Top Universities - Computer Science (2019)

After watching/listening to Bill Gates answer questions from MIT Technology Review, I had to look up the world's top universities in Computer Science. After all, our world today is more globally integrated than ever. I believe it's no longer smart to only know about the top schools in one's country. If you're going to make sure that you and your family are positioned well for life, then you need to know how your career passion stacks up in the world (and not just in your own country).

As a big advocate for quality education and quality access to all, it's important to also know which countries take their public education more serious than others and to know who's implementing similar ideal policies in hope of not only providing the best educational opportunities, but also the best economic opportunities.

Without further rambling, here's the list I'm reading.

Most top universities are in the United States of America (USA). However, this year's top five universities only has two in the USA. Two are in the United Kingdom (UK) and one in Switzerland.

Other top universities outside of the USA include Singapore, Canada (Toronto), and China. The biggest surprise to me on this list is Tsinghua University (China). There's a lot to say about the increasing economy and, now, education quality that China is producing in becoming a world leader on the same level of the USA and UK.

Another surprise to me is NOT seeing a university out of Japan listed in the top 20. Germany has one university listed at rank 26 (Technical University of Munich), a Hong Kong university at rank 27, and another Singapore university 29. France has one at rank 38 (Paris Sciences et Lettres - PSL) and Japan has one at rank 40.

Years ago when I was in undergraduate school (1999), almost all of the top universities for computer science were in the USA. This is not the case anymore today.

Let's take a look at another media company ranking the world's top universities in computer science.

This is a strong difference in rankings for the top universities in the world in computer science. From US News, only two universities are in the USA and one is in Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia? I'm skeptical about these results (powered by Clarivate Analytics InCites) especially since Stanford is not listed among the top ten rankings here.

Taking another review from Business Insider, the top ten rankings are more aligned with World University Rankings with having most top universities in computer science located in the USA and UK. Within its top ten, listed is one university from Switzerland and one from Singapore.

In conclusion, my initial thoughts still stand. Most top universities for computer science are still located in the USA, followed by the UK and Canada. However, many other countries are rising and the competition is ever growing among countries fighting for economic leadership. Overall, the biggest surprises are the speed of China's growing education system (along with its economy) and the lack or absence of India in the rankings among the best (considering how many Indians are competing in the USA job market for software positions). If I could rewind my age and choose my compsci program, then I would go to one of Switzerland's (like ETH Zurich) because of the additional cultural cross-over learnings and its ease of travel access.

References

• https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/2019/subject-ranking/computer-science#!/page/1/length/25/sort_by/rank/sort_order/asc/cols/stats
• https://www.usnews.com/education/best-global-universities/computer-science
• https://www.businessinsider.com/best-computer-science-schools-in-the-world-2018-3#1-massachusetts-institute-of-technology-mit-50
• https://www.computersciencezone.org/rankings/top-engineering-schools-in-the-world/

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