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Best universities for engineering degrees 2023

Find the best colleges for engineering and technology using Times Higher Education’s World University Rankings 2023 data

October 25 2022
Electrical engineering

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Top 10 universities in the world for engineering

Scroll down for the full list of best universities in the world for engineering

Engineering rank 2023 Engineering rank 2022 University Country/region
1 1 Harvard University United States
2 2 Stanford University United States
3 3 University of California, Berkeley United States
4 4 Massachusetts Institute of Technology United States
5 6 University of Oxford United Kingdom
6 8 California Institute of Technology United States
7 5 University of Cambridge United Kingdom
8 10 National University of Singapore Singapore
9 7 Princeton University United States
10 9 ETH Zurich Switzerland

Studying engineering is a smart choice for career-minded students, and there are universities all over the globe offering world-class degrees.

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Most students enrol on a degree for a specific discipline within engineering. Common specialisations include civil engineering, electrical engineering and chemical engineering.

The 2023 subject ranking for engineering and technology from Times Higher Education features 1,306 universities across more than 70 countries.

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Although the schools at the very top are in the United States and the United Kingdom, universities in Singapore, China and Switzerland perform extremely well and appear high up the rankings.

China is the second most-represented country in the list of the best universities for engineering, ahead of the UK, Germany, Australia and Canada. Only the United States has a higher number of universities present in the ranking.

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

Scroll down for a full list of degrees covered by the ranking and information on what you can do with these degrees.

Best universities in Australia for engineering degrees
Best universities in Canada for engineering degrees
Best universities for engineering degrees in the UK
Best universities for engineering degrees in the US

Top 5 universities for engineering degrees

5. University of Oxford

University of Oxford students are admitted for a specific engineering degree, differing from US universities where students can pick from various strands of engineering to study.

For undergraduates, this will be a four-year course in engineering science or, more specifically, biomedical engineering, chemical engineering, civil engineering, electrical engineering, information engineering or mechanical engineering.

Just under half of all applicants to these courses get through to the interview round, and 15 per cent secure a place on a course.

Many Oxford engineering graduates go on to careers as professional engineers, although some enter business, consultancy or further study.

4. Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The MIT School of Engineering is one of five schools at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and is the largest of the five.

The school offers both undergraduate and postgraduate courses, and encourages students at all levels to conduct research.

The school has eight academic departments and two interdisciplinary institutes. Departments include aeronautics and astronautics, biological engineering, mechanical engineering, nuclear science and engineering, among others.

What can you do with an aerospace engineering degree?
What can you do with a chemical engineering degree?
What can you do with a civil engineering degree?
What can you do with an electrical engineering degree?
What can you do with a general engineering degree?
What can you do with a mechanical engineering degree?

3. University of California, Berkeley

The College of Engineering is one of 14 schools and colleges at the University of California, Berkeley. The department was first established in 1931.

Students can choose to pursue a number of different areas, including civil and environmental engineering, mechanical engineering and nuclear engineering, among others.

Notable alumni of the college include Steve Wozniak, the co-founder of Apple, Marc Tarpenning, the co-founder of Tesla, Andrew Ng, co-founder and executive chairman of Coursera, and Peter Norvig, director of research at Google.

2. Stanford University

Stanford University’s School of Engineering has been at the cutting edge of new technology and innovation for the past century.

There are nine departments in the school, as well as additional institutes, laboratories and research centres.

Research focuses on 10 of the “most daunting human challenges of the coming decades”. These are: systems design, bioengineering, network security, climate change, robotics, information technology, materials and matter, urban design, affordable accessible healthcare, and computation and data analysis.

Across the nine departments, there are eight interdepartmental undergraduate programmes that students can major in.

1. Harvard University

The John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences is the newest school at Harvard University, having been established in 2007.

Its roots are in the Lawrence Scientific School, which was founded in 1847 and became a school in its own right in 2007.

The school covers a number of teaching areas such as applied mathematics, applied physics, bioengineering, computer science, electrical engineering, environmental science and engineering, and materials science and mechanical engineering.

Alumni of the school have been awarded a Nobel prize, a MacArthur Fellowship Award, a Turing Award and a Guggenheim Fellowship, among others.

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Best universities for engineering 2023

Click each institution to view its World University Ranking 2023 profile

Engineering rank 2023 Engineering rank 2022 University Country/region
 1   1  Harvard University United States
 2   2  Stanford University United States
 3   3  University of California, Berkeley United States
 4   4  Massachusetts Institute of Technology United States
 5   6  University of Oxford United Kingdom
 6   8  California Institute of Technology United States
 7   5  University of Cambridge United Kingdom
 8   10  National University of Singapore Singapore
 9   7  Princeton University United States
 10   9  ETH Zurich Switzerland
 11   14  Georgia Institute of Technology United States
 12   12  Peking University China
 13   15  Nanyang Technological University, Singapore Singapore
 14   13  Imperial College London United Kingdom
 15   17  Tsinghua University China
 16   11  University of California, Los Angeles United States
 17   16  Yale University United States
 18   20  University of Michigan-Ann Arbor United States
 19   19  École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne Switzerland
 20   22  Technical University of Munich Germany
 21   21  Delft University of Technology Netherlands
 22   18  Carnegie Mellon University United States
 23   23  University of Texas at Austin United States
 24   24  Cornell University United States
 25   27  Columbia University United States
 26   28  The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Hong Kong
 27   26  University of Toronto Canada
 28   25  University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign United States
 29   32  Shanghai Jiao Tong University China
 =30   38  Northwestern University United States
 =30   29  Zhejiang University China
 32   30  RWTH Aachen University Germany
 33   39  Johns Hopkins University United States
 34   34  The University of Tokyo Japan
 35   33  Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) South Korea
 36   37  University of Pennsylvania United States
 37   31  University of California, San Diego United States
 38   40  Purdue University West Lafayette United States
 39   35  University of Science and Technology of China China
 40   51  Hong Kong Polytechnic University Hong Kong
 41   =46  Seoul National University South Korea
 42   42  University of Hong Kong Hong Kong
 43   41  University of California, Santa Barbara United States
 44   55  Monash University Australia
 45   36  UCL United Kingdom
 46   60  City University of Hong Kong Hong Kong
 47   43  University of Washington United States
 =48   49  University of British Columbia Canada
 =48   =44  University of Manchester United Kingdom
 50   48  KU Leuven Belgium
 51   =44  Fudan University China
 52   52  Duke University United States
 53   68  KTH Royal Institute of Technology Sweden
 54   66  The University of Queensland Australia
 =55   59  Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH) South Korea
 =55   =46  UNSW Sydney Australia
 57   101–125  King Abdulaziz University Saudi Arabia
 58   126–150  Yonsei University (Seoul campus) South Korea
 59   =71  Technical University of Denmark Denmark
 =60   65  University of Sydney Australia
 =60   61  Texas A&M University United States
 62   =53  Technical University of Berlin Germany
 63   =69  Chinese University of Hong Kong Hong Kong
 64   56  Karlsruhe Institute of Technology Germany
 65   74  Tongji University China
 66   151–175  Sichuan University China
 67   57  University of Melbourne Australia
 68   58  Kyoto University Japan
 =69   63  University of Southern California United States
 =69   76  University of Waterloo Canada
 71   =69  Nanjing University China
 =72   =53  Rice University United States
 =72   101–125  Southeast University China
 =74   101–125  Brown University United States
 =74   96  Politecnico di Milano Italy
 =76   81  Huazhong University of Science and Technology China
 =76   73  McGill University Canada
 78   =79  Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University United States
 79   101–125  Harbin Institute of Technology China
 80   82  Tohoku University Japan
 81   62  Eindhoven University of Technology Netherlands
 82   75  Penn State (Main campus) United States
 =83   95  Aalborg University Denmark
 =83   50  University of Wisconsin-Madison United States
 =85   99  University of California, Davis United States
 =85   =85  Paris Sciences et Lettres – PSL Research University Paris France
 87   92  University of Adelaide Australia
 =88   =79  Chalmers University of Technology Sweden
 =88   64  Ohio State University (Main campus) United States
 =88   =71  Xi’an Jiaotong University China
 91   =77  Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU) South Korea
 92   =77  Tokyo Institute of Technology Japan
 =93   100  University of California, Irvine United States
 =93   89  University of Edinburgh United Kingdom
 95   90  University of Minnesota United States
 96   83  University of Wollongong Australia
 97   97  Wageningen University & Research Netherlands
 98   67  National Taiwan University (NTU) Taiwan
 99   101–125  Tianjin University China
 100   91  University of Sheffield United Kingdom
 101–125   101–125  Aalto University Finland
 101–125   98  University of Alberta Canada
 101–125   101–125  University of Bristol United Kingdom
 101–125   =85  Central South University China
 101–125   101–125  University of Erlangen-Nuremberg Germany
 101–125   101–125  Indian Institute of Science India
 101–125   101–125  Institut Polytechnique de Paris France
 101–125   201–250  King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals Saudi Arabia
 101–125   101–125  Korea University South Korea
 101–125   84  University of Leeds United Kingdom
 101–125   88  University of Maryland, College Park United States
 101–125   87  New York University United States
 101–125   126–150  University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill United States
 101–125   101–125  North Carolina State University United States
 101–125   151–175  Norwegian University of Science and Technology Norway
 101–125   101–125  University of Nottingham United Kingdom
 101–125   126–150  Université Paris-Saclay France
 101–125   126–150  Qatar University Qatar
 101–125   101–125  University of Southampton United Kingdom
 101–125   126–150  University of Stuttgart Germany
 101–125   101–125  University of Technology Sydney Australia
 101–125   101–125  The University of Tennessee-Knoxville United States
 101–125   101–125  TU Dresden Germany
 101–125   101–125  Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) South Korea
 101–125   101–125  Wuhan University China
 126–150   101–125  Arizona State University (Tempe) United States
 126–150   126–150  University of Auckland New Zealand
 126–150   =93  Australian National University Australia
 126–150   101–125  University of Birmingham United Kingdom
 126–150   151–175  Boston University United States
 126–150   126–150  University of California, Riverside United States
 126–150   101–125  University of Colorado Boulder United States
 126–150   151–175  Colorado School of Mines United States
 126–150   126–150  Curtin University Australia
 126–150   151–175  Ghent University Belgium
 126–150   151–175  Griffith University Australia
 126–150   126–150  Hanyang University South Korea
 126–150   151–175  IMT Atlantique France
 126–150   176–200  King Saud University Saudi Arabia
 126–150   101–125  Linköping University Sweden
 126–150   126–150  University of Luxembourg Luxembourg
 126–150   101–125  University of Macau Macao
 126–150   126–150  University of Massachusetts United States
 126–150   =93  National Tsing Hua University Taiwan
 126–150   126–150  Queen Mary University of London United Kingdom
 126–150   126–150  Queen’s University Belfast United Kingdom
 126–150   176–200  RMIT University Australia
 126–150   101–125  Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) China
 126–150   126–150  University of Surrey United Kingdom
 126–150   126–150  The University of Western Australia Australia
 151–175   176–200  Beijing Institute of Technology China
 151–175   151–175  Cardiff University United Kingdom
 151–175   126–150  Case Western Reserve University United States
 151–175   126–150  Deakin University Australia
 151–175   151–175  University of Delaware United States
 151–175   176–200  Drexel University United States
 151–175   151–175  Edith Cowan University Australia
 151–175   126–150  University of Freiburg Germany
 151–175   101–125  University of Groningen Netherlands
 151–175   176–200  Hunan University China
 151–175   151–175  Khalifa University United Arab Emirates
 151–175   201–250  Koç University Turkey
 151–175   151–175  University of Liverpool United Kingdom
 151–175   176–200  Lund University Sweden
 151–175   126–150  Northeastern University United States
 151–175   151–175  University of Notre Dame United States
 151–175   151–175  University of Oulu Finland
 151–175   126–150  Queensland University of Technology Australia
 151–175   176–200  Sejong University South Korea
 151–175   201–250  Sharif University of Technology Iran
 151–175   151–175  South China University of Technology China
 151–175   176–200  University of Southern Queensland Australia
 151–175   151–175  Swinburne University of Technology Australia
 151–175   126–150  Technical University of Darmstadt Germany
 176–200   176–200  Aarhus University Denmark
 176–200   176–200  Beihang University China
 176–200   201–250  Centrale Nantes France
 176–200   251–300  Chongqing University China
 176–200   151–175  University of Electronic Science and Technology of China China
 176–200   176–200  University of Exeter United Kingdom
 176–200   201–250  Free University of Bozen-Bolzano Italy
 176–200   201–250  Kyung Hee University South Korea
 176–200   176–200  Kyushu University Japan
 176–200   176–200  Lancaster University United Kingdom
 176–200   251–300  Macquarie University Australia
 176–200   176–200  University of Malaya Malaysia
 176–200   151–175  Michigan State University United States
 176–200   151–175  Nankai University China
 176–200   201–250  Near East University Northern Cyprus
 176–200   151–175  Newcastle University United Kingdom
 176–200   126–150  Rutgers University – New Brunswick United States
 176–200   151–175  Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies – Pisa Italy
 176–200   251–300  University of Sharjah United Arab Emirates
 176–200   176–200  TU Wien Austria
 176–200   176–200  University College Dublin Ireland
 176–200   151–175  Vanderbilt University United States
 176–200   201–250  Vrije Universiteit Brussel Belgium
 176–200   201–250  Western University Canada

Click here to view the full ranking for engineering degrees

Editors note: As part of our THE statement on Ukraine published on 2 March 2022, Russian universities have been given less prominence in our rankings. Russian and Belarusian universities that met the criteria for this ranking are not displayed in the table above.

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