Best universities for education degrees 2024

Find the best colleges for education degrees using Times Higher Education’s World University Rankings data

October 28 2020
best universities for education degrees

An education degree can open the doors to working and teaching in schools as well as carrying out research into how we learn.

Times Higher Education has ranked the best universities for education degrees to help you decide on the best university for you.

Stanford University and the University of Oxford take the top spots in the ranking. The University of Hong Kong and Tsinghua University are the only universities in Asia to rank among the top 10, at number five and seven, respectively, and the University of Cambridge comes in at number six. The remainder of the top 10 is dominated by US universities.

US universities are well represented in the entire subject ranking for education, with 133 universities. A total of 218 of the universities are from Europe and 46 are from Asia.

Canada and Australia are also represented in the ranking, with 20 and 35 universities, respectively.

Times Higher Education subject rankings are based on the same 13 performance indicators used in the overall World University Rankings 2021. However, the methodology is carefully recalibrated for each subject, with the weightings adjusted to suit the individual fields. The full methodology for education can be found here.


Best universities worldwide

Best universities in Europe
Best universities in the United States
Best universities in the UK
Best universities in Australia
Best universities in Canada
Best universities in the world


Top five universities for education degrees

1. Stanford University

The Stanford University Graduate School of Education has a high reputation across the US as one of the best education schools in the country. The school provides seven master’s programmes, 21 doctoral programmes and three joint programmes. There are also undergraduate programmes for students wishing to pursue a minor in education or to take part in the honours programme.

The doctoral programmes aim to promote research in education, looking at the psychology behind how we learn as well as curriculum studies and teacher training.

The school of education is one of seven schools at the university, which also include business, law, engineering, humanities and science.

2. University of Oxford

Research at the University of Oxford’s department of education is centred around three key themes: language, cognition and development; economy, policy and society; and knowledge, pedagogy and design. Within each of these areas are several research groups and centres.

As well as research into education, the department also provides teacher training for primary and secondary teachers.

The department regularly hosts seminars and public lectures taken by nationally distinguished speakers in the field of education.

3. Harvard University

Harvard University offers 13 separate year-long master’s programmes and a number of doctoral programmes in education. The master’s programmes cover many aspects of the subject, including arts and education, higher education, international education policy, and human development and education.

The faculty includes a MacArthur Prize fellowship and a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers. Among the faculty are experts in many wide-ranging aspects of education, including bilingual education, adult learning, economy and education, and social services and schools.


What can you do with an education degree?


4. University of California, Berkeley

The University of California, Berkeley offers MA and PhD programmes across a wide range of topics in education such as the impact of race, class and gender, and how politics and policy can affect education.

Undergraduate students also have the option to take a minor in education, and it is one of the university’s most popular minor options. The university also provides courses that will prepare students for a career in teaching, from classroom teaching to district-level leadership.

5. University of Hong Kong

The Faculty of Education at the University of Hong Kong provides teaching in Chinese-language education and English-language education. There is also a division for mathematics and science education, speech and hearing sciences and information and technology studies.

There are seven research centres, including the centre for educational leadership, the centre for communication disorders and the centre for the advancement of Chinese-language education and research.


Universities by degree subject

Best universities for arts and humanities degrees
Best universities for engineering degrees
Best universities for medicine degrees
Best universities for computer science degrees
Best universities for social science degrees
Best universities for life sciences degrees
Best universities for physics, chemistry and maths degrees
Best universities for business degrees
Best universities for law degrees
Best universities for psychology degrees


Top 200 universities for education degrees 2021

Click each institution to view its World University Rankings 2021 profile

Education Rank 2021 Education Rank 2020 University Country/region
 1   1  Stanford University United States
 2   4  University of Oxford United Kingdom
 3   2  Harvard University United States
 4   5  University of California, Berkeley United States
 5   3  University of Hong Kong Hong Kong
 6   7  University of Cambridge United Kingdom
 7   NR  Tsinghua University China
 8   8  University of California, Los Angeles United States
 9   10  University of Michigan-Ann Arbor United States
 10   11  Vanderbilt University United States
 11   13  Peking University China
 12   12  Michigan State University United States
 13   6  University of Pennsylvania United States
 14   9  University of Wisconsin-Madison United States
 15   14  University of Toronto Canada
 16   =16  UCL United Kingdom
 17   25  University of Melbourne Australia
 18   =16  Columbia University United States
 19   =19  University of Texas at Austin United States
 20   =23  National Taiwan Normal University Taiwan
 21   15  University of Washington United States
 22   =19  University of British Columbia Canada
 23   18  King’s College London United Kingdom
 24   31  University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign United States
 25   28  University of Southern California United States
 26   22  Penn State (Main campus) United States
 27   =23  Maastricht University Netherlands
 28   =36  University of Edinburgh United Kingdom
 29   =44  Beijing Normal University China
 30   80  Monash University Australia
 31   =57  Deakin University Australia
 32   21  New York University United States
 33   43  University of Maryland, College Park United States
 34   26  Johns Hopkins University United States
 35   32  University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill United States
 36   29  National Taiwan University of Science and Technology (Taiwan Tech) Taiwan
 37   39  Nanyang Technological University, Singapore Singapore
 38   NR  University of Twente Netherlands
 39   =36  Boston College United States
 40   30  Ohio State University (Main campus) United States
 41   34  Chinese University of Hong Kong Hong Kong
 42   =46  The University of Queensland Australia
 43   48  McGill University Canada
 44   =44  KU Leuven Belgium
 45   40  Indiana University United States
 46   =46  University of Auckland New Zealand
 47   38  University of Georgia United States
 48   33  Arizona State University (Tempe) United States
 =49   50  Ghent University Belgium
 51   =57  University of Sydney Australia
 52   60  University of Helsinki Finland
 53   27  University of Minnesota United States
 54   76  University of California, Irvine United States
 55   =86  Zhejiang University China
 56   49  The University of Tokyo Japan
 57   56  Lancaster University United Kingdom
 58   35  Utrecht University Netherlands
 59   100  East China Normal University China
 59   41  University of Virginia (Main campus) United States
 60   59  Korea University South Korea
 61   79  University of Leeds United Kingdom
 62   101–125  La Trobe University Australia
 63   63  University of Manchester United Kingdom
 64   93  Free University of Berlin Germany
 65   =61  UNSW Sydney Australia
 66   66  University of Oslo Norway
 67   101–125  University of Jyväskylä Finland
 68   65  University of Bristol United Kingdom
 =69   55  Florida State University United States
 =69   101–125  Macquarie University Australia
 71   54  LMU Munich Germany
 72   =81  University of Amsterdam Netherlands
 73   NR  University of California, Davis United States
 74   201–250  University of Montreal Canada
 =75   =71  Brown University United States
 =75   =98  University of Sheffield United Kingdom
 77   =74  University of Colorado Boulder United States
 78   126–150  University of Florida United States
 79   151–175  Victoria University of Wellington New Zealand
 80   64  University of Nottingham United Kingdom
 =81   67  University of Hamburg Germany
 =81   91  University of Tübingen Germany
 83   52  University of California, Santa Barbara United States
 84   51  University of California, San Diego United States
 85   69  Kyoto University Japan
 86   101–125  University of Connecticut United States
 87   85  Aarhus University Denmark
 88   101–125  University of São Paulo Brazil
 89   53  Durham University United Kingdom
 =90   94  Kazan Federal University Russian Federation
 =90   =61  Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University United States
 92   42  University of Pittsburgh-Pittsburgh campus United States
 93   126–150  Middle East Technical University Turkey
 94   101–125  University of Delaware United States
 95   101–125  Vrije Universiteit Brussel Belgium
 96   73  University of Leicester United Kingdom
 =97   176–200  University of Malaya Malaysia
 =97   =81  Texas A&M University United States
 99   68  University of Iowa United States
 100   101–125  National Chiao Tung University Taiwan
 101–125   =81  University of Antwerp Belgium
 101–125   101–125  University of Arizona United States
 101–125   126–150  Autonomous University of Barcelona Spain
 101–125   =86  University of Bath United Kingdom
 101–125   126–150  Birkbeck, University of London United Kingdom
 101–125   =71  Boston University United States
 101–125   201–250  University of Cape Town South Africa
 101–125   151–175  City, University of London United Kingdom
 101–125   101–125  Delft University of Technology Netherlands
 101–125   126–150  University of Exeter United Kingdom
 101–125   101–125  University of Glasgow United Kingdom
 101–125   97  University of Groningen Netherlands
 101–125   176–200  University of Kansas United States
 101–125   101–125  University of Macau Macao
 101–125   101–125  University of Massachusetts United States
 101–125   151–175  Mizzou - University of Missouri United States
 101–125   NR  National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) Taiwan
 101–125   84  North Carolina State University United States
 101–125   126–150  University of Reading United Kingdom
 101–125   92  University of Rochester United States
 101–125   126–150  Stockholm University Sweden
 101–125   =77  University of Technology Sydney Australia
 101–125   151–175  TU Dortmund University Germany
 101–125   101–125  University of Warwick United Kingdom
 101–125   101–125  The University of Western Australia Australia
 101–125   151–175  Western University Canada
 101–125   101–125  Yonsei University (Seoul campus) South Korea
 101–125   =86  University of Zurich Switzerland
 126–150   101–125  University of Adelaide Australia
 126–150   201–250  Boğaziçi University Turkey
 126–150   =98  Curtin University Australia
 126–150   126–150  University of Cyprus Cyprus
 126–150   =77  Humboldt University of Berlin Germany
 126–150   151–175  University of Lisbon Portugal
 126–150   151–175  University of Liverpool United Kingdom
 126–150   70  National Sun Yat-Sen University Taiwan
 126–150   101–125  The Open University United Kingdom
 126–150   176–200  University of Otago New Zealand
 126–150   126–150  Queensland University of Technology Australia
 126–150   201–250  Universiti Sains Malaysia Malaysia
 126–150   90  Seoul National University South Korea
 126–150   =95  University of Southampton United Kingdom
 126–150   =74  University of South Australia Australia
 126–150   201–250  University of Tasmania Australia
 126–150   101–125  Universiti Teknologi Malaysia Malaysia
 126–150   201–250  Temple University United States
 126–150   =95  Trinity College Dublin Republic of Ireland
 126–150   126–150  Tufts University United States
 126–150   126–150  University College Dublin Republic of Ireland
 126–150   89  University of York United Kingdom
 151–175   101–125  University of Alberta Canada
 151–175   126–150  University of Bologna Italy
 151–175   151–175  University of Calgary Canada
 151–175   126–150  University of Campinas Brazil
 151–175   151–175  University of Canberra Australia
 151–175   201–250  Cardiff University United Kingdom
 151–175   151–175  University of Central Florida United States
 151–175   126–150  George Washington University United States
 151–175   101–125  Georgia State University United States
 151–175   NR  University of Graz Austria
 151–175   251–300  Hacettepe University Turkey
 151–175   201–250  Iowa State University United States
 151–175   126–150  University of Limerick Republic of Ireland
 151–175   201–250  Lomonosov Moscow State University Russian Federation
 151–175   126–150  Université Catholique de Louvain Belgium
 151–175   NR  University of Notre Dame United States
 151–175   126–150  University of Oregon United States
 151–175   176–200  University of Ottawa Canada
 151–175   126–150  University of Padua Italy
 151–175   NR  Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio) Brazil
 151–175   201–250  Queen’s University Canada
 151–175   201–250  RMIT University Australia
 151–175   126–150  Sorbonne University France
 151–175   NR  South China Normal University China
 151–175   201–250  University of Sussex United Kingdom
 151–175   151–175  Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam Netherlands
 151–175   101–125  University of Wollongong Australia
 176–200   101–125  Autonomous University of Madrid Spain
 176–200   101–125  University of Birmingham United Kingdom
 176–200   126–150  Brunel University London United Kingdom
 176–200   126–150  Chulalongkorn University Thailand
 176–200   126–150  Concordia University Canada
 176–200   151–175  University of Deusto Spain
 176–200   251–300  University of East Anglia United Kingdom
 176–200   201–250  Florida International University United States
 176–200   151–175  University of Geneva Switzerland
 176–200   176–200  University of Gothenburg Sweden
 176–200   126–150  University of Illinois at Chicago United States
 176–200   151–175  National Autonomous University of Mexico Mexico
 176–200   176–200  Newcastle University United Kingdom
 176–200   251–300  NOVA University of Lisbon Portugal
 176–200   201–250  Queen’s University Belfast United Kingdom
 176–200   NR  RUDN University Russian Federation
 176–200   151–175  University of Salamanca Spain
 176–200   176–200  Stellenbosch University South Africa
 176–200   176–200  University of Turku Finland
 176–200   151–175  Uppsala University Sweden
 176–200   176–200  University of Vienna Austria
 176–200   251–300  University of Waikato New Zealand
 176–200   176–200  York University Canada

Click here to view the full ranking for education degrees

Read more: Need help choosing a degree? Here is the most comprehensive guide to help you choose

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