Empl: 74.0
348
Queen Mary University of London
United Kingdom
78.2·Acad: 78.6·Empl: 67.3
3516
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
United States of America
77.5·Acad: 76.5·Empl: 94.9
366
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore)
Singapore
77.3·Acad: 75.8·Empl: 84.7
37
Australian National University (ANU)
Australia
76.6·Acad: 75.0·Empl: 78.1
385
McGill University
Canada
76.5·Acad: 75.4·Empl: 81.5
391
Lancaster University
United Kingdom
76.3·Acad: 76.5·Empl: 72.8
4012
University of St Andrews
United Kingdom
76.2·Acad: 76.5·Empl: 75.1
41
University College Dublin
Ireland
76.0·Acad: 76.7·Empl: 67.6
4219
University of Bristol
United Kingdom
75.8·Acad: 74.6·Empl: 75.3
4312
The University of Tokyo
Japan
75.7·Acad: 78.1·Empl: 84.5
441
Brown University
United States of America
75.6·Acad: 76.2·Empl: 67.6
447
Monash University
Australia
75.6·Acad: 74.9·Empl: 76.4
443
University of Exeter
United Kingdom
75.6·Acad: 75.5·Empl: 70.0
4711
Pennsylvania State University
United States of America
75.3·Acad: 75.1·Empl: 66.7
48
Freie Universitaet Berlin
Germany
75.1·Acad: 76.4·Empl: 67.4
499
University of Amsterdam
Netherlands
74.9·Acad: 73.3·Empl: 72.9
504
The University of Auckland
New Zealand
74.8·Acad: 73.4·Empl: 73.7
5112
Seoul National University
Republic of Korea
74.4·Acad: 74.8·Empl: 78.2
524
University of Texas at Austin
United States of America
73.7·Acad: 74.4·Empl: 64.6
537
Universiti Malaya (UM)
Malaysia
73.6·Acad: 71.9·Empl: 72.8
5417
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
Germany
73.3·Acad: 73.8·Empl: 70.1
552
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Germany
73.2·Acad: 74.2·Empl: 66.1
5612
The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK)
Hong Kong SAR, China
73.1·Acad: 75.4·Empl: 75.8
576
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
United States of America
72.9·Acad: 72.5·Empl: 65.4
5835
University of Nottingham
United Kingdom
72.7·Acad: 71.2·Empl: 72.0
591
The University of Queensland
Australia
72.5·Acad: 71.1·Empl: 74.1
6040
The University of Sheffield
United Kingdom
72.4·Acad: 71.4·Empl: 70.5
6019
University of Sussex
United Kingdom
72.4·Acad: 72.3·Empl: 56.7
621
The University of New South Wales (UNSW Sydney)
Australia
72.3·Acad: 69.3·Empl: 77.9
6215
Sorbonne University
France
72.3·Acad: 74.4·Empl: 72.1
6229
Cardiff University
United Kingdom
72.3·Acad: 72.2·Empl: 70.3
6517
Newcastle University
United Kingdom
71.6·Acad: 71.2·Empl: 68.9
6536
University of Alberta
Canada
71.6·Acad: 69.2·Empl: 73.2
679
University of Virginia
United States of America
71.2·Acad: 70.9·Empl: 61.7
6814
Rutgers University–New Brunswick
United States of America
71.1·Acad: 70.3·Empl: 63.2
68
Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna
Italy
71.1·Acad: 71.2·Empl: 70.1
703
The Ohio State University
United States of America
71.0·Acad: 70.7·Empl: 58.7
7012
Johns Hopkins University
United States of America
71.0·Acad: 69.8·Empl: 76.1
726
Northwestern University
United States of America
70.9·Acad: 69.7·Empl: 69.8
7229
Queen's University Belfast
United Kingdom
70.9·Acad: 69.8·Empl: 67.6
742
University of Vienna
Austria
70.8·Acad: 70.5·Empl: 58.4
743
University of Helsinki
Finland
70.8·Acad: 70.5·Empl: 56.8
7625
Macquarie University (Sydney, Australia)
Australia
70.7·Acad: 68.5·Empl: 71.1
7612
SOAS University of London
United Kingdom
70.7·Acad: 68.3·Empl: 64.7
7818
York University
Canada
70.6·Acad: 68.8·Empl: 64.7
7823
Leiden University
Netherlands
70.6·Acad: 71.0·Empl: 57.7
8011
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM)
Mexico
70.5·Acad: 69.8·Empl: 78.2
801
Universität Heidelberg
Germany
70.5·Acad: 70.7·Empl: 63.3
828
University of Wisconsin-Madison
United States of America
70.2·Acad: 70.2·Empl: 55.9
8219
University College Cork
Ireland
70.2·Acad: 69.9·Empl: 65.7
8436
Yonsei University
Republic of Korea
70.1·Acad: 70.0·Empl: 74.9
8528
Tsinghua University
China (Mainland)
69.9·Acad: 69.2·Empl: 88.0
8516
Birkbeck, University of London
United Kingdom
69.9·Acad: 72.4·Empl: 41.7
8731
Fudan University
China (Mainland)
69.7·Acad: 68.2·Empl: 81.1
8721
Kyoto University
Japan
69.7·Acad: 69.7·Empl: 77.4
8714
University of Galway
Ireland
69.7·Acad: 70.7·Empl: 61.8
9021
Victoria University of Wellington
New Zealand
69.6·Acad: 67.6·Empl: 68.4
90
University of Liverpool
United Kingdom
69.6·Acad: 68.8·Empl: 69.4
9011
Boston University
United States of America
69.6·Acad: 67.8·Empl: 74.9
9311
City University of Hong Kong (CityUHK)
Hong Kong SAR, China
69.5·Acad: 69.3·Empl: 69.4
9422
University of Copenhagen
Denmark
69.3·Acad: 67.5·Empl: 62.3
956
Arizona State University
United States of America
69.1·Acad: 67.0·Empl: 69.7
9621
KU Leuven
Belgium
68.9·Acad: 68.1·Empl: 64.1
9718
Korea University
Republic of Korea
68.7·Acad: 69.9·Empl: 74.7
983
Chulalongkorn University
Thailand
68.6·Acad: 67.6·Empl: 66.0
985
National Taiwan University (NTU)
Taiwan
68.6·Acad: 67.9·Empl: 80.2
1001
University of Minnesota (System)
United States of America
68.4·Acad: 67.6·Empl: 59.1
1001
University of Reading
United Kingdom
68.4·Acad: 66.9·Empl: 66.8
20261
INSTITUTION
COUNTRY/TERRITORY
—·Acad: —·Empl: —