Inside the Ivory Tower is a ranking of the world's best university programs in international relations. The ranking is published by the Foreign Policy magazine in collaboration with the Teaching, Research, and International Policy (TRIP) Project at the College of William & Mary. The survey is based on input from "all international relations scholars employed at a college or university who have an affiliation with a political science department or school of public policy and who teach or conduct research on issues that cross international borders." The first TRIP Faculty Survey was conducted in 2004. One of the questions asked respondents to rank International Relations graduate schools in the U.S. The survey has since expanded to include undergraduate programs. The survey began including universities outside of the U.S. in 2009. The survey was last conducted in 2024, and asks the respondents to rank the top five international relations programs by degree level. The rankings are determined by the percentage of respondents who list a particular school.

2024 Rankings

The 2024 rankings were split out by degree level and specialty, with separate surveys conducted with international relations faculty, policymakers, and think tank staffers as respondents. For the first time, respondents were asked to differentiate between PhD programs for academics and policymakers in their responses.

Undergraduate Programs

Master's Programs

PhD Programs - Academic

PhD Programs - Policymakers

2018 Rankings

2014 Rankings

2012 Rankings

2009 Rankings

Methodology note for 2009 rankings: Undergraduate programs were ranked by individual country in this particular survey. For full undergraduate listings, see the original survey.

2007 Rankings

Methodology note for 2007 rankings: Only schools based in the United States were ranked in this particular survey.

2005 Rankings

Methodology note for 2005 rankings: Only the graduate programs of schools based in the United States were ranked in this particular survey.