Top Electrical Engineering Schools in 2014

To view the latest version of this article based on the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2015, click here, or, read on for last year's results.

If you’re aiming to study or work at one of the world’s leading universities in the field of electrical and electronic engineering, then this list of top electrical engineering schools is for you. It’s based on the 2014 QS World University Rankings by Subject, which provides subject-specific rankings of the globe’s leading institutions in 30 individual disciplines. The ranking is compiled based on analysis of major global surveys of academics and employers, combined with data on research citations (see the full methodology here).

Of the 202 universities highlighted in 2014’s list of top electrical engineering schools, 41 are in the US, 18 in the UK, 13 each in Australia and China, 10 in Japan, 9 in Germany and 8 each in Canada, South Korea and Taiwan. India and Italy claim 7 representatives each, while Spain has 6 and Hong Kong, Malaysia and Sweden each have 5. A total of 36 countries are home to at least one world-leader in this field.

Below is a more detailed breakdown of the highest ranked institutions for electrical and electronic engineering in each world region.

Top electrical engineering schools in the US and Canada

As mentioned above, the US claims 41 entries in the top 202 for electrical engineering, while Canada has 8. At the very top of the electrical and electronic engineering ranking is the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), which also leads every other engineering ranking, and indeed tops the overall 2013/14 QS World University Rankings®.

Other leading US universities in this field include Stanford University (2^nd), University of California, Berkeley (3^rd), Harvard University (9^th), University of California, Los Angeles (12=), California Institute of Technology (15^th), Georgia Institute of Technology (16^th) and Princeton University (17^th), with eight more US entries within the global top 50.

Canada’s highest-ranked institution for electrical and electronic engineering is the University of Toronto (23^rd), while McGill University, the University of British Columbia and University of Waterloo are also highlighted among the world’s top 100 in this subject.

More top electrical engineering universities in the US and Canada >

Top electrical engineering schools in Europe

Within Europe, the largest numbers of representatives are claimed by the UK (18), Germany (9), Italy (7), Spain (6) and Sweden (7). The highest European entry is the UK’s University of Cambridge (4^th), followed by Switzerland’s ETH Zurich (5^th). These two countries also account for three more of the top-20 places, with the University of Oxford in 7^th place, Imperial College London 8^th and Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne 18^th.

The UK’s University of Manchester shares 38^th place with the Politecnico di Torino, while a second Italian entrant, Politecnico di Milano, is in 41^st place. Germany likewise has two representatives in the top 50, Technische Universität München (30^th) and Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen (45=). Other leading European universities in this subject include Sweden’s KTH, Royal Institute of Technology (31^st), the Netherlands’ Delft University of Technology (37^th), and Denmark’s Technical University of Denmark (48^th).

More leading electrical engineering schools in Europe >

Top electrical engineering schools in Asia

Asia’s strongest represented countries in the electrical and electronic engineering ranking are China (13 entries), Japan (10), South Korea (8), Taiwan (8), India (7), Hong Kong (5) and Malaysia (5). While Singapore has only two representatives, they are in fact the region’s two top performers in this field: the National University of Singapore comes 6^th, followed by Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in 10^th.

Also ranked within the world’s top 20 electrical engineering faculties are Hong Kong’s Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (11^th), China’s Tsinghua University (12=), Japan’s University of Tokyo (14^th), South Korea’s Seoul National University (19^th) and Taiwan’s National Taiwan University (20^th).

A little further down, South Korea is represented again by KAIST - Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (24^th), Japan by Tokyo Institute of Technology (25^th), Hong Kong by the University of Hong Kong (27^th) and Chinese University of Hong Kong (38=) and China by Shanghai Jiao Tong University (34=) and Peking University (36^th). Two of the Indian Institutes of Technology also feature in the top 50, with the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi in 42^nd place and Indian Institute of Technology Bombay 49=.

More of Asia’s top universities for electrical engineering >

Top electrical engineering schools in Australia and New Zealand

Australia is among the best-represented countries in the electrical and electronic engineering ranking, accounting for 13 of the 202 top institutions. Its leading representatives are the University of Melbourne (28^th), Australian National University (29^th), University of New South Wales (33^rd) and University of Sydney (43=), with three more Australian universities in the top 100. New Zealand’s sole representative in this subject ranking is the University of Auckland, ranked within the top 150.

More top electrical engineering schools in Australia and New Zealand >

Other countries not already mentioned which claim at least one of the world’s leading universities in this field include: Turkey, Belgium, Brazil, Ireland, Austria, Finland, France, Greece, the Czech Republic, Israel, Mexico, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Saudi Arabia and Thailand.