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4th, 6th and 10th in the UK: Complete University Guide 2025

Posted on 23 May 2024

Language and Linguistic Science at York is ranked 4th (French), 6th (Iberian Languages) and 10th (linguistics) in the UK according to the latest release of the Complete University Guide league tables (2025).

This week, we maintained our place among the UK’s most highly regarded departments for the subject of French, Iberian languages and linguistics.

York also ranked highly in the subjects of English (8th) and philosophy (10th), highlighting the quality of our joint degrees with the Departments of English and Related Literature and Philosophy.

Head of Department, Professor Monika S. Schmid said, "the ability to speak languages other than English is a vital skill, and the fact that it is so rare in the UK is costing the economy billions each year. The approach we take at York to help young people acquire proficiency in languages other than English, by not only teaching them the language basics but focusing on the culture, history, literature, art, and so on of the countries where the language is spoken, is designed to overcome this ‘language ignorance’. I am delighted to see our efforts in these areas recognised in these great results. The research that we do in the area of linguistics, which has been ranked the best terms of quality in the Research Excellence Framework according to the Times Higher Education methodology, and the efforts we make to support our students’ careers from the start, have translated to a very strong position for our department, and I could not be prouder of my colleagues and of our students."

York’s overall position

The University of York ranked joint 17th overall in the Complete University Guide 2025. The guide ranks 130 institutions across the UK.

In total, 14 subjects at York were ranked in the UK top 10:

  • Archaeology (7th)
  • Biological Sciences (7th)
  • Chemistry (7th)
  • Drama, Dance and Cinematics (3rd)
  • English (8th)
  • French (4th)
  • History (9th)
  • History of Art, Architecture and Design (6th)
  • Iberian Languages (Spanish) (6th)
  • Linguistics (10th)
  • Marketing (6th)
  • Philosophy (10th)
  • Psychology (9th)
  • Social Work (3rd)

A further 10 subjects appeared in the UK top 20.

About the Complete University Guide

Published annually, The Complete University Guide league tables rank the best universities in the UK. It covers 74 separate subject areas, as well as an overall institutional ranking. Universities and subjects are ranked on entry standards, student satisfaction, research quality, graduate prospects, completion rates, student-staff ratio and spend on academic services and facilities.

The rankings are based on public domain data collected by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), the National Student Survey and the Research Excellence Framework 2021.