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11th in the UK: Complete University Guide 2025

Posted on 21 May 2024

Sociology at York is ranked 11th 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 sociology. The Department of Sociology ranked 11th in the UK in The Complete University Guide 2025.

York also ranked 13th in the subject of social policy, highlighting the quality of our joint degrees with various other departments.

Head of Department, Professor Nik Brown said, "Rising from 14th to 11th for Sociology in the Complete University Guide highlights all the good work we have been doing to deliver an exceptional learning experience. Our staff are truly passionate about the discipline and dedicated to seeing our students genuinely thrive. We’re delighted to be able to add this latest achievement to the outstanding performance of the Department of Sociology at York across all national and global rankings."

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.