Top Computer Science Schools in 2017

Discover the top computer science based on the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2020.

Interested in studying computer science at one of the world’s leading universities? The QS World University Rankings by Subject can help, featuring a ranking of the 500 leading institutions around the world for computer science, based on a methodology which assesses employer and academic reputations as well as research impact.

Read on for an overview of the top computer science schools in each world region, or click here to view the full results.

Top computer science schools in the US & Canada  

The US has a major presence in the computer science ranking, this year, claiming 92 of the 500 entries, including six in the top 10 and 15 more in the top 50. As well as those featured above, other top universities for computer science in the US include:  University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) (13^th), the University of Washington (=16^th, up 12 places), Cornell University (=21^st) and  the University of Texas at Austin (26^th).

Nearby Canada is home to 19 top computer science schools, with the University of Toronto climbing one place to now rank joint 10^th. The other Canadian institutions featured in the top 100 are the University of British Colombia (23^rd), the University of Waterloo (31^st) and McGill University (51-100).

Top computer science schools in Europe

The UK has 46 entrants in this year’s computer science ranking, five of which are in the top 50. Outside of the top 10 above, these are:  Imperial College London (12^th), the University of Edinburgh (=21^st) and UCL (University College London) (37^th).

Germany also performs well, boasting 29 of the world’s top universities for computer science, with Technische Universität München (TU Munich) the highest-ranked at 40^th.  France is another strong contender with 20 top computer science schools, led by ENS Paris at 51-100.

Meanwhile Italy has 16 representatives in the computer science ranking, with the Politecnico di Milano the country’s leading entrant at 49^th place. Next up is the Netherlands with 10 institutions ranked among the top universities for computer science, with Delft University of Technology and the University of Amsterdam both included in the top 100.

A further nine leading universities for this field can be found in Spain, including the Politécnica de Madrid, up from 201-250 to 101-150 this year. Russia is home to eight of the world’s top universities for computer science, including Lomonosov Moscow State University at 48^th.

Ireland, Sweden and Switzerland have seven top computer schools apiece – Switzerland’s ETH Zurich is in the top 10, with Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) ranked joint 24^th, while Sweden’s top entry is  KTH, Royal Institute of Technology (51-100) and Ireland’s is University College Dublin (UCD) (101-150).

Austria and Belgium have six entrants in the computer science ranking each, with one university in the top 100 each – Belgium’s KU Leuven and Austria’s Technische Universität Wien (Vienna University of Technology). Of Greece’s five top computer science schools, National Technical University of Athens is the leader at 101-150.

Elsewhere in Europe, Poland, the Czech Republic, Finland and Denmark each have four top universities for computer science each. Of these, Denmark’s representatives perform best, with Aarhus University (51-100) and the University of Copenhagen both ranked in the top 150.

Poland and Portugal meanwhile have three top computer science schools each, Hungary has two, and Luxembourg, Estonia and Slovenia have one entrant each. Of these countries, Portugal’s University of Lisbon is the highest-ranked at 101-150, making an impressive leap from 301-350 last year.

Top computer science schools in Asia

Asia also offers a large number of the world’s top universities for computer science, with 33 entrants from China alone. Three of these feature in the global top 50: Tsinghua University (15^th), Peking University (=16^th) and Shanghai Jiao Tong University (45^th).

South Korea also performs well, boasting 18 representatives in the computer science ranking this year, including KAIST - Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology and Seoul National University (SNU) in the top 50.

Taiwan has 13 entrants in the ranking, with National Taiwan University leading the way in 41^st. Meanwhile Malaysia, India and Japan each boast 12 top computer science schools. India’s the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay and Indian Institute of Technology Delhi are in the top 100, three Malaysian institutions are in the top 100, including Universiti Malaya (UM), and  Japan also has three entrants in the top 100, led by the University of Tokyo in 18^th place for computer science. 

Hong Kong performs very well in the computer science ranking, with all but one of its six entrants placed in the global top 100 for the subject.  The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) (19^th) and the University of Hong Kong (=24^th) are the territory’s two highest-ranked universities in this field.

Singapore may only have three top universities for computer science, but two achieve positions in the top 50:  NUS is joint 10^th, while Nanyang University of Technology (NTU) is ranked 20^th.

Elsewhere in Asia, Pakistan has four representatives in the computer science ranking, Singapore has three, Thailand has two and Indonesia has one.

Top computer science schools in Latin America

Brazil appears to be the leading Latin American country to study computer science, boasting 11 institutions in this year’s ranking, including two in the top 100 - the Universidade de São Paulo (USP) and the Universidade Estadual de Campinas (Unicamp).

Mexico has five representatives in the ranking, led by the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) at 101-150. Chile is home to three top computer science schools, with Universidad de Chile the highest-ranked (again at 101-150). Finally, Colombia and Argentina each have one university featured in this year’s ranking. 

Top computer science schools in Australia & New Zealand

Australia can lay claim to 22 of the world’s top universities for computer science, eight of which feature in the top 100. The four highest-ranked Australian universities are the University of Melbourne (14^th ), Australian National University (ANU) (36^th), the University of New South Wales (42^nd) and the University of Sydney (43^rd).

In New Zealand, there are seven top computer science schools, with University of Auckland leading the way at 51-100.

Top computer science schools in Africa & the Middle East 

Over in the Middle East, Israel claims seven of the world’s top universities for computer science, with Technion - Israel Institute of Technology the highest ranked at 51-100. Saudi Arabia has four schools in the computer science ranking, while Turkey has six (including two new entries this year). Another Middle Eastern country featured is Lebanon, with its sole entrant the American University of Beirut (AUB) ranked 451-500.

South Africa has two representatives in the ranking, including the University of Cape Town in the 351-400 range. Egypt’s only entry, Cairo University, is also ranked 351-400 for computer science.

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