If you are looking for a suitable university to study sociology abroad, we recommend starting your search with a ranking of the best sociological universities in the world. Our list includes prestigious educational institutions for foreign schoolchildren, students and foreigners, offering excellent conditions for studying social sciences.
In the presented universities you can study social policy on bachelor's, master's and doctoral programs + there are short-term courses for specialists who want to improve their skills. The best universities in the world in the field of sociology offer to adopt the experience of professionals and practicing experts in the field, to study the latest theories in the field of social policy.
In the first years of study at the faculties of sociology, students study a wide range of disciplines and receive a fundamental education. Undergraduate students have more choice in studying priority areas: you will find comprehensive preparation in the field of human rights, globalization, migration, equality, the future of states.
Top 100 best universities in the world in 2026 QS: Social Policy
| Rank | University | Overall Score |
| 1 | Harvard University | 99,6 |
| 2 | University of Oxford | 96,5 |
| 3 | Stanford University | 94,3 |
| =4 | LSE London School of Economics and Political Science | 94,1 |
| =4 | Berkeley University of California | 94,1 |
| 6 | Cambridge University | 92,7 |
| 7 | Princeton University | 89,9 |
| 8 | Yale University | 89,6 |
| 9 | University of Chicago | 89,3 |
| 10 | University of Wisconsin - Madison | 88,2 |
| 11 | University of Michigan-Ann Arbor | 88,1 |
| =12 | Columbia University | 87,9 |
| =12 | University of California Los Angeles | 87,9 |
| 14 | National University of Singapore | 87,5 |
| 15 | University of Amsterdam | 87,4 |
| =16 | New York University (NYU) | 86,4 |
| =16 | The University of Manchester | 86,4 |
| 18 | University of Toronto | 86,2 |
| 19 | The Australian National University | 85,4 |
| 20 | UCL | 84,0 |
| 21 | Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) | 83,8 |
| 22 | University of British Columbia | 82,9 |
| 23 | University of Edinburgh | 82,7 |
| =24 | University of Hong Kong | 82,1 |
| =24 | The University of Tokyo | 82,1 |
| 26 | Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin | 81,6 |
| 27 | Sciences Po | 81,4 |
| 28 | The University of Melbourne | 81,0 |
| =29 | Freie Universitaet Berlin | 80,4 |
| =29 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) | 80,4 |
| =29 | The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) | 80,4 |
| =29 | Sydney University | 80,4 |
| 33 | Cornell University | 80,3 |
| 34 | Duke University | 80,0 |
| 35 | Peking University | 79,9 |
| 36 | University of Pennsylvania | 79,6 |
| 37 | Yonsei University | 79,2 |
| 38 | Stockholm University | 79,1 |
| 39 | University of Copenhagen | 79,0 |
| 40 | Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA) | 78,4 |
| 41 | King's College London | 77,7 |
| 42 | University of Sussex | 77,6 |
| 43 | Universidade de São Paulo | 77,4 |
| =44 | The University of Queensland | 77,3 |
| =44 | University of Bristol | 77,3 |
| 46 | Utrecht University | 77,2 |
| =47 | McGill University | 77,0 |
| =47 | University of Oslo | 77,0 |
| =49 | National Taiwan University | 76,8 |
| =49 | Northwestern University | 76,8 |
| 51 | Seoul National University | 76,4 |
| 52 | Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) | 76,3 |
| 53 | Kyoto University | 76,1 |
| 54 | University of Texas at Austin | 76,0 |
| =55 | University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill | 75,7 |
| =55 | University of Vienna | 75,7 |
| 57 | Universidad de Chile | 75,3 |
| 58 | European University Institute | 75,0 |
| 59 | Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (UC) | 74,8 |
| 60 | University of Southern California | 74,7 |
| =61 | Lund University Sweden | 74,5 |
| =61 | University of Warwick | 74,5 |
| =63 | SOAS University of London | 74,4 |
| =63 | Tsinghua University | 74,4 |
| 65 | KU Leuven | 74,3 |
| =66 | Johns Hopkins University | 74,2 |
| =66 | Nanyang Technological University | 74,2 |
| =66 | Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona | 74,2 |
| =66 | University of Helsinki | 74,2 |
| 70 | University of Leeds | 74,0 |
| 71 | Monash University | 73,8 |
| 72 | Universidade Estadual de Campinas (Unicamp) | 73,6 |
| 73 | Essex, University of | 73,5 |
| =74 | Central European University | 73,4 |
| =74 | Universidad Nacional de Colombia | 73,4 |
| =74 | University of Maryland, College Park | 73,4 |
| =77 | Brown University | 72,7 |
| =77 | Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München | 72,7 |
| =79 | Renmin (People's) University of China | 72,6 |
| =79 | The University of New South Wales (UNSW Sydney) | 72,6 |
| =79 | University of Washington | 72,6 |
| 82 | University of California, Irvine | 72,5 |
| 83 | Lancaster University | 72,3 |
| 84 | Leiden University | 72,1 |
| 85 | University of Glasgow | 72,0 |
| 86 | University of Milan | 71,7 |
| =87 | Alma Mater Studiorum - University of Bologna | 71,6 |
| =87 | Goldsmiths, University of London | 71,6 |
| =87 | The University of Sheffield | 71,6 |
| 90 | Universitat de Barcelona | 71,5 |
| 91 | Jawaharlal Nehru University | 71,4 |
| 92 | Pennsylvania State University | 71,3 |
| =93 | Complutense University of Madrid | 71,2 |
| =93 | Goethe-University Frankfurt am Main | 71,2 |
| =95 | Copenhagen Business School | 71,1 |
| =95 | The University of Auckland | 71,1 |
| =95 | University of Trento | 71,1 |
| =98 | Université de Montréal | 71,0 |
| =98 | Uppsala University | 71,0 |
| 100 | University of Birmingham | 70,9 |
