The University of Melbourne has once again claimed the title of Australia’s best university for computer science and information systems, ranking 13th globally for the subject in the latest QS World University Rankings.
This is the sixth year running that the Melbourne University has come out on top in Australia for the subject, and the second year in a row it has taken 13th place globally.
The institution currently provides undergraduate and graduate training across computing and information technology, as well as internationally-recognised research programs.
"The computing disciplines - computer science, information systems, and software engineering - are helping to build an 'information society' that profoundly affects every aspect of our lives," says Professor Justin Zobel, head of the department of computing and information systems at the University of Melbourne.
"[The department] has been part of the technology revolution for more than fifty years, and is an international leader in both teaching and research."
The second best university in Australia for the subject was Australian National University (ANU), which ranked 31st globally – down from 26th place in 2015. The University of New South Wales (UNSW) was a close third, at 35th, while the University of Sydney was fourth, with a global ranking of 40.
Last year’s top 50 also featured the University of Queensland and the University of Auckland in New Zealand, which both appear in the top 51-100 universities category in 2016.
The leading global institution for computer science and information systems was the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the US, followed by Stanford University (US) and the University of Oxford (UK).
The most-featured country in the ranking is the US, which takes seven top 20 places, and 90 places overall.
The top non-English-speaking institution this year was Switzerland’s ETH Zurich (8th), followed by Asia’s top university for computer science - the National University of Singapore, in 9th place. In total, 14 Asian universities feature in the top 50.
This year’s computer science ranking featured the world’s top 500 places to study the study - an increase of 100 from last year, which featured the top 400.
“Though the US and UK remain dominant, our most inclusive rankings ever show that excellence can be found in an ever-increasing number of places,” said Ben Sowter, Head of the QS Intelligence Unit.
“Nations like Austria, South Africa, Finland, Brazil, China, and Sweden can be found in the top ten of our tables. Our new top 100 for Computer Science acknowledges academic excellence in 25 different countries, while our top 20 recognises it in 8.”
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