Computer Science & Information Systems in QS Subject Rankings 2026: Global Distribution and Top-Tier Indicators

The QS World University Rankings by Subject 2026 lists 850 institutions worldwide in Computer Science & Information Systems, spanning 79 countries and regions. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) holds the #1 position. For prospective students choosing a program by subject rather than by institution overall, the distribution of ranked programs across countries and the score patterns at the top of the list offer a useful picture of where the field’s strengths concentrate.

Global Distribution: Which Countries Host the Most Ranked Programs

The United States leads the country leaderboard with 106 ranked institutions in this subject. The United Kingdom follows with 59, and China (Mainland) is close behind with 57. India (44), Germany (33), France (31), Italy (26), Canada (25), and Australia and Spain (24 each) round out the top ten.

These counts describe how many institutions from each country appear in the 850-entry list, not how many programs exist in total. A country with a large number of ranked programs may have a broad base of departments meeting the ranking’s inclusion criteria, while a country with fewer entries may still host very strong programs at the top. A median rank cannot be computed for the 850 listed institutions: the institution at the median position has only a published rank range (401-450), and rank ranges are not used for medians. The list’s long tail nonetheless extends far beyond the headline names.

The Top of the Field: Where the Highest Scores Cluster

At the very top, three institutions score in the 90–100 band. Thirteen institutions fall in the 80–89 band, and 54 in the 70–79 band. The distribution becomes much denser further down: 130 institutions sit in the 60–69 band. In other words, the upper echelons are narrow. These bands cover only the 200 institutions whose overall score was published; the remaining 650 institutions are listed with a rank or rank band but no overall score, and a missing score does not mean they scored below any threshold.

For students comparing programs, the practical takeaway is that the difference between a top-10 program and a top-50 program may be a matter of a few points on the overall score, while the gap between the top 100 and the middle of the list is far wider. The scores in the top band are compressed: among the very highest-ranked institutions, small differences in overall score can correspond to meaningful differences in rank.

Rank Bands: How Many Programs Sit in Each Range

The rank bands show a clear pattern. Ten institutions occupy ranks 1–10, and another ten sit at ranks 11–20. The 21–30 band also contains ten programs. The 31–50 band holds 20, and the 51–100 band holds 50. From there, the numbers grow: 51 programs in the 101–150 band, 49 in the 151–200 band, and 52 in the published 201–250 band, 54 in the 251–300 band, 48 in the 301–350 band, 48 in the 351–400 band, 47 in the 401–450 band, 51 in the 451–500 band, 50 in the 501–550 band, 51 in the 551–600 band, 49 in the 601–650 band, 48 in the 651–700 band, 51 in the 701–750 band, and 101 in the 751–850 band.

This structure means that the top 100 represents a relatively small slice of the total. The published 201–250 band contains 52 programs and the 251–300 band contains 54, while the entire top 100 contains 100. For a student whose target list includes only the top 100, the pool of options is limited to 100 institutions out of 850—a deliberate narrowing that may or may not match their goals.

What the Scores Indicate at the Top

The overall score combines several indicators, including academic reputation, employer reputation, and citations. Among the highest-ranked programs, overall scores range from the high 80s to the high 90s. For example, three institutions score 90 or higher, and 16 score 80 or higher; within the 80–89 band there are 13 institutions. Scores in the 70–79 band cover 54 institutions, while 70 institutions score 70 or higher.

For students, this suggests that the very top programs are separated from the next tier by a small margin on the composite score, while the next tier down is separated from the broader field by a much larger gap. The reputation components—academic and employer—tend to be strongest at the very top, while citation-based measures may vary more across institutions.

Data Notes

The figures in this article come from the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2026, published by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS), with a data reference date of 2026-04-03. The rankings cover 60 subject tables and include component scores for academic reputation, employer reputation, citations, H-index, and international research network. The source page is QS World University Rankings by Subject 2026

The data for Computer Science & Information Systems was parsed by subject block and filtered by country. Ranks are reported as the lower-bound integer. The list includes 850 institutions globally across 79 countries and regions. One limitation to note: the country leaderboard counts institutions listed in the rankings, not all institutions offering programs in the field. The rank bands and score bands are derived from the published ranking positions and overall scores. A median rank cannot be computed for the 850 listed programs, because 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 beyond the published data are included here.

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

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