Ranked: Every Russell Group uni by QS arts and humanities 2026 – Oxford tops, Southampton last

Oxford has topped the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2026 for arts and humanities, scoring 97.8 – while Southampton ranked last among Russell Group universities with just 69.6, a gap of 28.2 points.

The University of Cambridge comes in close second place with a score of 96.7.

The annual QS World Rankings by Subject assess universities across factors including research and discovery, global engagement and employability. Oxford ranked first globally for modern languages within the arts and humanities category.

Imperial College London is not included as it does not offer humanities courses, being a science-led university.

Here are 23 Russell Group universities ranked by their QS 2026 arts and humanities score, from highest to lowest.

1. University of Oxford – 97.8

2. University of Cambridge – 96.7

3. University College London (UCL) – 90.7

4. University of Edinburgh – 90.4

5. King’s College London – 85

6. Durham University – 82.7

7. University of Manchester – 81.2

8. London School of Economics – 80.5

9. University of York – 79.1

10. University of Leeds – 79

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11. University of Warwick – 78.4

12. University of Glasgow – 77.9

13. University of Bristol – 76.9

14. University of Sheffield – 76.7

15. University of Birmingham – 76.5

16. University of Exeter – 76.5

17. Queen Mary University of London – 74.4

18. Newcastle University – 73.9

19. University of Nottingham – 73.6

20. Cardiff University – 72.7

21. University of Liverpool – 71.3

22. Queen’s University Belfast – 70.6

23. University of Southampton – 69.6

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Featured image via Unsplash