Oxford Politics maintains second position in the world in 2025 QS World Rankings by subject

The University of Oxford has been ranked 1st in the UK for politics and international studies for the 10th year running  and 2nd in the world in the 2025 QS World Rankings by subject.

As in previous years, Oxford lost out on the top spot globally to Harvard University but fought off stiff competition from UK universities to maintain 1st place in the country for the subject.

The position is a reflection of the tradition of world-leading research and high-quality teaching at the Department of Politics and International Relations (DPIR).

Head of Department David Doyle said:

“We are delighted once again to be one of the top departments in the world according to the QS World Rankings. It is a testament to the hard work of all my amazing colleagues in the Department." 

DPIR is an internationally-renowned centre for teaching and research in the field and one of the largest in the UK, offering two undergraduate courses and eight DPhil (PhD), MPhil and MSc programmes at the postgraduate level.

DPIR has a strong interdisciplinary ethos across the three areas of international relations, comparative politics, and political theory, and harnesses them to achieve a wider understanding of political power and process within political systems and between them. The Department’s faculty includes some of the world’s leading scholars in comparative politics and government, and political theory and philosophy, supervising outstanding students in the DPhil in Politics programme who use their research and methods training to launch successful academic careers.

The 21st edition of the QS World University Rankings By Subject includes over 400 universities in its politics rankings.