Top Mechanical Engineering Schools 2014

**To view the latest version of this article based on the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2016, click here, or, read on for last year's results.**

The 2014 QS World University Rankings by Subject gives you the chance to discover the top universities for your subject worldwide. Based on a methodology that looks at international reputation as well as research impact within each academic field, the subject rankings are useful for those who have made their minds up about what they want to study but are still unsure about where to go.

Here we look at the mechanical, aeronautical and manufacturing engineering subject rankings, with the aim of making it easier to find the strongest school to study a mechanical engineering degree anywhere in the world, from Europe to Asia.

Top mechanical engineering schools in the US and Canada

The US offers 43 mechanical engineering schools within the world’s top 200 according to the QS World University Rankings by Subject.

Coming out on top in all of the engineering subjects in this year’s rankings is the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Following closely behind for mechanical engineering is Stanford University (2^nd), the University of California, Berkeley (UCB, 4^th), the University of Michigan (5^th) and Harvard University (8^th).

Also within the 50 top universities for mechanical engineering are the Georgia Institute of Technology (11^th), the California Institute of Technology (Caltech, 13^th), Purdue University (14^th), Northwestern University (16^th), Princeton University (23^rd), University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (24^th), Cornell University (28=), University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA, 28=), Pennsylvania State University (37=), the University of Pennsylvania (45=) and the University of Texas at Austin (50^th).

Of the seven institutions within Canada to be featured in the top 200, McGill University is the highest ranked, in 48^th place. Also within the top 150 are the University of British Columbia, the University of Toronto, McMaster University, the Université de Montréal and the University of Waterloo.

Top mechanical engineering schools in Europe

There are 66 mechanical engineering schools in Europe featured in the ranking, 22 of which are located in the UK. Placed consistently well across almost all subjects, the University of Cambridge comes in at 3^rd position, followed by Imperial College London (6^th) and the University of Oxford (9^th). Also within the 50 top universities for mechanical engineering are Cranfield University (39^th) and the University of Manchester (44^th).

 

There’s no shortage of top universities for mechanical engineering throughout the rest of Europe, however. Germany offers the highest-ranked European university outside of the UK, which is the Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen in 18^th place. From Germany we go to the Netherlands, where Delft University of Technology takes 19^th place. Next up is Sweden’s KTH, Royal Institute of Technology (22^nd), followed by Switzerland’s ETH Zurich (26^th). Italy’s Politecnico di Milano and Germany’s Technische Universität München share 30^th position, while the Swiss Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne stands at 47^th, followed by Germany’s Universität Stuttgart in 48^th place.

As well as the nine institutions in Germany within the top 200 of the mechanical engineering ranking, Italy and France each offer six; the Netherlands, Sweden and Spain all have three; Austria, Belgium, Switzerland and Turkey each have two; and the Czech Republic, Greece, Ireland, Norway, Denmark and Finland all have one entry each.

Top mechanical engineering schools in Australia and New Zealand

Australia is home to 13 institutions among the top 200 mechanical engineering schools according to this year’s ranking, with its highest-placed institution the University of Melbourne (17^th). Also among the top 100 are the University of Sydney (26^th), the University of New South Wales (37^th), Monash University (41^st), Australian National University (51-100), RMIT University (51-100) and the University of Queensland (51-100).

New Zealand is home to two of the world’s top universities to study mechanical engineering; the University of Auckland (ranked 51-100) and the University of Canterbury (151-200).

Top mechanical engineering schools in Asia

A total of 60 institutions in Asia are ranked within the world’s top 200 universities for mechanical engineering, six less than the total claimed by European countries. The highest Asian entry here (and also in this year’s QS University Rankings: Asia) is the National University of Singapore in joint 6^th place. Following closely is Japan’s University of Tokyo (10^th) and Singapore’s second offering, Nanyang Technological University (12^th).

China claims the most top universities for mechanical engineering in Asia, with 13 entries. The highest-ranked of these is Tsinghua University (15^th), but also among the top 50 are Shanghai Jiao Tong University (33^rd) and Peking University (40^th).

In addition to the University of Tokyo, Japan offers another 10 universities within the top 200 for mechanical engineering. Within the top 50 are Kyoto University (30=), Tokyo Institute of Technology(36^th) and Tohuku University (45^th).

South Korea is home to eight of the world’s top 200 universities in this subject, led by KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, 21^st), Seoul National University (25^th) and Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH, 43^rd).

Also with eight institutions in the running is India, offering the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IITB), the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IITD) and the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IITM) all within the top 100. Meanwhile Taiwan has seven entries, of which the highest-ranked is the National Taiwan University (34=).

Hong Kong and Malaysia each offer five top universities for mechanical engineering. Hong Kong has three top-50 places: the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (20^th), the University of Hong Kong (34=), and the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (42^nd). Of Malaysia’s offerings, Universiti Malaya (UM) and Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) are both ranked within the top 100.

Finally, Thailand’s prestigious Chulalongkorn University is included within the top 150 mechanical engineering faculties.

More top mechanical engineering schools

The top 200 mechanical engineering schools in the QS University Rankings by Subject are spread across 34 countries worldwide. Countries not listed above include Brazil (with five institutions), Mexico (two), Russia (one) and Saudi Arabia (one).

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