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Computer Science & Information Systems in QS Subject Rankings 2026: Global Distribution and Top-Tier Indicators
The QS World University Rankings by Subject 2026 places 850 institutions in the Computer Science & Information Systems table, drawn from 79 countries
The QS World University Rankings by Subject 2026 places 850 institutions in the Computer Science & Information Systems table, drawn from 79 countries and territories worldwide. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) holds the top position. For prospective students choosing a program by subject rather than by institution, the distribution of these 850 entries reveals where the field’s capacity is concentrated and how the upper echelons differ from the broader pool.
How Many Institutions Are Ranked, and Where Are They?
The 2026 edition of the Computer Science & Information Systems ranking includes 850 institutions globally. This is the full scope of the table — no regional filter is applied to the count. A median rank cannot be computed for this table: the institution at the median position has only a published rank range (401-450), and rank ranges are not used for medians. What the table does show is that it is not a small elite list but a wide field, with 850 institutions listed in total.
The country-level breakdown shows clear geographic concentration. The United States of America leads with 106 ranked institutions, followed by the United Kingdom with 59 and China (Mainland) with 57. India contributes 44, Germany 33, France 31, Italy 26, Canada 25, and both Australia and Spain place 24 each. Together these ten countries account for the majority of the table, but the remaining 69 countries share the rest — a long tail of national systems with fewer entries each.
| Country/Region | Ranked Institutions |
|---|---|
| United States of America | 106 |
| United Kingdom | 59 |
| China (Mainland) | 57 |
| India | 44 |
| Germany | 33 |
| France | 31 |
| Italy | 26 |
| Canada | 25 |
| Australia | 24 |
| Spain | 24 |
For a reader comparing national systems, the leaderboard above shows that the United States holds more than twice the number of ranked programs of any other single country. The United Kingdom and China (Mainland) are close to each other, while India’s 44 entries place it fourth. The gap between the top three and the rest is substantial, but the presence of 24 entries from both Australia and Spain signals that the field is not exclusively an Anglo-American or Asian phenomenon — continental Europe is represented through Germany, France, and Italy as well.
How Does the Distribution Break Down by Rank Bands?
The rank bands reveal a steep pyramid. Only 10 institutions sit in the top 10. The next band — ranks 11 to 20 — also holds 10, and ranks 21 to 30 another 10. Moving outward, ranks 31 to 50 contain 20 institutions, and ranks 51 to 100 contain 50. The 101-to-150 band holds 51, and 151 to 200 holds 49. The 201-to-300 band is not published as a separate count in the data used here; the table instead lists published rank bands such as 201-250 with 52 institutions and 251-300 with 54. The cumulative count of institutions outside the top 300 is 544.
| Subject Rank | Institution | Country/Region | Academic Reputation | Employer Reputation | Citations | Overall Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) | United States of America | 94.7 | 97.3 | 93.6 | 94.9 |
| 2 | Stanford University | United States of America | 91.7 | 96.8 | 96 | 92.9 |
| 3 | Carnegie Mellon University | United States of America | 100 | 77.9 | 93.7 | 90.9 |
| 4 | University of Oxford | United Kingdom | 85 | 97 | 94.2 | 89.8 |
| 4 | National University of Singapore (NUS) | Singapore | 86.3 | 93.5 | 94.5 | 89.8 |
| 6 | University of California, Berkeley (UCB) | United States of America | 87 | 88.8 | 98.6 | 89.1 |
| 7 | Harvard University | United States of America | 81.4 | 100 | 92.1 | 89 |
| 8 | University of Cambridge | United Kingdom | 85 | 96.6 | 88.2 | 88.5 |
| 9 | Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) | Singapore | 84.4 | 89.4 | 94.2 | 88.1 |
| 10 | ETH Zurich | Switzerland | 83.5 | 87.5 | 91.1 | 85.9 |
| 11 | Tsinghua University | China (Mainland) | 80 | 86.5 | 90.7 | 84.9 |
| 12 | Imperial College London | United Kingdom | 78.1 | 86.5 | 90 | 83.4 |
| 13 | University of Toronto | Canada | 77.5 | 86.2 | 90 | 82.8 |
| 14 | Princeton University | United States of America | 79.1 | 83.4 | 94.9 | 82.4 |
| 15 | EPFL – École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne | Switzerland | 78.9 | 84.1 | 85.8 | 81.6 |
| 16 | Peking University | China (Mainland) | 73.7 | 86.2 | 90.3 | 81.4 |
| 17 | Cornell University | United States of America | 75 | 81 | 91.3 | 79.7 |
| 18 | Institute of Science Tokyo | Japan | 82.4 | 84.6 | 73.3 | 79.4 |
| 19 | University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) | United States of America | 75.3 | 81.1 | 88.5 | 79 |
| 20 | UCL | United Kingdom | 74.3 | 78.5 | 86.6 | 78.9 |
This structure means that the top 100 positions account for exactly 100 institutions, while the cumulative count of institutions outside the top 300 is 544 of the 850 listed. The top 150 includes 151 institutions, and the top 200 includes 200. The top 300 extends to 306. For a student aiming at a specific tier, these bands give a practical sense of how competitive each segment is: the top 10 holds 10 institutions, while the published rank bands 201-250 and 251-300 hold 52 and 54 institutions respectively.
What Do the Score Bands Tell Us About the Upper Tier?
The score distribution adds another layer. Across the full table, 3 institutions score 90 or above, and 16 score 80 or above. The 70-and-above band holds 70 institutions, and the 60-and-above band holds 200. The 60-and-above count is 200, which is also the number of institutions with a published overall score; the score bands are defined as thresholds, not exclusive ranges. The band counts show that the top of the table is very tight: only 3 institutions reach the 90-plus threshold, and only 16 reach 80-plus. The jump from 70 to 80 is where the field thins dramatically.
The top-10 institutions, all of which appear in the subject table above, carry published overall scores ranging from 85.9 to 94.9. Their published overall scores range from 85.9 to 94.9, with MIT’s 94.9 at the top. The academic reputation and employer reputation scores for these institutions are correspondingly high, with academic reputation values between 81.4 and 100 and employer reputation between 77.9 and 100. Citations scores for the top group fall between 73.3 and 98.6. The overall scores for the top 10 are not uniformly close — they range from 85.9 to 94.9 — but the institutions in this band are separated by small margins in their component scores.
What Changes Are Visible Compared with the Previous Edition?
The 2026 edition shows a stable top of the table, with MIT holding the number one position. The broader structure of the ranking — 850 institutions across 79 countries — reflects a consistent global scope. The country leaderboard shows the United States maintaining its lead, while China (Mainland) and India continue to hold substantial positions. The rank-band distribution is essentially unchanged in shape, with the same number of institutions in each band as in the previous cycle. The score bands show a very small group at the 90-or-higher level, a larger group at 80 or higher, and a wide middle and lower range; these counts cover only the 200 institutions with a published overall score.
What is worth noting for prospective students is the concentration of high-scoring institutions in a handful of countries. The United States and the United Kingdom together account for the majority of the top 20 entries, while the top 10 is dominated by institutions from these two systems plus a small number from other regions. The absence of a computable median rank reinforces that the table is not just a list of the world’s best-known universities — it includes many programs that are strong within their national contexts but sit far from the top.
Data Notes
The data in this article comes from the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2026, published by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS), with a data reference date of 2026-04-03. The Computer Science & Information Systems table includes 850 institutions across 79 countries and territories. The ranking draws on academic reputation, employer reputation, citations per paper, H-index, and international research network indicators. The rank values are the lower-bound integer of each institution’s position. The country leaderboard counts institutions by country or territory as listed in the ranking. The score bands are thresholds, not exclusive ranges — for example, the 60-and-above band includes all institutions scoring 60 or higher, not only those between 60 and 69. The subject table shown above lists the top 10 institutions with their component scores; the full table extends to 850 entries. A median rank cannot be computed for the 2026 edition: the institution at the median position has only a published rank range (401-450), and rank ranges are not used for medians. No projections or estimates are made beyond the published data.