The coveted computer science degree has promised graduates six-figure salaries and exciting careers in high-tech spaces since the personal computer took off in the 1990s.
As an academic discipline, computer science dates back even further. In the 1960s, Purdue University became the first major institution to found a department dedicated to the practice, complete with history books written by faculty members because, at that point, none existed.
These days, the U.S., China, and Singapore are often associated with top-tier computer science degrees, but there are highly respected universities in nearly every corner of the world offering an education in the field. Revelo collected rankings from U.S. News and World Report to identify the top 10 universities for computer science within five global regions.
Web designers, software developers, computer network architects, research scientists, and systems administrators all leverage computer science knowledge as the basis of their job. And it's a job that analysts project to be in high demand—even as layoffs at major tech companies dominate headlines.
The typical worker in a computer science-based career today earns an income of $100,530, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The bureau also estimates the industry will require 377,500 new workers each year for the next decade, as the industry is set to grow faster than the average growth rate of all other industries.
With the tech industry facing criticism for lacking diversity and products like artificial intelligence built on mostly white male perspectives, employers could benefit from looking beyond traditional institutions in recruiting efforts. From 2010-2020, the number of women graduating from U.S. schools with computer science degrees rose only 3%, and graduates from underrepresented racial groups remained flat at just over 20% of all graduates.
U.S. News and World Report ranked 778 universities globally with at least 250 academic research papers, calculating its subject scores on a 0-100 scale based on the number of publications and citations an institution received, its global and regional research reputation, and other factors.
In countries across Africa, secondary education curricula have increasingly moved from teaching basic computer skills to focusing on computer science skills. It's a young continent: The median age is 19, and more than a third of the world's youth aged 15 to 24 will live in Africa by 2050, according to the U.N. World Population Prospects 2022. Despite Africa's low rates of internet access, universities are working to meet the demand of its young population, encouraging post-secondary computer science education.
#1. Cairo University, Giza, Egypt
#2. Zagazig University, Zagazig, Egypt
#3. Mansoura University, Mansoura, Egypt
#4. Université de Sfax, Sfax, Tunisia
#5. Université de Tunis El Manar, Tunis, Tunisia
#6. Menofia University, Shibin Al Kawm, Al Minufiyah, Egypt
#7. University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa
#8. Université de Carthage, Carthage, Tunisia
#9. University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa
#10. Université de la Manouba, Manouba, Tunisia
Computer science education is thriving at universities in many Asian countries. The largest continent by size and population, Asia accounts for 52% of global growth in revenues at tech companies, according to a report by McKinsey. China and Singapore are known computer science study destinations. In other Southeast Asian countries, demand for jobs in computer science fields is growing and high. According to LinkedIn, the top three in-demand jobs in Southeast Asia are in computer science related fields.
#1. Tsinghua University, Haidian, Beijing, China
#2. Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (tie)
#3. National University of Singapore, Singapore (tied with above)
#4. Peking University, Beijing, China
#5. Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
#6. Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
#7. Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China
#8. University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, Sichuan, China
#9. Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China (tie)
#10. Wuhan University, Wuhan, China (tied with above)
A 2022 report by the Tech Council of Australia predicts a shortage of 186,000 tech workers in Australia by 2030. The continent's high schools struggle to send enough students to their universities to study computer science. Fortunately, this small continent presents good opportunities for students traveling abroad. Despite having a fraction of the population of the U.S., it has the third highest population of international students in the world—and the government provides scholarships and grants for people to live and study in Australia.
#1. University of Technology Sydney, Ultimo, Australia
#2. University of Sydney, Camperdown, Australia
#3. University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia
#4. University of New South Wales Sydney, Kensington, Australia
#5. Monash University, Melbourne, Australia
#6. Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
#7. University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
#8. University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
#9. Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia
#10. Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT), Melbourne, Australia
European countries—Belgium, Denmark, Luxembourg, and Switzerland—dominate the top five list of countries paying data scientists the highest salaries. In the UK, software developers are in high demand. The continent is home to diverse cities and countries with a booming tech scene and the universities to produce the graduates who keep it growing.
#1. ETH Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
#2. University of Oxford, Oxford, England
#3. Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany
#4. University College London, London, England
#5. Imperial College London, London, England
#6. University of Cambridge, Cambridge, England
#7. École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
#8. University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland
#9. KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
#10. Delft University of Technology, Delft, Netherlands
Slowly but steadily, Latin America has developed some of the world's most promising tech hubs. The region is outpacing others to become a top destination for developers, according to a 2023 report by HackerRank. Students considering studying computer science abroad can add universities in this large, diverse region to their list thanks to its commitment to internationalizing.
#1. Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
#2. Universidade Estadual de Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil
#3. Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile
#4. Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
#5. Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil
#6. Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Recife, Brazil
#7. Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
#8. Tecnológico de Monterrey, Monterrey, Mexico
#9. Instituto Politécnico Nacional - Mexico, Mexico City, Mexico (tie)
#10. Universidade Estadual Paulista, São Paulo, Brazil (tied with above)
Additional writing by Kelly Glass. Story editing by Ashleigh Graf. Copy editing by Kristen Wegrzyn. Photo selection by Lacy Kerrick.
This story originally appeared on Revelo and was produced and distributed in partnership with Stacker Studio.
