The QS World University Rankings by Subject 2025 includes 350 of the best universities in the world for linguistics. This year has shown remarkable growth in Asia. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) received the highest academic score this year and the Chinese University of Hong Kong has also made strides, advancing up 23 places to 10th. These rankings signal the growing significance of Asia and the rise of excellence in world-class research to study linguistics.
The following table lists over 60 such institutions to pursue higher education in linguistics according to the QS University rankings 2025, along with their academic score, AR (academic rank), Employer score and ER(Employer rank).
| 2025 | Institution | Country / Territory | Academic | AR rank | Employer | ER Rank |
| 1 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) | United States of America | 100.0 | 1 | 94.6 | 7 |
| 2 | Peking University | China (Mainland) | 93.5 | 3 | 99.8 | 2 |
| 3 | Lancaster University | United Kingdom | 96.1 | 2 | 68.8 | 101+ |
| =4 | University of Cambridge | United Kingdom | 91.3 | 6 | 99.6 | 3 |
| =4 | University of Oxford | United Kingdom | 91.5 | 4= | 99.0 | 5 |
| 6 | Harvard University | United States of America | 89.7 | 11 | 100.0 | 1 |
| 7 | The University of Edinburgh | United Kingdom | 91.5 | 4= | 81.2 | 42 |
| 8 | National University of Singapore (NUS) | Singapore | 90.2 | 10 | 93.5 | 8 |
| 9 | The University of Hong Kong | Hong Kong SAR, China | 90.8 | 8 | 86.4 | 19= |
| 10 | The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) | Hong Kong SAR, China | 90.9 | 7 | 80.1 | 45 |
| 11 | Stanford University | United States of America | 87.5 | 13= | 92.8 | 9 |
| 12 | Fudan University | China (Mainland) | 86.6 | 19 | 97.0 | 6 |
| 13 | University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) | United States of America | 87.2 | 15 | 91.0 | 10 |
| 14 | University of California, Berkeley (UCB) | United States of America | 86.9 | 16= | 84.2 | 23 |
| 15 | University of Massachusetts Amherst | United States of America | 90.3 | 9 | 59.6 | 101+ |
| 16 | University of British Columbia | Canada | 86.9 | 16= | 86.4 | 19= |
| 17 | Seoul National University | Republic of Korea | 87.5 | 13= | 81.8 | 37= |
| 18 | Beijing Foreign Studies University | China (Mainland) | 88.1 | 12 | 68.7 | 101+ |
| 19 | UCL | United Kingdom | 84.4 | 22 | 78.5 | 57 |
| 20 | University of Pennsylvania | United States of America | 85.0 | 21 | 72.7 | 97 |
| =21 | Beijing Normal University | China (Mainland) | 85.3 | 20 | 82.2 | 35 |
| =21 | The Ohio State University | United States of America | 86.7 | 18 | 56.2 | 101+ |
| =23 | The University of Tokyo | Japan | 82.6 | 24 | 88.2 | 16 |
| =23 | University of Toronto | Canada | 81.5 | 27= | 86.5 | 18 |
| 25 | Korea University | Republic of Korea | 83.9 | 23 | 78.6 | 56 |
| 26 | McGill University | Canada | 81.2 | 30 | 85.8 | 21 |
| 27 | Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU) | Singapore | 80.2 | 36 | 89.6 | 14 |
| 28 | Zhejiang University | China (Mainland) | 80.0 | 37 | 89.9 | 13 |
| 29 | The University of Manchester | United Kingdom | 81.5 | 27= | 78.3 | 60= |
| =30 | The University of Melbourne | Australia | 79.8 | 38 | 82.7 | 28= |
| =30 | Yonsei University | Republic of Korea | 81.4 | 29 | 79.4 | 51= |
| 32 | University of Texas at Austin | United States of America | 80.3 | 35 | 75.2 | 74= |
| =33 | Tsinghua University | China (Mainland) | 77.0 | 50 | 90.1 | 12 |
| =33 | University of Chicago | United States of America | 80.8 | 32 | 74.4 | 82 |
| 35 | Shanghai Jiao Tong University | China (Mainland) | 77.7 | 47 | 88.4 | 15 |
| 36 | Macquarie University | Australia | 80.6 | 33= | 72.3 | 101+ |
| 37 | University of Birmingham | United Kingdom | 81.9 | 26 | 60.9 | 101+ |
| 38 | City University of Hong Kong | Hong Kong SAR, China | 80.6 | 33= | 74.9 | 79 |
| 39 | Renmin (People's) University of China | China (Mainland) | 78.5 | 43 | 82.9 | 27 |
| =40 | Nanjing University | China (Mainland) | 78.0 | 45 | 82.6 | 30= |
| =40 | The University of Sydney | Australia | 77.9 | 46 | 80.9 | 43 |
| =40 | University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa | United States of America | 79.4 | 39= | 67.7 | 101+ |
| 43 | Michigan State University | United States of America | 77.4 | 49 | 75.2 | 74= |
| =44 | HUFS - Hankuk (Korea) University of Foreign Studies | Republic of Korea | 79.4 | 39= | 77.7 | 63 |
| =44 | The University of Arizona | United States of America | 80.9 | 31 | 49.6 | 101+ |
| =44 | University of Maryland, College Park | United States of America | 82.4 | 25 | 36.5 | 101+ |
| 47 | Lomonosov Moscow State University | Russian Federation | 78.9 | 41 | 90.9 | 11 |
| 48 | New York University (NYU) | United States of America | 75.6 | 56= | 80.8 | 44 |
| 49 | University of Washington | United States of America | 76.8 | 51= | 60.0 | 101+ |
| 50 | Leiden University | Netherlands | 78.3 | 44 | 67.8 | 101+ |
| 51 | The Hong Kong Polytechnic University | Hong Kong SAR, China | 77.6 | 48 | 69.5 | 101+ |
| 52 | University of Amsterdam | Netherlands | 75.5 | 58 | 76.0 | 71 |
| =53 | Georgetown University | United States of America | 78.6 | 42 | 54.8 | 101+ |
| =53 | KU Leuven | Belgium | 76.8 | 51= | 73.8 | 87= |
| =55 | RUDN University | Russian Federation | 74.7 | 61 | 99.3 | 4 |
| =55 | University of Zurich | Switzerland | 76.1 | 54 | 69.7 | 101+ |
| 57 | The Australian National University | Australia | 75.6 | 56= | 82.3 | 33= |
| 58 | The University of Auckland | New Zealand | 75.4 | 59 | 79.4 | 51= |
| 59 | University of Michigan-Ann Arbor | United States of America | 74.6 | 62= | 69.5 | 101+ |
| 60 | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign | United States of America | 74.6 | 62= | 69.3 | 101+ |
| 61 | Wuhan University | China (Mainland) | 73.9 | 67= | 81.9 | 36 |
| 62 | Yale University | United States of America | 72.2 | 83 | 83.4 | 24 |
| 63 | The University of Queensland | Australia | 73.9 | 67= | 76.5 | 67= |
| 64 | University of Helsinki | Finland | 75.9 | 55 | 56.7 | 101+ |
| =65 | Universitat Pompeu Fabra (Barcelona) | Spain | 74.0 | 65= | 72.8 | 96 |
| =65 | University of Vienna | Austria | 74.6 | 62= | 71.4 | 101+ |
| =65 | Victoria University of Wellington | New Zealand | 75.1 | 60 | 62.7 | 101+ |
| 68 | University of California, San Diego (UCSD) | United States of America | 71.9 | 87= | 81.8 | 37= |
| 69 | Waseda University | Japan | 73.5 | 75= | 68.5 | 101+ |
| 70 | Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) | Mexico | 73.8 | 71 | 82.6 | 30= |
| =71 | Hanyang University | Republic of Korea | 73.9 | 67= | 78.3 | 60= |
| =71 | National Taiwan University (NTU) | Taiwan | 71.0 | 100= | 82.4 | 32 |
| =71 | National Tsing Hua University | Taiwan | 73.9 | 67= | 72.9 | 95 |
| =74 | Columbia University | United States of America | 70.0 | 101+ | 83.1 | 25 |
The 2025 rankings show how linguistics has become more significant in countries around the world. As Peking University and the Chinese University of Hong Kong, along with other institutions continue to grow, students will benefit from more excellent options to pursue their passion for language studies. The growth of Asian universities promises an exciting future for linguistics education globally.
