The Arts & Humanities at the University of Glasgow have risen seven places to 59 in the latest 2023 QS World University Rankings by Subject.

The jump from 66th to 59th in these latest rankings detail performance across five broad areas, and in individual subjects, and ends the 2023 ranking cycle for QS. Arts & Humanities at Glasgow while ranked 59th in the world, are also 12th in the UK.

The overall 2023 QS World University Rankings were released in June 2022, and Glasgow ranked 81st out of 1,422 institutions.

Professor Jo Gill, Vice Principal and Head of the College of Arts, said: “This is wonderful news for the College of Arts and further evidence of the strength of our reputation and indeed of our sustained commitment to excellence in research, learning and teaching.

“I would like to pay tribute to the hard work and the dedication of colleagues, students and partners who have ensured the College of Arts remains within the world top 100 of the Arts & Humanities subject rankings.”

The University has 24 subjects in the Top 100 and eight subjects in the world top 50 including two from the College of Arts.

English Language & Literature has risen two places to 31st in the world, holds the highest-ranking position in Arts & Humanities, and remains in the top 3 subjects for the University of Glasgow over the last three years. 

Library & Information Management is now in the top 50 in the world rising 2 places to 49th.

Subjects are scored and ranked based on the following indicators, all with a weighted score out of 100, with varied weightings depending on the subject:

  • Academic Reputation
  • Employer Reputation
  • Citations per Paper
  • H-Index Citations
  • International Research Network 

QS Rankings by Subject

You can view the QS Rankings by Subject results in full on the QS webpages.

The last overall QS World University Rankings were released in June 2022, and Glasgow ranked 81 out of 1,422 institutions.   

QS Subject Rankings 2023 University of Glasgow Overall Performance

The University of Glasgow has performed well overall, ranked in 43 subjects among 1,597 institutions, and largely similar results to 2022.

  • Of the five broad subject/faculty areas, the University maintain three in the Top 100, improve in two and decrease in three areas.
  • Of the 43 subjects, the University has improved rank position in 18 subjects, 14 have maintained their position and 11 have dropped in rank.
  • Geology and Geophysics have ranked for the first time, both in the 201-230 rank banding.
  • We have 24 subjects in the Top 100 and eight in the Top 50.
  • Our top three subjects are the same as 2022 with Anatomy & Physiology remaining UofG’s best ranking subject, and the top three as follows:

Subject

2021

2022

2023

YoY Change

Anatomy & Physiology

51-100

18=

12 

up 6

Veterinary Science

10

18

21

down 3

English Language & Literature

31

33

31=

up 2

2023 Broad Subject/Faculty Performance

At a broad subject/faculty level, Life Sciences & Medicine retained the best performing area, ranked 44th, up seven places on 2022, and ranked ninth in UK. Results were as follows:

Broad Subject

2022 Rank

2023 Rank

YoY Rank Change

2022 Score

2023 Score

YoY Score Change

Life Sciences & Medicine

51

44=

up 7

79.3

79.4

Up 0.1

Arts & Humanities

66

59=

up 7

76.7

75.9

down 0.8

Social Sciences & Management

97=

98

down 1

73.4

72.5

down 0.9

Natural Sciences

118=

128=

down 10

75.8

74

down 1.8

Engineering & Technology

156=

163=

down 7

73.5

72

down 1.5

2023 Notable Mentions/Changes

  • The most improved ranking position belongs to Law, up 10 places from 66 to 56, and Business Management & Studies, up 10 places from 147 to 137.
  • The top-ranking subjects in the UK remained the same as 2022:

Subject

2022 Domestic Rank

2023 Domestic Rank

YoY UK Rank Change

2022 Global Rank

2023 Global Rank

YoY Global Rank Change

Anatomy & Physiology

  5=

4

+1

  18=

  12

up 6

Veterinary Science

4

6

-2

18

21

down 3

Library & Information Management

  6=

6

0

51-60

  50

up 1**

Education

7

7

0

41

  43

down 2

Nursing

 7=

7

0

51-100

51-100

0

** When moving from a rank banding, where the rank position is unknown, to a rank position, we use the difference between the minimum in the rank banding and the rank position.

  • The Citations per Paper indicator remains Glasgow’s strongest area. Anatomy & Physiology scored 100, Medicine scored 96.7 and Veterinary Science scored 95. These are Glasgow’s top three scores across all indicators.
  • The International Research Network (IRN) indicator, new in 2022, saw QS move from just ranking the 5 broad subjects to ranking in 15 individual UofG subjects in 2023. Computer Science & Information Systems received the highest score of 78.7 for this indicator.

First published: 22 March 2023

<< 2023