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Best universities for social science degrees 2024

Find the best colleges for social sciences using Times Higher Education’s World University Rankings 2024 data

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October 26 2023
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Top 10 universities in the world for social sciences 2024

Scroll down for the full list of best universities in the world for social science degrees.

Social science rank 2024 Social science rank 2023 University Country/region
=1 1 Massachusetts Institute of Technology United States
=1 2 Stanford University United States
3 3 University of Oxford United Kingdom
4 4 Harvard University United States
5 6 Princeton University United States
6 7 University of Cambridge United Kingdom
7 5 University of California, Berkeley United States
8 8 London School of Economics and Political Science United Kingdom
9 9 University of Michigan-Ann Arbor United States
10 10 Yale University United States

The social sciences include a range of subjects, from international relations to politics to geography.

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Graduates of social science degrees go on to pursue a wide range of careers in the public and private sectors.

Times Higher Education has published the 2024 ranking of the 997 best schools for social sciences across the world.

A sixth of the list is made up of US universities – 155 institutions in total. UK universities take 95 of the remaining spots, while Australia, China, Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan are also represented.

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Three UK institutions are in the top 10 (the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, and the London School of Economics and Political Science), while the rest of the top 10 is dominated by US universities.

The social sciences ranking uses the same methodology as the World University Rankings, but with less weight given to citations and more to research and teaching metrics. The full methodology can be found here.

Scroll down for a full list of degrees covered by the ranking and what you can do with them.

Top 5 universities for social sciences

5. Princeton University

There are both undergraduate and graduate degree programmes available in the social sciences at Princeton University. Students can choose to study courses from a range of disciplines such as American studies, economics, European cultural studies, gender and sexuality studies, and health policy.

Princeton has a number of institutes, centres and schools that facilitate research into society and politics, including the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs and the Kahneman-Treisman Center for Behavioral Science and Public Policy.

4. Harvard University

Social sciences at Harvard University are taught through interdisciplinary programmes. Fields of study include economics, government, sociology, gender studies and psychology.

For all these subjects, both undergraduates and postgraduates are expected to conduct empirical research and analyse data. Senior thesis projects can involve qualitative or quantitative research methods, or both.

The Regan Fund at the university is used to invite famous speakers to Harvard to deliver lectures on economics, government and social problems around the world. These lectures are primarily aimed at undergraduates.

The social sciences division has relationships with a number of museums and research centres, including the Harvard-MIT Data Center and the Institute for Quantitative Social Science.

3. University of Oxford

Perhaps the most famous social sciences degree at the University of Oxford is philosophy, politics and economics (PPE). The social sciences division also tackles issues such as environmental change, poverty, cybercrime, political turmoil, social inequality and immigration.

A number of influential politicians and public figures have earned an Oxford PPE degree, including a significant number of British prime ministers. Nobel Peace Prize winner and advocate for women’s education Malala Yousafzai recently completed a PPE degree at the institution.

Much of the social science research at Oxford is aimed at influencing policy in the UK and around the world.

Particular research strengths include big data, future cities, resource management and global economic performance.

Aside from PPE, undergraduate courses within the division include geography, archaeology and anthropology, and law and human sciences.

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=1. Stanford University

The social sciences department at Stanford University offers anthropology, communication, economics, political science, psychology and sociology courses. Many programmes are interdisciplinary, including ethics in society; democracy, development and the rule of law; and urban studies.

In political science classes, undergraduates study US politics and international political systems and relate them to conflict, social activism, ideology and race issues.

The curriculum covers five subject areas: US politics, comparative politics, international relations, political methodology, and political theory.

The department of anthropology is known for an innovative approach that insists that the subject must be studied in relation to contemporary affairs.

Students learn research methods and theory to carry them through the course of their choice.

=1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The School of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) offers a wide selection of subjects, including politics and women’s and gender studies.

The school’s roots lie in the university’s founding, when courses in psychology and political science were taught.

The school produces a magazine called Said and Done, which highlights research undertaken within the faculty.

All students at MIT are expected to take social science classes to help them solve “some of the world’s most challenging problems”.

Current faculty members include four Nobel laureates, seven MacArthur fellows and five Pulitzer prizewinners.

Best universities for social sciences degrees in the UK
Best universities for social sciences degrees in the US
Best universities for social sciences degrees in Canada
Best universities for social sciences degrees in Australia

Best universities for social science degrees 2024

Click each institution to view its World University Ranking 2024 profile.

Social science rank 2024 Social science rank 2023 University Country/region
=1 1 Massachusetts Institute of Technology United States
=1 2 Stanford University United States
3 3 University of Oxford United Kingdom
4 4 Harvard University United States
5 6 Princeton University United States
6 7 University of Cambridge United Kingdom
7 5 University of California, Berkeley United States
8 8 London School of Economics and Political Science United Kingdom
9 9 University of Michigan-Ann Arbor United States
10 10 Yale University United States
11 =12 The University of Chicago United States
12 15 Columbia University United States
13 =12 University of Pennsylvania United States
14 14 UCL United Kingdom
15 11 University of California, Los Angeles United States
16 17 National University of Singapore Singapore
17 22 Peking University China
=18 16 University of Amsterdam Netherlands
=18 =23 Johns Hopkins University United States
20 20 Cornell University United States
21 21 Tsinghua University China
22 18 University of Washington United States
23 25 New York University United States
24 =26 University of Toronto Canada
=25 19 ETH Zurich Switzerland
=25 30 University of Wisconsin-Madison United States
27 32 University of British Columbia Canada
28 31 University of Manchester United Kingdom
29 =23 Duke University United States
30 29 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill United States
=31 33 Australian National University Australia
=31 28 Northwestern University United States
33 44 King’s College London United Kingdom
34 34 University of Texas at Austin United States
35 37 University of Hong Kong Hong Kong
36 35 Free University of Berlin Germany
37 55 Leiden University Netherlands
=38 38 University of Edinburgh United Kingdom
=38 =42 McGill University Canada
=40 49 KU Leuven Belgium
=40 56 The University of Tokyo Japan
=42 46 Humboldt University of Berlin Germany
=42 =42 University of Southern California United States
44 =51 Wageningen University & Research Netherlands
45 =40 University of Vienna Austria
46 47 Aarhus University Denmark
47 =53 Ohio State University (Main campus) United States
48 45 University of California, San Diego United States
=49 48 University of Groningen Netherlands
=49 =53 Nanyang Technological University, Singapore Singapore
51 84 University of Sydney Australia
52 72 University of Sheffield United Kingdom
53 =60 Lund University Sweden
54 36 University of Mannheim Germany
55 58 Indiana University United States
56 50 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign United States
57 59 University of Copenhagen Denmark
58 =60 Chinese University of Hong Kong Hong Kong
59 =40 University of Melbourne Australia
60 82 Carnegie Mellon University United States
=61 =65 Delft University of Technology Netherlands
=61 64 LMU Munich Germany
=61 =60 University of Oslo Norway
=61 57 University of Zurich Switzerland
65 =51 Arizona State University (Tempe) United States
66 39 Sciences Po France
67 69 Brown University United States
68 74 University of Sussex United Kingdom
=69 76 University of Leeds United Kingdom
=69 =60 University of Maryland, College Park United States
71 78 University of Minnesota United States
72 81 Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam Netherlands
73 86 Georgetown University United States
74 =65 University of Essex United Kingdom
=75 85 Kyoto University Japan
=75 83 Monash University Australia
=77 71 University of California, Santa Barbara United States
=77 77 The University of Queensland Australia
79 67 Erasmus University Rotterdam Netherlands
80 68 Hong Kong Polytechnic University Hong Kong
81 =91 Durham University United Kingdom
82 73 Washington University in St Louis United States
83 80 University of Warwick United Kingdom
84 =91 Penn State (Main campus) United States
85 101–125 Autonomous University of Barcelona Spain
86 70 Michigan State University United States
87 75 Paris Sciences et Lettres – PSL Research University Paris France
88 89 University of Twente Netherlands
=89 =96 University of California, Davis United States
=89 88 Stockholm University Sweden
91 90 University of Helsinki Finland
92 =94 University of Arizona United States
=93 87 University of California, Irvine United States
=93 101–125 Uppsala University Sweden
95 79 University of Konstanz Germany
96 101–125 Yonsei University (Seoul campus) South Korea
97 =94 Loughborough University United Kingdom
=98 100 City University of Hong Kong Hong Kong
=98 101–125 University of Southampton United Kingdom
=100 101–125 University of Cape Town South Africa
=100 101–125 UNSW Sydney Australia
101–125 151–175 University of Barcelona Spain
101–125 101–125 University of Bern Switzerland
101–125 101–125 Boston University United States
101–125 101–125 University of Bristol United Kingdom
101–125 101–125 Emory University United States
101–125 101–125 University of Florida United States
101–125 126–150 Fudan University China
101–125 126–150 George Washington University United States
101–125 101–125 University of Glasgow United Kingdom
101–125 101–125 University of Gothenburg Sweden
101–125 101–125 The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Hong Kong
101–125 93 Lancaster University United Kingdom
101–125 101–125 University of Massachusetts United States
101–125 126–150 University of Montreal Canada
101–125 126–150 University of Notre Dame United States
101–125 126–150 Purdue University West Lafayette United States
101–125 101–125 Queensland University of Technology Australia
101–125 176–200 University of São Paulo Brazil
101–125 101–125 Shanghai Jiao Tong University China
101–125 176–200 Sorbonne University France
101–125 98 University of Surrey United Kingdom
101–125 101–125 Texas A&M University United States
101–125 =96 Vanderbilt University United States
101–125 126–150 Vrije Universiteit Brussel Belgium
101–125 126–150 Zhejiang University China
126–150 101–125 University of Antwerp Belgium
126–150 99 University of Auckland New Zealand
126–150 151–175 University of Birmingham United Kingdom
126–150 151–175 University of Bologna Italy
126–150 126–150 Cardiff University United Kingdom
126–150 101–125 Copenhagen Business School Denmark
126–150 101–125 University of Exeter United Kingdom
126–150 126–150 Florida State University United States
126–150 151–175 University of Georgia United States
126–150 101–125 Georgia Institute of Technology United States
126–150 101–125 Ghent University Belgium
126–150 201–250 Goethe University Frankfurt Germany
126–150 101–125 HSE University Russian Federation
126–150 126–150 University of Lausanne Switzerland
126–150 176–200 Nanjing University China
126–150 126–150 Newcastle University United Kingdom
126–150 151–175 University of Nottingham United Kingdom
126–150 201–250 Université Paris-Saclay France
126–150 126–150 Seoul National University South Korea
126–150 126–150 Simon Fraser University Canada
126–150 126–150 SOAS University of London United Kingdom
126–150 151–175 Sun Yat-sen University China
126–150 126–150 Syracuse University United States
126–150 126–150 Technical University of Berlin Germany
126–150 126–150 University of York United Kingdom
151–175 151–175 University of Alberta Canada
151–175 151–175 University of Bath United Kingdom
151-175 176-200 Birkbeck, University of London United Kingdom
151–175 126–150 Boston College United States
151–175 151–175 University of Bremen Germany
151–175 151–175 University of California, Santa Cruz United States
151–175 176–200 Université Catholique de Louvain Belgium
151–175 151–175 City, University of London United Kingdom
151–175 176–200 University of Cologne Germany
151–175 126–150 University of Colorado Boulder United States
151–175 126–150 Dartmouth College United States
151–175 251–300 Drexel University United States
151–175 176–200 Griffith University Australia
151–175 201–250 Lomonosov Moscow State University Russian Federation
151–175 201–250 Maastricht University Netherlands
151–175 126–150 Northeastern University, US United States
151–175 151–175 Pompeu Fabra University Spain
151–175 NR University of Rochester United States
151–175 201–250 University of Technology Sydney Australia
151–175 126–150 Tilburg University Netherlands
151–175 151–175 Trinity College Dublin Ireland
151–175 151–175 University College Dublin Ireland
151–175 126–150 University of Waterloo Canada
151–175 176–200 University of the Witwatersrand South Africa
151–175 301–400 Wuhan University China
176–200 251–300 Aalborg University Denmark
176–200 176–200 University of Aberdeen United Kingdom
176–200 176–200 Beijing Normal University China
176–200 201–250 Dublin City University Ireland
176–200 126–150 University of East Anglia United Kingdom
176–200 126–150 École des Ponts ParisTech France
176–200 176–200 University of Freiburg Germany
176–200 151–175 Friedrich Schiller University Jena Germany
176–200 176–200 George Mason University United States
176–200 126–150 Goldsmiths, University of London United Kingdom
176–200 176–200 Koç University Turkey
176–200 126–150 Macquarie University Australia
176–200 176–200 North Carolina State University United States
176–200 201–250 University of Pittsburgh-Pittsburgh campus United States
176–200 NR University of Potsdam Germany
176–200 151–175 Radboud University Nijmegen Netherlands
176–200 151–175 University of Reading United Kingdom
176–200 201–250 RMIT University Australia
176–200 101–125 Rutgers University – New Brunswick United States
176–200 176–200 Sabancı University Turkey
176–200 151–175 Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa Italy
176–200 151–175 University of St Andrews United Kingdom
176–200 176–200 Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University United States
176–200 201–250 University of Waikato New Zealand
176–200 251–300 Western University Canada

 

Editor's note: This table was updated in December 2023 to retroactively include Birkbeck, University of London based on their provided data submission. More information on the university's inclusion can be found here

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