the logo

Best universities for computer science degrees 2022

Find the best universities for computer science using Times Higher Education’s World University Rankings 2022 data

Rankings
Rankings for Students
October 6 2021
Computer programming

Share

Top 10 universities in the world for computer science degrees

Scroll down for the full list of best universities in the world for computer science.

Computer Science Rank 2022 Computer Science Rank 2021 University Country/region
1 1 University of Oxford United Kingdom
2 2 Stanford University United States
3 3 Massachusetts Institute of Technology United States
=4 6 University of Cambridge United Kingdom
=4 4 ETH Zurich Switzerland
6 5 Carnegie Mellon University United States
7 7 Harvard University United States
=8 9 University of California, Berkeley United States
=8 8 National University of Singapore Singapore
10 11 Princeton University United States

Studying computer science is a smart bet in today’s world, as the career opportunities for tech-savvy graduates are expanding every year.

skills now employability course CTA
Develop the skills top employers want while you study and get a digital certificate to boost your CV!

There is also an extensive choice of universities when it comes to deciding where to study the subject.

Some 891 schools feature in the ranking for computer science by Times Higher Education this year.

Best universities for arts and humanities
Best universities for business and economics
Best universities for clinical, pre-clinical and health
Best universities for engineering and technology
Best universities for life sciences
Best universities for physical sciences
Best universities for social sciences
Best universities for law degrees
Best universities for education degrees
Best universities for psychology degrees

Just over a sixth of the featured universities are American, and 59 institutions are based in the UK. Canada is represented by 27 institutions, while 26 Australian universities are ranked. 

Computer science degrees vary in their focus and specialisms. Some courses are very theoretical, while others are more focused on programming.

The ranking uses the same methodology as the World University Rankings, but with slightly higher weighting given to the innovation metric and lower weighting for citations. The full methodology can be found here.

Scroll down to find out what you can do with a computer science degree.

Best universities in the world
Best universities in the United States
Best universities in the UK
Best universities in Canada
Best universities in Australia
Best universities in Europe
Best universities in France
Best universities in the Netherlands
Best universities in Germany

Top 5 universities for computer science

=4. ETH Zurich

-ETH Zurich dates back to 1855, just a few years after the formation of the federal state of Switzerland.
-Created as a centre for scientific knowledge and innovation, it remains a top institution for a range of subjects.

ETH Zurich has a history of developing software and designing computer systems. Eventually, these projects called for a dedicated computer science department, which was created in 1981.

The department covers many areas of computer science, including computational intelligence, networks and distributed systems, algorithms and theory, and information security. Different programming languages are also taught on software engineering courses.

There are close relationships with other departments within the university and with partners in business and industry, such as IBM, Microsoft, Google, SAP and Disney, with which the university collaborates on research projects.

=4. University of Cambridge

-The undergraduate computer science course at the University of Cambridge teaches a core selection of modules that provide students with the foundations of the subject in the first year.
- In the second and third years, students are able to specialise in their own choice of modules.

All aspects of modern computer science are covered in the comprehensive programme, along with the underlying theory and foundations in economics, law and business.

Students will also develop practical skills, such as programming in various languages including OCaml, Java, C/C++ and Prolog.

There are more than 1,000 specialist computing and advanced technology companies in the area where students are often able to gain work experience. 

3. Massachusetts Institute of Technology

-The department of electrical engineering and computer science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology confidently declares: “Our students change the world”.
-Many of its alumni feature on lists of influential entrepreneurs making an impact at home and abroad.

Students are encouraged to develop start-ups, and research projects have explored problems such as calculating the financial risks of renewable energy and developing faster parallel computing.

Undergraduates are enrolled on a flexible curriculum that allows them to focus on both abstract theory and practical problems in computer science. Students can major in computer science or in both computer science and molecular biology.

Graduates go on to design video games, work on supercomputers, research robotics and often join big companies such as Google and Microsoft.

What can you do with a computer science degree?

2. Stanford University

-The Stanford University computer science department was established in 1965.
-The department offers bachelor’s of science, master’s of science and doctor of philosophy degrees.

The department undertakes research in many areas, including artificial intelligence, robotics, foundations of computer science, scientific computing and programming systems. There is also a strong emphasis on interdisciplinary research across chemistry, genetics, linguistics, construction and medicine, among others.

The home of the computer science department is the Gates Computer Science Building, named after Bill Gates, who donated $6 million to the project.

1. University of Oxford

-Although computer science is a relatively modern discipline, the University of Oxford has one of the oldest departments in the country, formerly known as the Oxford University Computing Laboratory.
-Since its beginnings, the department has provided lectures for undergraduates and trained research students at postgraduate level.

In addition to core computer science topics, students can take courses in computational biology, quantum computing, information systems, software verification, software engineering and computational linguistics.

The department offers three undergraduate degrees: single honours computer science, mathematics and computer science, and computer science and philosophy.

Like other students, computer science students – whether undergraduate or postgraduate – belong to one of Oxford’s colleges, where they live, eat, socialise and study.

Women in STEM: stories from MIT students
Studying at POSTECH, South Korea
Caltech: ‘uniquely difficult but a wonderful place to study’
Keeping up with coding
Women in STEM: ‘I hope that one day the tech sector will be more diverse’

Best universities for computer science 2022

Click each institution to view its World University Ranking 2022 profile

Computer Science Rank 2022 Computer Science Rank 2021 University Country/region
1 1 University of Oxford United Kingdom
2 2 Stanford University United States
3 3 Massachusetts Institute of Technology United States
=4 6 University of Cambridge United Kingdom
=4 4 ETH Zurich Switzerland
6 5 Carnegie Mellon University United States
7 7 Harvard University United States
=8 9 University of California, Berkeley United States
=8 8 National University of Singapore Singapore
10 11 Princeton University United States
11 =16 University of California, Los Angeles United States
12 12 Tsinghua University China
13 25 California Institute of Technology United States
14 =14 Technical University of Munich Germany
15 =18 Nanyang Technological University, Singapore Singapore
16 21 University of Washington United States
=17 =14 Cornell University United States
=17 28 Peking University China
19 =16 École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne Switzerland
20 20 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign United States
21 13 Georgia Institute of Technology United States
22 =18 UCL United Kingdom
23 24 Columbia University United States
24 23 University of Toronto Canada
25 22 University of Edinburgh United Kingdom
26 31 The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Hong Kong
27 29 Yale University United States
=28 27 Johns Hopkins University United States
=28 26 University of Michigan-Ann Arbor United States
30 35 Shanghai Jiao Tong University China
31 =32 University of Pennsylvania United States
32 36 New York University United States
33 37 University of California, San Diego United States
34 34 University of Montreal Canada
35 30 University of Texas at Austin United States
36 =32 The University of Chicago United States
37 42 Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) South Korea
38 41 The University of Tokyo Japan
39 43 Chinese University of Hong Kong Hong Kong
40 40 Zhejiang University China
=41 39 University of Hong Kong Hong Kong
=41 47 Seoul National University South Korea
43 38 University of Southern California United States
44 =45 Paris Sciences et Lettres – PSL Research University Paris France
45 44 University of Wisconsin -Madison United States
46 49 University of Maryland, College Park United States
47 =45 University of Waterloo Canada
48 NR Institut Polytechnique de Paris France
49 48 University of British Columbia Canada
50 52 LMU Munich Germany
51 64 University of Melbourne Australia
52 =59 RWTH Aachen University Germany
53 50 KU Leuven Belgium
54 =56 McGill University Canada
55 58 University of California, Santa Barbara United States
=56 65 Australian National University Australia
=56 62 National Taiwan University (NTU) Taiwan
58 68 University of Science and Technology of China China
59 53 Delft University of Technology Netherlands
60 63 Nanjing University China
61 =56 Technical University of Berlin Germany
62 61 Technical University of Darmstadt Germany
63 69 Karlsruhe Institute of Technology Germany
64 79 Hong Kong Polytechnic University Hong Kong
=65 51 Duke University United States
=65 =71 Sorbonne University France
=65 54 UNSW Sydney Australia
=68 90 Fudan University China
=68 76 University of Manchester United Kingdom
70 83 University of Technology Sydney Australia
71 =71 Kyoto University Japan
72 =91 Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT) Russian Federation
73 94 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill United States
74 70 University of Sydney Australia
75 77 Penn State (Main campus) United States
76 NR Université Paris-Saclay France
=77 86 Brown University United States
=77 67 Rice University United States
79 66 Aalto University Finland
80 =59 University of Freiburg Germany
=81 =96 Indian Institute of Science India
=81 93 University of Massachusetts United States
=83 88 University of California, Irvine United States
=83 =74 Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University United States
85 73 KTH Royal Institute of Technology Sweden
86 101–125 Northwestern University United States
87 =74 University of Amsterdam Netherlands
=88 =84 City University of Hong Kong Hong Kong
=88 NR National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University Taiwan
=88 =96 Tokyo Institute of Technology Japan
91 101–125 University of Southampton United Kingdom
92 101–125 University of Birmingham United Kingdom
=93 89 University of Luxembourg Luxembourg
=93 151–175 Monash University Australia
=93 87 University of Zurich Switzerland
96 82 Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam Netherlands
=97 =80 TU Wien Austria
=97 =80 Technion Israel Institute of Technology Israel
99 101–125 Queen Mary University of London United Kingdom
100 =91 Michigan State University United States
101–125 =100 Aarhus University Denmark
101–125 98 University of Adelaide Australia
101–125 126–150 Arizona State University (Tempe) United States
101–125 151–175 University of Basel Switzerland
101–125 101–125 University of Bologna Italy
101–125 99 University of Bonn Germany
101–125 101–125 Boston University United States
101–125 151–175 University of Bristol United Kingdom
101–125 126–150 University of California, Davis United States
101–125 126–150 University of Erlangen-Nuremberg Germany
101–125 126–150 Graz University of Technology Austria
101–125 126–150 King Abdulaziz University Saudi Arabia
101–125 95 King’s College London United Kingdom
101–125 101–125 Korea University South Korea
101–125 101–125 Lancaster University United Kingdom
101–125 151–175 University of Leeds United Kingdom
101–125 126–150 Lomonosov Moscow State University Russian Federation
101–125 101–125 Macau University of Science and Technology Macao
101–125 201–250 Newcastle University United Kingdom
101–125 126–150 Northeastern University United States
101–125 =84 Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH) South Korea
101–125 101–125 Politecnico di Milano Italy
101–125 101–125 Qatar University Qatar
101–125 =100 Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU) South Korea
101–125 101–125 University of Surrey United Kingdom
101–125 101–125 University of Tübingen Germany
126–150 501–600 Asia University ,Taiwan Taiwan
126–150 126–150 Central South University China
126–150 NR University of Copenhagen Denmark
126–150 78 Eindhoven University of Technology Netherlands
126–150 NR Université Grenoble Alpes France
126–150 101–125 Hong Kong Baptist University Hong Kong
126–150 151–175 Huazhong University of Science and Technology China
126–150 101–125 ITMO University Russian Federation
126–150 201–250 University of Illinois at Chicago United States
126–150 126–150 University of Malaya Malaysia
126–150 151–175 National Tsing Hua University Taiwan
126–150 151–175 Ohio State University (Main campus) United States
126–150 176–200 University of Oulu Finland
126–150 126–150 University of Rochester United States
126–150 101–125 Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey United States
126–150 151–175 Sejong University South Korea
126–150 151–175 Simon Fraser University Canada
126–150 126–150 Stony Brook University United States
126–150 126–150 TU Dresden Germany
126–150 126–150 Technical University of Denmark Denmark
126–150 126–150 Tel Aviv University Israel
126–150 101–125 University of Trento Italy
126–150 301–400 University of Warsaw Poland
126–150 126–150 University of Warwick United Kingdom
151–175 101–125 University of Alberta Canada
151–175 126–150 University of Colorado Boulder United States
151–175 126–150 Dartmouth College United States
151–175 151–175 École des Ponts ParisTech France
151–175 151–175 Griffith University Australia
151–175 151–175 University of Groningen Netherlands
151–175 126–150 Harbin Institute of Technology China
151–175 151–175 IMT Atlantique France
151–175 151–175 Johannes Kepler University of Linz Austria
151–175 201–250 Kyung Hee University South Korea
151–175 176–200 Linköping University Sweden
151–175 176–200 University of Macau Macao
151–175 176–200 University of Oslo Norway
151–175 126–150 Queen’s University Belfast United Kingdom
151–175 126–150 The University of Queensland Australia
151–175 101–125 Queensland University of Technology Australia
151–175 NR Ruhr University Bochum Germany
151–175 126–150 Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies – Pisa Italy
151–175 151–175 University of Stuttgart Germany
151–175 251–300 Sun Yat-sen University China
151–175 126–150 Università della Svizzera italiana Switzerland
151–175 176–200 Tohoku University Japan
151–175 176–200 University of Twente Netherlands
151–175 176–200 Washington University in St Louis United States
151–175 151–175 William & Mary United States
151–175 NR York University Canada
176–200 151–175 Aalborg University Denmark
176–200 176–200 University of California, Riverside United States
176–200 101–125 Chalmers University of Technology Sweden
176–200 176–200 École Normale Supérieure de Lyon France
176–200 251–300 University of Exeter United Kingdom
176–200 126–150 University of Helsinki Finland
176–200 176–200 King Saud University Saudi Arabia
176–200 176–200 Lehigh University United States
176–200 176–200 University of Leicester United Kingdom
176–200 251–300 University of Liège Belgium
176–200 151–175 University of Mannheim Germany
176–200 126–150 University of Minnesota United States
176–200 176–200 University of Notre Dame United States
176–200 151–175 University of Passau Germany
176–200 151–175 Peter the Great St Petersburg Polytechnic University Russian Federation
176–200 176–200 Radboud University Nijmegen Netherlands
176–200 176–200 Sapienza University of Rome Italy
176–200 126–150 University of South Australia Australia
176–200 251–300 University of Southern Denmark Denmark
176–200 251–300 Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) China
176–200 201–250 Stevens Institute of Technology United States
176–200 201–250 Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) South Korea
176–200 176–200 Uppsala University Sweden
176–200 251–300 Yonsei University (Seoul campus) South Korea

Click here to view the full ranking for computer science

You may also like

Best universities in the world 2018

Best universities in the world 2022

Find the world’s top universities in 2022 using the latest Times Higher Education World University Rankings data

September 2 2021
sticky sign up

Register free and enjoy extra benefits