Top 10 Best Universities in the World to Obtain Arts and Humanities Degrees in 2023

Top 10 Best Universities in the World to Obtain Arts and Humanities Degrees in 2023

Scroll down for the full list of best universities in the world for arts and humanities degrees

Deciding where to study an arts or humanities degree is not easy, with hundreds of options all over the world.

But 663 of the top universities for arts and humanities have been ranked in the Times Higher Education arts and humanities ranking 2023. So where should you go to pursue your arts or humanities major?

About a quarter of the best arts and humanities schools are in the US, but a number of European countries are also well represented in the ranking; the top 100 includes a significant number of British, German and Dutch institutions.

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If you’re hoping to study for a humanities degree in Canada or Australia, these countries offer a choice of 26 and 27 universities respectively, and there are more than 40 institutions in the top 500 across Asia.

Times Higher Education’s subject tables are based on the same 13 performance indicators used in the overall World University Rankings 2023. However, the methodology is carefully recalibrated for each subject, with the weightings changed to suit the individual fields. The full methodology can be found here.

Arts and humanities degrees covered in the ranking include history, literature, philosophy, languages and architecture (scroll down for a full list of subjects and what you can do with them).

Top 5 Best Universities in the World to Obtain Arts and Humanities Degrees in 2023

5. Harvard University

The arts and humanities division at Harvard University is made up of 15 departments, four interdisciplin­ary undergraduate degree programmes and several secondary fields.

Courses available cover a wide range of subjects, including art, music, visual studies, theatre, English and many more.

The arts and humanities student board is an opportunity for undergraduate students to be involved in developing programmes and initiatives for students with the department.

The division organises a student art crawl where students can explore the art galleries on Harvard’s campus.

4. University of Oxford

The humanities division at the University of Oxford includes the faculties of music, history, classics, theology and religion, and English language and literature.

There are about 20,000 students at the university, more than a third of whom are international. Students belong to a college, where undergraduates take the majority of their classes with just a few of their peers and a college tutor.

In line with the British higher education system, students entering Oxford are admitted for a specific course (in contrast to US institutions, where students can take a variety of courses before declaring their major).

It is possible for undergraduates to study joint degrees, such as philosophy, politics and economics (PPE) – a course for which Oxford is particularly well known – and combinations of arts and sciences.

Many writers, actors, composers and other prominent personalities in arts and culture dating back to the 14th century are Oxford graduates, including the novelists J. R. R. Tolkien and Graham Greene and the satirist Jonathan Swift.

3. University of Cambridge

The University of Cambridge is regularly ranked as a top university across a wide range of subjects.

More than 23,000 students are enrolled at the university across 31 colleges.

The School of Arts and Humanities teaches a variety of subjects, from Asian and Middle Eastern studies to the history of art. Many research projects are collaborative and inform student learning at all levels.

Recent projects have explored flamenco dance and its cultural significance, and an undergraduate scheme used architectural techniques to develop local allotments.

Notable Cambridge alumni in the arts and humanities include the philosopher Bertrand Russell, the artist Quentin Blake and the dramatist Christopher Marlowe.

2. Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Although it is known as a leading university in science and technology teaching, MIT also provides courses across the arts and humanities.

These include anthropology, history, linguistics, literature, media arts and sciences, and music and theatre arts.

When the School of Architecture and Planning opened in 1868, it had the first department of architecture in the US; today, it is still known for commissioning progressive buildings on campus.

The MIT library system is divided into five libraries, three of which are dedicated to the arts and humanities – the Hayden Library (humanities and sciences), the Lewis Music Library, and the Rotch Library (art, architecture and planning). These libraries contain many notable collections, such as Lewis’ resources on 20th- and 21st-century music, hip hop and electronic music.

MIT is affiliated with many thought leaders in the arts and humanities, including the linguist Noam Chomsky, who is an Institute Professor and professor of linguistics (emeritus) at the university. The institution has produced six Pulitzer winners, and four current or former faculty are members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

1. Stanford University

The School of Humanities and Sciences awards 63 per cent of all Stanford undergraduate degrees and almost 40 per cent of doctorates.

When the university was established, the Stanford family said that its aim was to educate “cultured and useful citizens”, and the university still counts its humanities courses as the “soul” of a Stanford education.

Recent achievements in the school include a complex study of race and ethnicity, an online course on classical music appreciation and an award-winning radio show hosted by Stanford philosophy professors.

Stanford is based near Palo Alto, known as Silicon Valley because of its density of high-tech and start-up companies. The spirit of entrepreneurship in the area was encouraged by the university itself in the early 20th century, and many Stanford students and graduates are involved at the highest levels with the world’s most influential technology companies.

Many of the students live in campus residences, near the university’s academic buildings, museums and recreation spaces.

Best Universities in the World to Obtain Arts and Humanities Degrees in 2023

Click each institution to view its World University Rankings 2023 profile

Click here to view the full ranking for arts and humanities degrees