Top universities for engineering & technology subjects 2022 | Top Universities

Top universities for engineering & technology subjects 2022

By Craig O

Updated October 19, 2022 Updated October 19, 2022

The QS World University Rankings by Subject 2022 reveal the top degree programmes in 51 different subjects across five broad subject areas.

Seven of these subjects fall within the engineering & technology subject area, covering a range of engineering specialisations and computer science. Below is a look at the top-ranked universities for each of these seven subjects, as well as for the overall engineering & technology subject ranking which assesses institutions at a faculty level.

Interested in technology but looking for a degree other than the seven listed below? Many postgraduate degree programmes in business and other areas now have a technological focus, such as digital transformation and marketing analytics. These more niche degree options aren't currently included in the QS World University Rankings by Subject.

What are the top universities for engineering & technology?

QS World University Rankings by Subject 2022: Top universities for engineering & technology
Rank University Location
1 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) United States
2 University of Cambridge United Kingdom
3 University of Oxford United Kingdom
4 Nanyang Technological University (NTU) Singapore
5 Stanford University United States
6 ETH Zurich - Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Switzerland
7 National University of Singapore (NUS) Singapore
8 Imperial College London United Kingdom
9 University of California, Berkeley (UCB) United States
10 Delft University of Technology Netherlands

An internationally diverse selection of universities sit at the top of the engineering & technology ranking, with MIT leading the way. Two universities from Singapore feature in the top 10, making it the next-best-represented study destination after the US and UK.

What are the top universities for chemical engineering?

QS World University Rankings by Subject 2022: Top universities for chemical engineering
Rank University Location
1 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) United States
2 Stanford University United States
3 National University of Singapore (NUS) Singapore
4 University of California, Berkeley (UCB) United States
5 University of Cambridge United Kingdom
6 ETH Zurich - Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Switzerland
7 Nanyang Technological University (NTU) Singapore
8 University of Oxford United Kingdom
9 California Institute of Technology (Caltech) United States
10 Imperial College London Unied Kingdom

MIT dominates in many of the engineering & technology subjects including this one. Caltech is the only university in this top 10 to not also rank in the overall engineering & technology ranking.

What are the top universities for civil & structural engineering?

QS World University Rankings by Subject 2022: Top universities for civil & structural engineering
Rank University Location
1 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) United States
2 Delft University of Technology Netherlands
3 National University of Singapore (NUS) Singapore
4 University of California, Berkeley (UCB) United States
5 University of Cambridge United Kingdom
6 Imperial College London United Kingdom
7 ETH Zurich - Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Switzerland
8 Nanyang Technological University (NTU) Singapore
9 Stanford University United States
10 EPFL Switzerland

Delft University of Technology has a notably impressive performance for civil & structural engineering this year, ranking second in the world and first in Europe. EPFL, based in Switzerland, takes the 10th and final spot in the top 10.

What are the top universities for computer science & information systems?

QS World University Rankings by Subject 2022: Top universities for computer science & information systems
Rank University Location
1 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) United States
2 Stanford University United States
3 Carnegie Mellon University United States
4 University of California, Berkeley (UCB) United States
5 University of Oxford United Kingdom
6 National University of Singapore (NUS) Singapore
7 Harvard University United States
8 University of Cambridge United Kingdom
9 ETH Zurich - Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Switzerland
10 EPFL Switzerland

The United States dominates the very top of the computer science ranking, taking all of the top four spots. The UK and Switzerland have two universities each in the top, with Oxford ranking ahead of Cambridge and ETH Zurich ahead of EPFL.

Learn about some of the top computer science programmes for careers in gaming.

What are the top universities for electrical and electronic engineering?

QS World University Rankings by Subject 2022: Top universities for electrical & electronic engineering
Rank University Location
1 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) United States
2 Stanford University United States
3 University of California, Berkeley (UCB) United States
4 Nanyang Technological University (NTU) Singapore
=5 ETH Zurich - Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Switzerland
=5 University of Cambridge United Kingdom
7 Harvard University United States
8 National University of Singapore (NUS) Singapore
9 University of Oxford United Kingdom
10 EPFL Switzerland

MIT and Stanford are the top two universities in the world for electrical engineering, the third subject so far in this article where that's happened. While there's little variation in this top 10 compared to previous years and other engineering specialisations, there is greater geographical diversity just outside the top 10 with Germany, mainland China and Italy all featuring in the top 20.

What are the top universities for petroleum engineering?

QS World University Rankings by Subject 2022: Top universities for petroleum engineering
Rank University Location
1 National University of Singapore (NUS) Singapore
2 University of Texas at Austin United States
3 Technical University of Denmark Denmark
4 Stanford University United States
5 Texas A&M University United States
6 King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals Saudi Arabia
7 Imperial College London United Kingdom
8 University of Alberta Canada
9 Delft University of Technology Netherlands
10 The University of Adelaide Australia

Petroleum engineering tends to be one of the more specialist engineering subjects, which means there are lots of universities in the above top 10 which don't feature that highly for the other engineering programmes. Although it's the rare engineering subject ranking to not be topped by a US university, it's clear that Texas is the top place in the US for studying petroleum engineering with two Texan universities in the world's top five.

What are the top universities for mechanical engineering?

QS World University Rankings by Subject 2022: Top universities for mechanical engineering
Rank University Location
1 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) United States
2 Stanford University United States
3 Cambridge University United Kingdom
4 Harvard University United States
5 Delft University of Technology Netherlands
6 University of California, Berkeley (UCB) United States
7 Nanyang Technological University (NTU) Singapore
8 ETH Zurich - Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Switzerland
9 National University of Singapore (NUS) Singapore
10 Imperial College London United Kingdom

While there are three US universities in the top five for mechanical engineering this year, there's greater geographical diversity in the top 10 with Singapore and Switzerland both represented as well as the UK and Netherlands. 

What are the top universities for mineral & mining engineering?

QS World University Rankings by Subject 2022: Top universities for mineral & mining engineering
Rank University Location
1 Colorado School of Mines United States
2 Curtin University Australia
3 University of New South Wales (UNSW) Australia
4 University of Queensland Australia
5 University of Western Australia Australia

The top five universities for mineral & mining engineering is dominated by Australian universities although a specialist US institution takes the top spot. Beyond the top five, there are universities from Canada and Chile in the top 10.

Photo by ThisisEngineering RAEng on Unsplash

This article was originally published in April 2022 . It was last updated in October 2022

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Written by

As Head of Content, Craig is responsible for all articles and guides published across TopUniversities and TopMBA. He has nearly 10 years of experience writing for a student audience and extensive knowledge of universities and study programs around the world.

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