Best universities for psychology degrees 2022
Find the best colleges for psychology using Times Higher Education’s World University Rankings 2022 data
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Top 10 universities for psychology
Scroll down for the full list of best universities for psychology degrees
Psychology Rank 2022 | Psychology Rank 2021 | University | Country |
1 | NR | University of Cambridge | United Kingdom |
2 | 1 | Stanford University | United States |
3 | 2 | Princeton University | United States |
4 | 6 | Harvard University | United States |
5 | 4 | University of California, Berkeley | United States |
6 | 3 | UCL | United Kingdom |
7 | 5 | The University of Chicago | United States |
8 | 7 | Yale University | United States |
9 | 8 | University of Pennsylvania | United States |
10 | 9 | University of Michigan-Ann Arbor | United States |
Psychology is the study of the mind and human behaviour. Psychology students will learn about emotions, what motivates us and how we interact with each other.
Many psychology graduates go on to become professional psychologists, however a degree in psychology can also lead to careers in childcare, social work or in the legal profession. Scroll down for a full guide to what you can do with a psychology degree.
This year Times Higher Education has released a ranking of the 568 best universities for psychology degrees. The ranking features 47 countries.
The UK’s University of Cambridge makes its debut in the psychology ranking in 2022 and claims the top spot, after meeting the eligibility criteria for the first time. Stanford University previously led the table from its inception in 2018.
More than a quarter of the universities in the overall ranking (157 universities) are in the US. The next most represented country is the UK, with 78 universities present. Australia, Germany and Canada are also well represented, with 35, 31 and 27 universities respectively.
The ranking uses the same methodology as the Times Higher Education World University Rankings, but with a higher weighting for citations and a lower weighting for teaching. The full methodology can be found here.
Best universities for psychology degrees in Canada
Best universities for psychology degrees in Australia
Best universities for psychology degrees in the UK
Best universities for psychology degrees in the US
The top 5 universities for psychology degrees
5. University of California, Berkeley
-The University of California, Berkeley’s psychology department undertakes research in areas including development, cognition, social-personality and cognitive neuroscience.
-The department offers undergraduate and postgraduate programmes across a number of areas, while providing the opportunity to focus on the areas students find most interesting.
4. Harvard University
-Psychology is one of the most popular courses of study at undergraduate level at Harvard University.
-Undergraduate students can choose one of three study tracks: the general track which offers the greatest flexibility; the cognitive neuroscience and evolutionary psychology track and the cognitive science track.
The graduate programme covers four major research themes: cognition, brain, and behaviour; developmental psychology; social psychology; and clinical science.
3. Princeton University
-The psychology department at Princeton University has produced six Distinguished Contributions awards from the American Psychological Association, one Nobel prizewinner and three William James Fellow Awards from the Association for Psychological Science.
-Graduate study is focused on systems neuroscience, cognitive neuroscience, perception and cognition, personality and social psychology, and physiological psychology.
The department is closely affiliated with the Princeton Neuroscience Institute, which conducts research on neuroscience and psychological function.
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2. Stanford University
-The department of psychology at Stanford University was one of the first to be established at the institution.
-Research is carried out in areas including addictive behaviours, psychopathology and risk, and stereotyping.
Undergraduate and graduate programmes are available, with the latter emphasising research training. The department is split into five research groups known as department areas, namely science, neuroscience, cognitive psychology, developmental psychology and social psychology.
The department has close ties with many other departments at Stanford, such as biology, law, medicine and business. There are also aims to increase participation in various interdisciplinary programmes on campus.
What can you do with a psychology degree?
1. University of Cambridge
-The psychological and behavioural sciences tripos at the University of Cambridge covers teaching in cognitive, social, developmental and biological psychology within the broader context of the behavioural sciences.
-Undergraduates are able to conduct laboratory work from their second year onwards to supplement their coursework and seminar learning.
As students progress through the course there are opportunities to specialise further.
Potential study areas include statistics, neuroanatomy, neurotransmitters, neuroimaging, developmental psychology, psychopathology, cognitive psychology, language, gender, family relationships and influences, personality and group social behaviour.
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Top universities for psychology degrees 2022
Click on each institution to view its World University Ranking 2022 profile
Psychology Rank 2022 | Psychology Rank 2021 | University | Country |
1 | NR | University of Cambridge | United Kingdom |
2 | 1 | Stanford University | United States |
3 | 2 | Princeton University | United States |
4 | 6 | Harvard University | United States |
5 | 4 | University of California, Berkeley | United States |
6 | 3 | UCL | United Kingdom |
7 | 5 | The University of Chicago | United States |
8 | 7 | Yale University | United States |
9 | 8 | University of Pennsylvania | United States |
10 | 9 | University of Michigan-Ann Arbor | United States |
11 | 10 | University of California, Los Angeles | United States |
12 | 11 | King’s College London | United Kingdom |
=13 | =13 | University of British Columbia | Canada |
=13 | 15 | New York University | United States |
15 | =13 | Northwestern University | United States |
16 | =21 | Columbia University | United States |
17 | 12 | University of Amsterdam | Netherlands |
18 | 16 | University of Edinburgh | United Kingdom |
19 | =21 | University of Toronto | Canada |
20 | 24 | Cornell University | United States |
21 | 20 | Duke University | United States |
=22 | =17 | Carnegie Mellon University | United States |
=22 | 27 | University of Wisconsin -Madison | United States |
24 | 23 | University of Melbourne | Australia |
=25 | 25 | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign | United States |
=25 | =17 | KU Leuven | Belgium |
27 | 44 | LMU Munich | Germany |
28 | 45 | Johns Hopkins University | United States |
29 | 34 | UNSW Sydney | Australia |
30 | 30 | University of Texas at Austin | United States |
31 | 26 | University of Washington | United States |
32 | 36 | University of California, San Diego | United States |
33 | 47 | University of California, Irvine | United States |
34 | 46 | University of California, Davis | United States |
35 | 39 | Utrecht University | Netherlands |
=36 | 31 | University of Sydney | Australia |
=36 | 28 | University of Virginia (Main campus) | United States |
38 | 29 | University of Minnesota | United States |
=39 | 49 | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill | United States |
=39 | 37 | Ohio State University (Main campus) | United States |
41 | 35 | McGill University | Canada |
42 | =41 | Vanderbilt University | United States |
43 | =17 | London School of Economics and Political Science | United Kingdom |
44 | 32 | Karolinska Institute | Sweden |
45 | 80 | Peking University | China |
46 | =52 | The University of Queensland | Australia |
47 | 50 | Tilburg University | Netherlands |
48 | 63 | University of Rochester | United States |
=49 | 59 | University of Kent | United Kingdom |
=49 | =41 | Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam | Netherlands |
51 | 54 | Boston University | United States |
52 | 61 | Arizona State University (Tempe) | United States |
=53 | 56 | University of Hong Kong | Hong Kong |
=53 | =41 | Penn State (Main campus) | United States |
55 | 33 | Michigan State University | United States |
56 | =68 | Radboud University Nijmegen | Netherlands |
57 | =52 | University of Manchester | United Kingdom |
58 | 57 | National University of Singapore | Singapore |
=59 | NR | Indiana University | United States |
=59 | 64 | University of Zurich | Switzerland |
61 | 48 | Humboldt University of Berlin | Germany |
62 | 40 | University of Groningen | Netherlands |
63 | =65 | University of Tübingen | Germany |
64 | 51 | Ghent University | Belgium |
=65 | 60 | University of Mannheim | Germany |
=65 | 74 | University of Vienna | Austria |
=67 | 55 | Brown University | United States |
=67 | 38 | Cardiff University | United Kingdom |
69 | 58 | Washington University in St Louis | United States |
=70 | 101–125 | University of St Andrews | United Kingdom |
=70 | =81 | The University of Tokyo | Japan |
72 | 101–125 | Dartmouth College | United States |
=73 | 101–125 | University of Auckland | New Zealand |
=73 | 101–125 | Nanyang Technological University, Singapore | Singapore |
75 | 76 | University of Southern California | United States |
76 | =86 | University of Warwick | United Kingdom |
77 | 67 | Australian National University | Australia |
=78 | 70 | Aarhus University | Denmark |
=78 | 62 | University of California, Santa Barbara | United States |
80 | =92 | Emory University | United States |
81 | =68 | University of Maryland, College Park | United States |
=82 | 79 | Free University of Berlin | Germany |
=82 | 73 | Maastricht University | Netherlands |
84 | 101–125 | Université Catholique de Louvain | Belgium |
=85 | =96 | Tel Aviv University | Israel |
=85 | 78 | University of Waterloo | Canada |
87 | 85 | Trinity College Dublin | Republic of Ireland |
88 | 71 | Chinese University of Hong Kong | Hong Kong |
89 | 126–150 | Beijing Normal University | China |
90 | =92 | Georgia Institute of Technology | United States |
91 | 101–125 | University of Glasgow | United Kingdom |
92 | =96 | University of Colorado Boulder | United States |
=93 | 126–150 | University of Otago | New Zealand |
=93 | 89 | University of Potsdam | Germany |
=95 | 101–125 | University of Exeter | United Kingdom |
=95 | 91 | The University of Western Australia | Australia |
=95 | 101–125 | University of York | United Kingdom |
98 | 77 | Leiden University | Netherlands |
99 | 126–150 | Kyoto University | Japan |
100 | 101–125 | Victoria University of Wellington | New Zealand |
101–125 | 126–150 | University of Alberta | Canada |
101–125 | =98 | University of Barcelona | Spain |
101–125 | 151–175 | University of Basel | Switzerland |
101–125 | =86 | University of Bath | United Kingdom |
101–125 | 84 | University of Bristol | United Kingdom |
101–125 | 151–175 | University of Connecticut | United States |
101–125 | NR | University of Copenhagen | Denmark |
101–125 | 101–125 | Durham University | United Kingdom |
101–125 | 251–300 | East China Normal University | China |
101–125 | 151–175 | University of Erlangen-Nuremberg | Germany |
101–125 | 176–200 | HSE University | Russian Federation |
101–125 | =65 | Hebrew University of Jerusalem | Israel |
101–125 | =98 | Lancaster University | United Kingdom |
101–125 | 201–250 | Linköping University | Sweden |
101–125 | 151–175 | National Taiwan University (NTU) | Taiwan |
101–125 | 101–125 | Nottingham Trent University | United Kingdom |
101–125 | 101–125 | University of Oregon | United States |
101–125 | 94 | University of Pittsburgh-Pittsburgh campus | United States |
101–125 | 151–175 | Ruhr University Bochum | Germany |
101–125 | 126–150 | Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey | United States |
101–125 | 151–175 | Sapienza University of Rome | Italy |
101–125 | 83 | University of Sheffield | United Kingdom |
101–125 | 101–125 | University of Southampton | United Kingdom |
101–125 | =81 | University of Sussex | United Kingdom |
101–125 | 100 | TU Dresden | Germany |
101–125 | 101–125 | University of Twente | Netherlands |
126–150 | 101–125 | University of Arizona | United States |
126–150 | 176–200 | Australian Catholic University | Australia |
126–150 | 151–175 | Autonomous University of Barcelona | Spain |
126–150 | 95 | Birkbeck, University of London | United Kingdom |
126–150 | 101–125 | University of Birmingham | United Kingdom |
126–150 | 201–250 | University of Calgary | Canada |
126–150 | 126–150 | University of California, Santa Cruz | United States |
126–150 | 101–125 | University of Cologne | Germany |
126–150 | 151–175 | Curtin University | Australia |
126–150 | 151–175 | Florida State University | United States |
126–150 | 126–150 | University of Freiburg | Germany |
126–150 | 176–200 | University of Graz | Austria |
126–150 | 126–150 | University of Illinois at Chicago | United States |
126–150 | 301–400 | University of Innsbruck | Austria |
126–150 | 90 | University of Konstanz | Germany |
126–150 | 151–175 | University of Luxembourg | Luxembourg |
126–150 | 176–200 | University of Münster | Germany |
126–150 | 201–250 | National Taiwan Normal University | Taiwan |
126–150 | 101–125 | University of Nottingham | United Kingdom |
126–150 | 72 | University of Padua | Italy |
126–150 | 151–175 | University of Reading | United Kingdom |
126–150 | 251–300 | University of Regina | Canada |
126–150 | 151–175 | Stony Brook University | United States |
126–150 | 101–125 | University of Victoria | Canada |
151–175 | 126–150 | Aston University | United Kingdom |
151–175 | 126–150 | Autonomous University of Madrid | Spain |
151–175 | 151–175 | University of Bern | Switzerland |
151–175 | 126–150 | University of Florida | United States |
151–175 | 126–150 | George Mason University | United States |
151–175 | 201–250 | University of Georgia | United States |
151–175 | 176–200 | Goldsmiths, University of London | United Kingdom |
151–175 | 176–200 | University of Iowa | United States |
151–175 | 176–200 | University of Leeds | United Kingdom |
151–175 | 201–250 | Lomonosov Moscow State University | Russian Federation |
151–175 | 101–125 | University of Macau | Macao |
151–175 | 101–125 | Macquarie University | Australia |
151–175 | 151–175 | McMaster University | Canada |
151–175 | 176–200 | University of Miami | United States |
151–175 | 126–150 | Mizzou - University of Missouri | United States |
151–175 | 126–150 | Monash University | Australia |
151–175 | 201–250 | The New School | United States |
151–175 | 126–150 | Newcastle University | United Kingdom |
151–175 | 101–125 | University of Notre Dame | United States |
151–175 | 88 | Queen’s University | Canada |
151–175 | 176–200 | Temple University | United States |
151–175 | 201–250 | University of Turku | Finland |
151–175 | 176–200 | Western University | Canada |
151–175 | 176–200 | University of Würzburg | Germany |
151–175 | 201–250 | Yonsei University (Seoul campus) | South Korea |
151–175 | 126–150 | York University | Canada |
176–200 | 126–150 | University of Bologna | Italy |
176–200 | 126–150 | University of California, Riverside | United States |
176–200 | 176–200 | University of Cape Town | South Africa |
176–200 | 201–250 | Carleton University | Canada |
176–200 | 151–175 | City, University of London | United Kingdom |
176–200 | 201–250 | Deakin University | Australia |
176–200 | 126–150 | University of Delaware | United States |
176–200 | 176–200 | University of East Anglia | United Kingdom |
176–200 | 176–200 | Friedrich Schiller University Jena | Germany |
176–200 | 201–250 | University of Geneva | Switzerland |
176–200 | 101–125 | University of Helsinki | Finland |
176–200 | 201–250 | ISCTE-University Institute of Lisbon | Portugal |
176–200 | 151–175 | Iowa State University | United States |
176–200 | 201–250 | King Abdulaziz University | Saudi Arabia |
176–200 | 176–200 | University of Massachusetts | United States |
176–200 | 301–400 | Maynooth University | Republic of Ireland |
176–200 | 301–400 | Middlesex University | United Kingdom |
176–200 | 176–200 | University of Montreal | Canada |
176–200 | 126–150 | Northeastern University | United States |
176–200 | 176–200 | University of Oslo | Norway |
176–200 | 201–250 | Queen’s University Belfast | United Kingdom |
176–200 | 201–250 | Tampere University | Finland |
176–200 | 201–250 | Ulm University | Germany |
176–200 | 201–250 | University of the West of England | United Kingdom |
176–200 | 151–175 | Western Sydney University | Australia |
View the full table of the best universities for psychology degrees
Read more: the most detailed subject guide you will ever see to help you pick your degree