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Computer science is the most popular table of the rankings on http://www.topuniversities.com since their inception. It received over 600,000 views in the past six months and attracts three times as many readers as the average subject ranked by QS.
The second and third most popular subjects are mechanical engineering, followed by medicine.
The trend reflects the finding of a recent study of global demand for IT analysts, developers, programmers and engineers. These occupations were found on the national skills shortage lists of 21 OECD and BRICS countries.*
The 2013 QS World University Rankings by Subject evaluated 2,858 universities and ranked 678 institutions in total. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) was once again crowned the top university in the world for computer science, for the third year in a row.
Top 10 institutions in Computer Science
Rank Institution Country
1 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) US
2 Stanford University US
3 University of Oxford UK
4 Carnegie Mellon University US
5 University of Cambridge UK
6 Harvard University US
7 University of California, Berkeley (UCB) US
8 National University of Singapore (NUS) Singapore
9 ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology) Switzerland
10 University of Hong Kong (HKU) Hong Kong
Top 10 countries by number of institutions in Computer Science
Country Number
United States 40
United Kingdom 18
Australia 16
Germany 13
China 8
Canada 8
Japan 8
Netherlands 7
India 6
Italy 6
Taiwan 6
Ben Sowter, head of research at QS, says: "The explosions in technology-based start-ups, as well as national security fears of cyber warfare, have meant that computer science graduates are in great demand with employers. As our ranking is the only one to take into account the opinion of employers, our results are closely watched by students who want to increase their chances of employment, as well as those looking to recruit the best talent nationally and internationally.
The full methodology, alongside the 2013 QS World University Rankings by Subject tables for accounting and finance; maths; chemistry; history; English language; sociology; electrical engineering; chemical engineering; politics, biological sciences; modern languages; psychology, and more can be found on http://www.topuniversities.com
* http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21938085
Source: QS Quacquarelli Symonds