The Times Higher Education World University Rankings by Subject 2026 are out, so you can see exactly how UK unis compare with the rest of the world. Loads of UK universities ranked within the top ten universities for each subject. Yay for them.
The University of Cambridge ranked in the top ten for every single subject, which is a major flex. Oxford only achieved this for ten subjects. Cambridge Uni students can start citing this piece of trivia as evidence they are cleverer than Oxford students. Beyond Oxbridge, several other Russell Group unis also rank really highly in the world for particular subjects.
Times Higher Education based the 2026 edition of the World University Rankings by Subject on lots of factors. The league tables take into account how much research a uni does, what the uni’s reputation is like among academics, and how much money the uni makes.
So, here are the best UK unis for each subject in 2026, which managed to rank among the top ten in the world:
Arts and humanities
1. University of Cambridge (3rd in the world)
2. University of Oxford (4th in the world)
3. University College London (UCL) (8th in the world)
Business and economics
1. University of Oxford (4th in the world)
2. University of Cambridge (6th in the world)
Cambridge Uni students in a claustrophobic-looking library
Computer science
1. University of Oxford (1st in the world)
2. University of Cambridge (2nd in the world)
3. Imperial College London (9th in the world)
Education studies
1. University of Oxford (3rd in the world)
2. University of Cambridge (4th in the world)
3. University College London (UCL) (10th in the world)
Engineering
1. University of Oxford (2nd in the world)
2. University of Cambridge (5th in the world)
Law
1. University of Cambridge (3rd in the world)
2. University of Oxford (5th in the world)
A rare image of Oxford students not in a library
Life sciences
1. University of Cambridge (2nd in the world)
2. University of Oxford (5th in the world)
Medical and health
1, University of Oxford (1st in the world)
2. University of Cambridge (2nd in the world)
3. Imperial College London (4th in the world)
4. University College London (UCL) (8th in the world)
Congrats to UCL x
Physical sciences
1. University of Cambridge (=5th in the world)
2. University of Oxford (8th in the world)
Psychology
1. University of Cambridge (1st in the world)
2. University College London (UCL) (6th in the world)
3. King’s College London (KCL) (9th in the world)
Social sciences
1. University of Oxford (2nd in the world)
2. University of Cambridge (7th in the world)
3. London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) (10th in the world)
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