Top 10 universities for arts and humanities degrees 2025

Insights into the top 10 universities in the world for arts and humanities 2025

Explore the full table for the best universities 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 750 of the top universities for arts and humanities have been ranked in the Times Higher Education arts and humanities ranking 2025. So where should you go to pursue your arts or humanities major?

About a fifth 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.

If you’re hoping to study for a humanities degree in Canada or Australia, these countries offer a choice of 27 and 29 universities respectively, and there are more than 80 institutions across Asia.

Times Higher Education’s subject tables are based on the same 18 performance indicators used in the overall World University Rankings 2025. 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.

Top 10 universities for arts and humanities degrees

1. 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.

MIT has 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 the 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 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.

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. Harvard University

The arts and humanities division at Harvard University consists 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 undergraduates 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.

6. Princeton University

Princeton University offers a wide range of courses in the arts and humanities. These include East Asian Studies, history, linguistics, philosophy and visual arts among others. All arts and humanities courses are under the Humanities programme. 

There are a range of events for students including flm screenings, book and poster shows, swing dance club and readings from authors. 

The university offers the Humanities Sequence, which is a year-long introduction to Western history, philosophy, and literature from antiquity to the 20th century. This course is taught through a range of lectures and seminars as well as trips to museums, plays and art galleries. 

=7. UCL

The Faculty of Arts and Humanities at UCL offers students a wide variety of courses, in departments including English language and literature, philosophy, information studies, Greek and Latin, fine art, and Hebrew and Jewish studies.

The faculty also has a strong research output including an innovative digital project around transcribing the work of Jeremy Bentham, whose ideas contributed to the founding of UCL, and an exploration into the histories of the Italian mafias.

Each year, the faculty hosts a Festival of Culture, a five-day event of talks, panels, live performances, walking tours, film screenings and exhibitions showcasing the research being undertaken at the university.

=7. University of California, Berkeley

The school of arts and humanities at University of California, Berkeley is split into 19 departments and 14 research units, including art history, languages, classics, comparative literature, music and philosophy.

The university offers programmes for both undergraduate and postgraduate students, maintaining smaller class sizes than average in the arts and humanities department.

Notable alumni graduating from the University of California, Berkeley school of arts and humanities includes author and 2016 Pulitzer Prize winner, Viet Thanh Nguyen and actor Chris Pine.

9. The University of Chicago

The University of Chicago was founded in 1890. It is home to a number of schools, divisions and institutes including the Division of the Humanities.

The division is organised into 16 academic departments, offering 18 degree programmes. There are three master’s programmes: digital studies, the master of arts programme in the humanities, and Middle Eastern studies. There are also 15 PhD programmes including art history, English language and literature, and Eastern languages and civilisations. The division also offers an MFA programme in visual arts.

Within the interdisciplinary centre are a number of facilities where research and teaching are conducted. These include the Center for the Study of Race, Politics and Culture, The University of Chicago Language Center, and the Franke Institute for the Humanities.

10. Yale University

The Yale University Humanities programme is the university's undergraduate humanities programme. It covers a wide range of topcs including modern literature, existentialism, contemporary film and media and American jazz and classical China. 

Students are encouraged to keep an intellectual journal to keep track of questions they'd like to cover in their studies, senior essay topic ideas and projects they envision for themselves. The aim of the journal is to help students to articulate their thoughts.