Oxford ranked first in world for Computer Science and Engineering

The University of Oxford has become the first UK institution to top the Times Higher Education Computer Science and Engineering and Technology global subject rankings.

Oxford overtook three US universities known for their strength in technology to lead the two tables.

The ranking is based on criteria measuring teaching, research, industry income, international outlook and citations, which are combined to provide a comparison of universities worldwide.

Oxford was placed first in Times Higher Education's 2019 subject rankings for Medicine and Social Sciences last month. The discipline-specific tables follow on from the announcement that Oxford has been ranked the top university in the world by the same publication for the second year running.

The Department of Computer Science, University of Oxford, has one of the longest-established Computer Science departments in the country. It’s home to around 300 undergraduate and over 150 doctoral students, as well as having nearly 400 people studying on part-time courses for industry professionals. 

Earlier this month, leading British artificial intelligence company DeepMind made a generous gift in support of graduate students in the Department of Computer Science at Oxford.

The donation will be used by Oxford to launch a new scholarship programme to support and encourage under-represented groups in the field to pursue postgraduate education.

Professor Peter Jeavons, Professor of Computer Science and Head of Department, said: ‘The whole department is absolutely delighted by this news. It’s testament to a lot of hard work on the part of our staff and students. Computer Science at Oxford has got much bigger in recent years, moving into exciting new areas of technology, and demand for places at undergraduate level is huge. We’re looking forward to broadening our outlook further to allow future generations to benefit from Oxford’s world-leading teaching and research in Computer Science.’  

The Department of Engineering Science at Oxford is the only unified department in the UK which offers accredited courses in all the major branches of engineering. It is one of the largest departments in the University and produces around 160 new engineering graduates each year, while 70 students will do an MSc or DPhil. The Department has a substantial research portfolio, including much that is directly supported by industry.

Professor Lionel Tarassenko, the Head of Department said: ‘We have an international reputation for our research in all branches of engineering, from jet engines and renewable energies to digital health and cancer drug therapies via autonomous vehicles and machine learning for computer vision. We continue to attract top talent to the Department, from bright 18-year old undergraduates to world-leading research professors. We are passionate about translating our research into products, working not only with top UK engineering companies such as Rolls-Royce and Jaguar Land Rover but also with Silicon Valley tech giants and spinning out about 10 companies a year. At a time of political uncertainty, our ranking shows how Oxford is delivering for the UK in the engineering sector.’