Top 10 universities in the world for computer science degrees 2024
Scroll down for the full list of best universities in the world for computer science.
Studying computer science is a smart bet in today’s world because the career opportunities for tech-savvy graduates are expanding every year.
There is also an extensive choice of universities when it comes to deciding where to study the subject.
Some 1,027 schools feature in the Times Higher Education ranking of computer science degrees for 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
More than 120 of the featured universities are American, and 61 institutions are based in the UK. Canada and Australia are also well represented with 28 and 30 institutions respectively.
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 Australia for computer science degrees
Best universities in the UK for computer science degrees
Best universities in the US for computer science degrees
Best universities in Canada for computer science degrees
Top 5 universities for computer science
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.
The Carnegie Mellon University School of Computer Science was established more than 25 years ago.
The university introduced the US’ first bachelor’s degree in artificial intelligence in 2018, and it added a bachelor’s programme in human-computer interaction in 2020.
The university offers a wide range of undergraduate programmes, majors and minors including robotics and human-computer interaction.
There are also several master’s and doctoral programmes within the field of computer science.
Many of MIT’s 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?
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 (£4.9 million) to the project.
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.
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Best universities for computer science 2024
Click each institution to view its World University Rankings 2024 profile.
Computer science rank 2024 |
Computer science rank 2023 |
University |
Country/region |
1 |
1 |
University of Oxford |
United Kingdom |
2 |
3 |
Stanford University |
United States |
3 |
2 |
Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
United States |
4 |
5 |
Carnegie Mellon University |
United States |
5 |
4 |
ETH Zurich |
Switzerland |
6 |
9 |
Harvard University |
United States |
7 |
6 |
University of Cambridge |
United Kingdom |
8 |
=11 |
Imperial College London |
United Kingdom |
9 |
=11 |
Princeton University |
United States |
10 |
8 |
University of California, Berkeley |
United States |
11 |
7 |
National University of Singapore |
Singapore |
12 |
13 |
Tsinghua University |
China |
13 |
19 |
California Institute of Technology |
United States |
14 |
16 |
Cornell University |
United States |
15 |
10 |
Technical University of Munich |
Germany |
16 |
20 |
Peking University |
China |
17 |
=22 |
École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne |
Switzerland |
18 |
15 |
University of Washington |
United States |
19 |
18 |
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign |
United States |
20 |
14 |
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore |
Singapore |
21 |
26 |
University of California, Los Angeles |
United States |
22 |
17 |
Georgia Institute of Technology |
United States |
23 |
32 |
Yale University |
United States |
24 |
21 |
Columbia University |
United States |
25 |
=22 |
University of Toronto |
Canada |
26 |
24 |
University of Edinburgh |
United Kingdom |
27 |
28 |
Johns Hopkins University |
United States |
28 |
=29 |
UCL |
United Kingdom |
29 |
25 |
New York University |
United States |
30 |
27 |
Shanghai Jiao Tong University |
China |
31 |
=29 |
The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology |
Hong Kong |
32 |
31 |
University of Texas at Austin |
United States |
33 |
42 |
The University of Tokyo |
Japan |
34 |
35 |
University of Pennsylvania |
United States |
35 |
=38 |
Paris Sciences et Lettres – PSL Research University Paris |
France |
36 |
33 |
University of California, San Diego |
United States |
37 |
=38 |
The University of Chicago |
United States |
38 |
36 |
Chinese University of Hong Kong |
Hong Kong |
39 |
43 |
University of Waterloo |
Canada |
40 |
41 |
KU Leuven |
Belgium |
41 |
37 |
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor |
United States |
42 |
46 |
Institut Polytechnique de Paris |
France |
43 |
34 |
University of Montreal |
Canada |
44 |
40 |
Zhejiang University |
China |
45 |
=48 |
Delft University of Technology |
Netherlands |
46 |
44 |
Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) |
South Korea |
47 |
45 |
University of Maryland, College Park |
United States |
48 |
=66 |
Université Paris-Saclay |
France |
49 |
47 |
University of British Columbia |
Canada |
50 |
50 |
RWTH Aachen University |
Germany |
51 |
=48 |
Seoul National University |
South Korea |
52 |
57 |
Monash University |
Australia |
53 |
55 |
University of Hong Kong |
Hong Kong |
54 |
=91 |
Purdue University West Lafayette |
United States |
55 |
51 |
University of Melbourne |
Australia |
56 |
59 |
Technical University of Berlin |
Germany |
57 |
85 |
University of Massachusetts |
United States |
58 |
58 |
Nanjing University |
China |
=59 |
52 |
Duke University |
United States |
=59 |
64 |
University of Science and Technology of China |
China |
61 |
77 |
KTH Royal Institute of Technology |
Sweden |
62 |
65 |
LMU Munich |
Germany |
63 |
=53 |
University of Southern California |
United States |
64 |
=82 |
City University of Hong Kong |
Hong Kong |
65 |
60 |
University of California, Santa Barbara |
United States |
66 |
61 |
University of Amsterdam |
Netherlands |
67 |
71 |
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology |
Germany |
68 |
63 |
University of Wisconsin-Madison |
United States |
69 |
=86 |
Kyoto University |
Japan |
=70 |
76 |
University of California, Irvine |
United States |
=70 |
=66 |
Technical University of Darmstadt |
Germany |
72 |
=89 |
Eindhoven University of Technology |
Netherlands |
73 |
81 |
Fudan University |
China |
74 |
74 |
Brown University |
United States |
=75 |
=53 |
McGill University |
Canada |
=75 |
72 |
Sorbonne University |
France |
77 |
62 |
University of Sydney |
Australia |
78 |
69 |
University of Technology Sydney |
Australia |
79 |
=66 |
Australian National University |
Australia |
=80 |
88 |
Politecnico di Milano |
Italy |
=80 |
=82 |
Yonsei University (Seoul campus) |
South Korea |
82 |
=86 |
University of Manchester |
United Kingdom |
83 |
70 |
UNSW Sydney |
Australia |
84 |
93 |
TU Wien |
Austria |
85 |
75 |
University of Adelaide |
Australia |
86 |
73 |
Aalto University |
Finland |
87 |
79 |
Hong Kong Polytechnic University |
Hong Kong |
88 |
80 |
Michigan State University |
United States |
89 |
101–125 |
University of Alberta |
Canada |
90 |
98 |
Northwestern University |
United States |
91 |
101–125 |
Boston University |
United States |
92 |
101–125 |
Northeastern University, US |
United States |
=93 |
126–150 |
Aarhus University |
Denmark |
=93 |
101–125 |
Rice University |
United States |
95 |
99 |
University of Bonn |
Germany |
96 |
101–125 |
King’s College London |
United Kingdom |
=97 |
=89 |
Penn State (Main campus) |
United States |
=97 |
126–150 |
Tokyo Institute of Technology |
Japan |
=99 |
=91 |
University of California, Davis |
United States |
=99 |
84 |
Queen Mary University of London |
United Kingdom |
101–125 |
101–125 |
University of Bologna |
Italy |
101–125 |
126–150 |
University of Bristol |
United Kingdom |
101–125 |
126–150 |
Chalmers University of Technology |
Sweden |
101–125 |
78 |
University of Freiburg |
Germany |
101–125 |
176–200 |
Harbin Institute of Technology |
China |
101–125 |
101–125 |
Indian Institute of Science |
India |
101–125 |
101–125 |
Korea University |
South Korea |
101–125 |
126–150 |
Linköping University |
Sweden |
101–125 |
151–175 |
Macquarie University |
Australia |
101–125 |
101–125 |
National Taiwan University (NTU) |
Taiwan |
101–125 |
94 |
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill |
United States |
101–125 |
=95 |
Qatar University |
Qatar |
101–125 |
101–125 |
Ruhr University Bochum |
Germany |
101–125 |
151–175 |
Sapienza University of Rome |
Italy |
101–125 |
101–125 |
Simon Fraser University |
Canada |
101–125 |
151–175 |
University of Stuttgart |
Germany |
101–125 |
101–125 |
Technical University of Denmark |
Denmark |
101–125 |
126–150 |
Technion Israel Institute of Technology |
Israel |
101–125 |
126–150 |
Tel Aviv University |
Israel |
101–125 |
151–175 |
Texas A&M University |
United States |
101–125 |
101–125 |
University of Tübingen |
Germany |
101–125 |
=95 |
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University |
United States |
101–125 |
101–125 |
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam |
Netherlands |
101–125 |
126–150 |
University of Warwick |
United Kingdom |
101–125 |
101–125 |
University of Zurich |
Switzerland |
126–150 |
151–175 |
Aalborg University |
Denmark |
126–150 |
126–150 |
University of California, Riverside |
United States |
126–150 |
176–200 |
University of Colorado Boulder |
United States |
126–150 |
101–125 |
University of Copenhagen |
Denmark |
126–150 |
151–175 |
École Normale Supérieure de Lyon |
France |
126–150 |
151–175 |
University of Erlangen-Nuremberg |
Germany |
126–150 |
101–125 |
University of Illinois Chicago |
United States |
126–150 |
56 |
King Abdulaziz University |
Saudi Arabia |
126–150 |
101–125 |
University of Luxembourg |
Luxembourg |
126–150 |
201–250 |
Osaka University |
Japan |
126–150 |
126–150 |
University of Oslo |
Norway |
126–150 |
101–125 |
The University of Queensland |
Australia |
126–150 |
176–200 |
Shenzhen University |
China |
126–150 |
101–125 |
University of Southampton |
United Kingdom |
126–150 |
126–150 |
Stony Brook University |
United States |
126–150 |
176–200 |
Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU) |
South Korea |
126–150 |
101–125 |
University of Surrey |
United Kingdom |
126–150 |
126–150 |
Swinburne University of Technology |
Australia |
126–150 |
151–175 |
Tohoku University |
Japan |
126–150 |
151–175 |
TU Dresden |
Germany |
126–150 |
201–250 |
University of Twente |
Netherlands |
126–150 |
151–175 |
University College Dublin |
Ireland |
126–150 |
176–200 |
University of Vienna |
Austria |
126–150 |
201–250 |
Wuhan University |
China |
151–175 |
126–150 |
Arizona State University (Tempe) |
United States |
151–175 |
176–200 |
University of Birmingham |
United Kingdom |
151–175 |
151–175 |
University of Glasgow |
United Kingdom |
151–175 |
126–150 |
Graz University of Technology |
Austria |
151–175 |
151–175 |
University of Groningen |
Netherlands |
151–175 |
126–150 |
Huazhong University of Science and Technology |
China |
151–175 |
151–175 |
Kyung Hee University |
South Korea |
151–175 |
126–150 |
Lancaster University |
United Kingdom |
151–175 |
201–250 |
University of Leeds |
United Kingdom |
151–175 |
151–175 |
University of Macau |
Macao |
151–175 |
151–175 |
University of Mannheim |
Germany |
151–175 |
176–200 |
North Carolina State University |
United States |
151–175 |
201–250 |
University of Notre Dame |
United States |
151–175 |
201–250 |
Ohio State University (Main campus) |
United States |
151–175 |
126–150 |
University of Oulu |
Finland |
151–175 |
151–175 |
Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH) |
South Korea |
151–175 |
126–150 |
Queensland University of Technology |
Australia |
151–175 |
176–200 |
Radboud University Nijmegen |
Netherlands |
151–175 |
101–125 |
Rutgers University – New Brunswick |
United States |
151–175 |
176–200 |
Sejong University |
South Korea |
151–175 |
126–150 |
Sun Yat-sen University |
China |
151–175 |
151–175 |
University of Trento |
Italy |
151–175 |
251–300 |
University of Virginia (Main campus) |
United States |
151–175 |
=95 |
University of Warsaw |
Poland |
176–200 |
176–200 |
University of Antwerp |
Belgium |
176–200 |
176–200 |
University of Auckland |
New Zealand |
176–200 |
151–175 |
University of Basel |
Switzerland |
176–200 |
201–250 |
University at Buffalo |
United States |
176–200 |
201–250 |
University of California, Santa Cruz |
United States |
176–200 |
201–250 |
Dartmouth College |
United States |
176–200 |
151–175 |
Deakin University |
Australia |
176–200 |
201–250 |
University of Florida |
United States |
176–200 |
251–300 |
Free University of Berlin |
Germany |
176–200 |
176–200 |
University of Helsinki |
Finland |
176–200 |
201–250 |
Johannes Kepler University of Linz |
Austria |
176–200 |
151–175 |
King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals |
Saudi Arabia |
176–200 |
201–250 |
Loughborough University |
United Kingdom |
176–200 |
101–125 |
Macau University of Science and Technology |
Macao |
176–200 |
126–150 |
University of Malaya |
Malaysia |
176–200 |
176–200 |
University of Minnesota |
United States |
176–200 |
176–200 |
University of Newcastle |
Australia |
176–200 |
201–250 |
University of Nottingham |
United Kingdom |
176–200 |
201–250 |
Université du Québec |
Canada |
176–200 |
251–300 |
RMIT University |
Australia |
176–200 |
151–175 |
University of Rochester |
United States |
176–200 |
176–200 |
Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies – Pisa |
Italy |
176–200 |
151–175 |
University of South Australia |
Australia |
176–200 |
201–250 |
Trinity College Dublin |
Ireland |
176–200 |
251–300 |
University of Würzburg |
Germany |