Best universities for engineering degrees 2024

By seeta.bhardwa@…, 26 October, 2023

Top 10 universities in the world for engineering 2024

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

Engineering rank 2024  Engineering rank 2023  University Country/region
 1   1  Harvard University United States
 2   2  Stanford University United States
 3   4  Massachusetts Institute of Technology United States
 4   5  University of Oxford United Kingdom
 5   7  University of Cambridge United Kingdom
 6   3  University of California, Berkeley United States
 7   6  California Institute of Technology United States
 8   9  Princeton University United States
 9   8  National University of Singapore Singapore
 10   14  Imperial College London United Kingdom

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

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

Times Higher Education’s 2024 subject ranking for engineering and technology features 1,374 universities across more than 70 countries.


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

The University of Cambridge’s undergraduate engineering course is four years long.

The first two years provide a broad engineering education, and the third and fourth years allow students to select modules to specialise further. These include aerospace and aerothermal engineering; bioengineering; civil, structural and environmental engineering; electrical and electronic engineering; and energy, sustainability and the environment.

There are six postgraduate programmes in engineering that can be taken as a taught course or as research study.

4. University of Oxford

The University of Oxford offers undergraduates a four-year degree in engineering science, where they can specialise from their third year in one of six branches of engineering: biomedical, chemical, civil, electrical, information or mechanical.

Just under half of all applicants to this course 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.

3. Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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

The school offers 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.


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?


2. Stanford University

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

It has nine departments, as well as a number of institutes, laboratories and research centres.

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

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.

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.


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Best universities for engineering 2024

Click each institution to view its World University Ranking 2024 profile.

Engineering rank 2024  Engineering rank 2023  University Country/region
 1   1  Harvard University United States
 2   2  Stanford University United States
 3   4  Massachusetts Institute of Technology United States
 4   5  University of Oxford United Kingdom
 5   7  University of Cambridge United Kingdom
 6   3  University of California, Berkeley United States
 7   6  California Institute of Technology United States
 8   9  Princeton University United States
 9   8  National University of Singapore Singapore
 10   14  Imperial College London United Kingdom
 11   10  ETH Zurich Switzerland
 12   11  Georgia Institute of Technology United States
 13   13  Nanyang Technological University, Singapore Singapore
 14   12  Peking University China
 15   15  Tsinghua University China
 16   21  Delft University of Technology Netherlands
 17   16  University of California, Los Angeles United States
 18   17  Yale University United States
 19   18  University of Michigan-Ann Arbor United States
 20   19  École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne Switzerland
 21   22  Carnegie Mellon University United States
 22   20  Technical University of Munich Germany
 23   29  Shanghai Jiao Tong University China
 24   28  University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign United States
 25   25  Columbia University United States
 26   27  University of Toronto Canada
 27   24  Cornell University United States
 28   23  University of Texas at Austin United States
 29   34  The University of Tokyo Japan
 30   =30  Zhejiang University China
 31   =30  Northwestern University United States
 32   38  Purdue University West Lafayette United States
 33   26  The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Hong Kong
 34   32  RWTH Aachen University Germany
 35   35  Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) South Korea
 36   36  University of Pennsylvania United States
 37   33  Johns Hopkins University United States
 38   40  Hong Kong Polytechnic University Hong Kong
 39   53  KTH Royal Institute of Technology Sweden
 40   41  Seoul National University South Korea
 41   37  University of California, San Diego United States
 42   =48  University of Manchester United Kingdom
 43   42  University of Hong Kong Hong Kong
 44   39  University of Science and Technology of China China
 45   45  UCL United Kingdom
 46   43  University of California, Santa Barbara United States
 47   68  Kyoto University Japan
 48   59  Technical University of Denmark Denmark
 49   =48  University of British Columbia Canada
 50   47  University of Washington United States
 51   79  Harbin Institute of Technology China
 52   46  City University of Hong Kong Hong Kong
 53   50  KU Leuven Belgium
 =54   44  Monash University Australia
 =54   =60  Texas A&M University United States
 =56   51  Fudan University China
 =56   65  Tongji University China
 58   54  The University of Queensland Australia
 59   80  Tohoku University Japan
 60   58  Yonsei University (Seoul campus) South Korea
 61   52  Duke University United States
 62   =74  Politecnico di Milano Italy
 63   =55  Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH) South Korea
 =64   64  Karlsruhe Institute of Technology Germany
 =64   92  Tokyo Institute of Technology Japan
 =64   =55  UNSW Sydney Australia
 67   71  Nanjing University China
 68   =60  University of Sydney Australia
 =69   67  University of Melbourne Australia
 =69   =69  University of Waterloo Canada
 71   =76  McGill University Canada
 72   =85  Paris Sciences et Lettres – PSL Research University Paris France
 =73   63  Chinese University of Hong Kong Hong Kong
 =73   =83  University of Wisconsin-Madison United States
 75   62  Technical University of Berlin Germany
 =76   66  Sichuan University China
 =76   =72  Southeast University China
 78   =88  Xi’an Jiaotong University China
 79   =76  Huazhong University of Science and Technology China
 80   =88  Chalmers University of Technology Sweden
 81   99  Tianjin University China
 82   =72  Rice University United States
 83   =93  University of Edinburgh United Kingdom
 =84   81  Eindhoven University of Technology Netherlands
 =84   91  Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU) South Korea
 86   82  Penn State (Main campus) United States
 87   =74  Brown University United States
 =88   =85  University of California, Davis United States
 =88   126–150  University of Massachusetts United States
 =90   =83  Aalborg University Denmark
 =90   101–125  University of Alberta Canada
 =92   98  National Taiwan University (NTU) Taiwan
 =92   78  Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University United States
 94   100  University of Sheffield United Kingdom
 95   =69  University of Southern California United States
 96   101–125  University of Bristol United Kingdom
 97   101–125  University of Southampton United Kingdom
 98   101–125  University of Nottingham United Kingdom
 99   101–125  Institut Polytechnique de Paris France
 100   126–150  University of Birmingham United Kingdom
 101–125   101–125  Aalto University Finland
 101–125   87  University of Adelaide Australia
 101–125   126–150  Australian National University Australia
 101–125   151–175  Beijing Institute of Technology China
 101–125   =93  University of California, Irvine United States
 101–125   126–150  University of Colorado Boulder United States
 101–125   101–125  Indian Institute of Science India
 101–125   57  King Abdulaziz University Saudi Arabia
 101–125   101–125  King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals Saudi Arabia
 101–125   101–125  Korea University South Korea
 101–125   101–125  University of Leeds United Kingdom
 101–125   101–125  University of Maryland, College Park United States
 101–125   95  University of Minnesota United States
 101–125   101–125  New York University United States
 101–125   101–125  North Carolina State University United States
 101–125   101–125  Norwegian University of Science and Technology Norway
 101–125   =88  Ohio State University (Main campus) United States
 101–125   101–125  Université Paris-Saclay France
 101–125   101–125  University of Stuttgart Germany
 101–125   101–125  University of Technology Sydney Australia
 101–125   101–125  TU Dresden Germany
 101–125   97  Wageningen University & Research Netherlands
 101–125   96  University of Wollongong Australia
 101–125   101–125  Wuhan University China
 126–150   126–150  Arizona State University (Tempe) United States
 126–150   126–150  University of Auckland New Zealand
 126–150   176–200  Beihang University China
 126–150   126–150  Curtin University Australia
 126–150   151–175  Deakin University Australia
 126–150   101–125  University of Erlangen-Nuremberg Germany
 126–150   126–150  Ghent University Belgium
 126–150   151–175  University of Groningen Netherlands
 126–150   126–150  Hanyang University South Korea
 126–150   176–200  Kyushu University Japan
 126–150   151–175  Lund University Sweden
 126–150   126–150  University of Macau Macao
 126–150   101–125  University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill United States
 126–150   201–250  Northwestern Polytechnical University China
 126–150   201–250  Osaka University Japan
 126–150   101–125  Qatar University Qatar
 126–150   126–150  Queen Mary University of London United Kingdom
 126–150   126–150  RMIT University Australia
 126–150   151–175  Sharif University of Technology Iran
 126–150   126–150  University of Surrey United Kingdom
 126–150   151–175  Technical University of Darmstadt Germany
 126–150   101–125  The University of Tennessee-Knoxville United States
 126–150   176–200  TU Wien Austria
 126–150   201–250  University of Twente Netherlands
 126–150   101–125  Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) South Korea
 126–150   126–150  The University of Western Australia Australia
 151–175   251–300  University of Arizona United States
 151–175   126–150  Boston University United States
 151–175   126–150  University of California, Riverside United States
 151–175   151–175  Cardiff University United Kingdom
 151–175   176–200  Chongqing University China
 151–175   151–175  University of Delaware United States
 151–175   NR  East China Normal University China
 151–175   201–250  University of Florida United States
 151–175   201–250  University of Glasgow United Kingdom
 151–175   151–175  Hunan University China
 151–175   126–150  Linköping University Sweden
 151–175   151–175  University of Liverpool United Kingdom
 151–175   126–150  University of Luxembourg Luxembourg
 151–175   176–200  Macquarie University Australia
 151–175   176–200  Nankai University China
 151–175   126–150  National Tsing Hua University Taiwan
 151–175   151–175  Northeastern University, US United States
 151–175   151–175  University of Notre Dame United States
 151–175   201–250  Polytechnic University of Turin Italy
 151–175   126–150  Queen’s University Belfast United Kingdom
 151–175   151–175  Queensland University of Technology Australia
 151–175   201–250  Sapienza University of Rome Italy
 151–175   201–250  Sorbonne University France
 151–175   151–175  South China University of Technology China
 151–175   176–200  University College Dublin Ireland
 151–175   201–250  University of Warwick United Kingdom
 176–200   176–200  Aarhus University Denmark
 176–200   201–250  University of Calgary Canada
 176–200   151–175  Case Western Reserve University United States
 176–200   151–175  Drexel University United States
 176–200   176–200  University of Electronic Science and Technology of China China
 176–200   151–175  University of Freiburg Germany
 176–200   251–300  Heriot-Watt University United Kingdom
 176–200   151–175  Khalifa University United Arab Emirates
 176–200   176–200  Kyung Hee University South Korea
 176–200   176–200  Lancaster University United Kingdom
 176–200   176–200  University of Malaya Malaysia
 176–200   201–250  McMaster University Canada
 176–200   176–200  Michigan State University United States
 176–200   251–300  University of Montreal Canada
 176–200   251–300  Nagoya University Japan
 176–200   176–200  Newcastle University United Kingdom
 176–200   201–250  University of Padua Italy
 176–200   151–175  Sejong University South Korea
 176–200   126–150  Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) China
 176–200   151–175  Swinburne University of Technology Australia
 176–200   201–250  Trinity College Dublin Ireland
 176–200   176–200  Vanderbilt University United States
 176–200   176–200  Western University Canada

Editor’s 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 universities that met the criteria for this ranking are not displayed in the table above.

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Find the best colleges for engineering and technology using Times Higher Education’s World University Rankings 2024 data

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