The QS World University Rankings by Subject 2025 for philosophy reveals the best global institutions, highlighting over 200 ranked universities. This year’s top 10 remains the same as last year, with leading educational institutions from the US, UK, Germany, Australia, and Canada. Additionally, the University of Oxford, despite placing fifth overall in these rankings, has scored the highest for research productivity and impact.
The following table mentions the name of over 60 such globally ranked universities along with their location, Academic score, AR(Academic rank), Employer score and ER rank(Employer rank).
| 2025 | 2024 | Institution | Country / Territory | Academic | AR rank | Employer | ER Rank |
| 1 | 1 | New York University (NYU) | United States of America | 99.9 | 2 | 76.9 | 51+ |
| 2 | 2 | The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) | United Kingdom | 97.5 | 4 | 95.7 | 5 |
| 3 | 3 | Rutgers University–New Brunswick | United States of America | 100.0 | 1 | 54.7 | 51+ |
| 4 | 5 | University of Pittsburgh | United States of America | 99.5 | 3 | 57.1 | 51+ |
| 5 | 4 | University of Oxford | United Kingdom | 92.2 | 6 | 99.0 | 2 |
| =6 | 6 | Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München | Germany | 93.3 | 5 | 75.0 | 51+ |
| =6 | 7 | University of Cambridge | United Kingdom | 90.0 | 9 | 98.0 | 3 |
| 8 | 9 | The Australian National University | Australia | 91.0 | 7 | 84.7 | 22 |
| 9 | 8 | Harvard University | United States of America | 89.3 | 10 | 100.0 | 1 |
| 10 | 10 | University of Toronto | Canada | 90.8 | 8 | 82.9 | 28 |
| 11 | 11 | Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin | Germany | 87.9 | 11 | 82.6 | 30= |
| 12 | 14 | University of Notre Dame | United States of America | 87.1 | 12 | 71.8 | 51+ |
| 13 | 15 | Princeton University | United States of America | 85.2 | 15 | 86.5 | 15 |
| 14 | 12 | University of St Andrews | United Kingdom | 85.3 | 14 | 81.8 | 34 |
| 15 | 16 | Stanford University | United States of America | 83.5 | 19 | 94.8 | 7 |
| 16 | 18 | Yale University | United States of America | 84.6 | 16= | 90.1 | 10 |
| 17 | 17 | University of California, Berkeley (UCB) | United States of America | 83.7 | 18 | 88.9 | 12 |
| 18 | 19 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) | United States of America | 79.3 | 26= | 95.6 | 6 |
| 19 | =23 | KU Leuven | Belgium | 84.6 | 16= | 66.4 | 51+ |
| 20 | 27 | University of Chicago | United States of America | 82.4 | 21 | 82.5 | 32 |
| 21 | 51-100 | Columbia University | United States of America | 80.6 | 24 | 85.8 | 16= |
| 22 | 20 | The University of Edinburgh | United Kingdom | 79.3 | 26= | 85.2 | 19= |
| 23 | 51-100 | Wuhan University | China (Mainland) | 83.0 | 20 | 72.9 | 51+ |
| 24 | 13 | King's College London | United Kingdom | 77.6 | 30 | 89.1 | 11 |
| =25 | 34 | National University of Singapore (NUS) | Singapore | 76.0 | 36= | 93.4 | 8 |
| =25 | 151-200 | Renmin (People's) University of China | China (Mainland) | 86.0 | 13 | 67.0 | 51+ |
| 27 | 151-200 | Sun Yat-sen University | China (Mainland) | 82.0 | 22 | 59.6 | 51+ |
| 28 | 51-100 | The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) | Hong Kong SAR, China | 81.2 | 23 | 76.0 | 51+ |
| 29 | 33 | University of Michigan-Ann Arbor | United States of America | 76.6 | 34 | 72.7 | 51+ |
| 30 | 47 | University of Copenhagen | Denmark | 76.0 | 36= | 75.1 | 51+ |
| 31 | 29 | Durham University | United Kingdom | 75.7 | 38 | 83.6 | 26 |
| 32 | 25 | Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne | France | 77.0 | 32 | 81.0 | 40 |
| 33 | =23 | Monash University | Australia | 73.8 | 47= | 78.7 | 51+ |
| =34 | 39 | Freie Universitaet Berlin | Germany | 76.2 | 35 | 73.7 | 51+ |
| =34 | 21 | The University of Sydney | Australia | 74.3 | 43 | 80.8 | 41 |
| 36 | 26 | University of Amsterdam | Netherlands | 72.7 | 51+ | 76.2 | 51+ |
| 37 | 51-100 | Peking University | China (Mainland) | 78.4 | 28 | 85.8 | 16= |
| 38 | 32 | Goethe-University Frankfurt am Main | Germany | 76.8 | 33 | 52.9 | 51+ |
| 39 | 22 | UCL | United Kingdom | 71.1 | 51+ | 84.9 | 21 |
| 40 | =30 | Université PSL | France | 74.6 | 41 | 66.4 | 51+ |
| =41 | 151-200 | Fudan University | China (Mainland) | 80.2 | 25 | 80.4 | 44 |
| =41 | 44 | University of Leeds | United Kingdom | 71.9 | 51+ | 74.8 | 51+ |
| 43 | 151-200 | Zhejiang University | China (Mainland) | 77.9 | 29 | 79.1 | 48= |
| =44 | 51-100 | Johns Hopkins University | United States of America | 72.7 | 51+ | 69.6 | 51+ |
| =44 | 40 | Université catholique de Louvain (UCLouvain) | Belgium | 77.2 | 31 | 62.6 | 51+ |
| 46 | 51-100 | Ruhr-Universität Bochum | Germany | 72.8 | 51+ | 60.0 | 51+ |
| =47 | 41 | Sorbonne University | France | 75.4 | 39 | 79.8 | 45= |
| =47 | 51-100 | University of Southern California | United States of America | 70.3 | 51+ | 75.8 | 51+ |
| 49 | 51-100 | Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg | Germany | 74.1 | 44= | 80.5 | 42= |
| 50 | 51-100 | Western University | Canada | 73.8 | 47= | 70.8 | 51+ |
| 51-100 | 101-150 | Aarhus University | Denmark | 64.5 | 51+ | 67.6 | 51+ |
| 51-100 | 101-150 | Albert-Ludwigs-Universitaet Freiburg | Germany | 70.8 | 51+ | 72.8 | 51+ |
| 51-100 | | Beijing Normal University | China (Mainland) | 74.5 | 42 | 68.3 | 51+ |
| 51-100 | =30 | Boston College | United States of America | 73.9 | 46 | 56.5 | 51+ |
| 51-100 | 51-100 | Boston University | United States of America | 67.2 | 51+ | 76.3 | 51+ |
| 51-100 | 51-100 | Brown University | United States of America | 68.9 | 51+ | 69.7 | 51+ |
| 51-100 | 37 | Central European University | Austria | 68.7 | 51+ | 70.9 | 51+ |
| 51-100 | 51-100 | City University of New York | United States of America | 64.1 | 51+ | 63.2 | 51+ |
| 51-100 | 51-100 | Cornell University | United States of America | 64.9 | 51+ | 68.1 | 51+ |
| 51-100 | 201-210 | East China Normal University | China (Mainland) | 68.1 | 51+ | 47.0 | 51+ |
| 51-100 | 43 | Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen | Germany | 64.9 | 51+ | 64.6 | 51+ |
| 51-100 | 51-100 | Georgetown University | United States of America | 64.5 | 51+ | 78.1 | 51+ |
| 51-100 | 51-100 | Kyoto University | Japan | 74.9 | 40 | 76.3 | 51+ |
| 51-100 | 101-150 | Leiden University | Netherlands | 65.0 | 51+ | 58.2 | 51+ |
| 51-100 | =35 | Lomonosov Moscow State University | Russian Federation | 71.4 | 51+ | 97.1 | 4 |
| 51-100 | =35 | Macquarie University | Australia | 67.6 | 51+ | 72.0 | 51+ |
| 51-100 | 51-100 | McGill University | Canada | 69.0 | 51+ | 78.5 | 51+ |
| 51-100 | | Nanjing University | China (Mainland) | 72.3 | 51+ | 69.2 | 51+ |
| 51-100 | 51-100 | Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn | Germany | 73.6 | 49= | 54.8 | 51+ |
The QS Philosophy rankings for 2025 reflects academic excellence, global diversity, and research impact across different institutions. The US and UK continued to maintain their rank, institutions from Europe, Australia, and Canada also emerged in the top 20. These rankings provide valuable insights for students interested in philosophy and searching for excellent places to pursue their higher studies.
