Students at the 2023 Undergraduate Ceremony at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Photo courtesy of MIT

The latest edition of the QS World University Rankings by subject, released in March, showed the U.S. dominating the top 10 with five universities.

The top three remained unchanged from last year, with MIT, Stanford University, and Carnegie Mellon University continuing to lead the field.

Singapore stood out as the only Asian country with two universities in the top 10, as the National University of Singapore rose to share fourth place with the U.K.'s University of Oxford, while Nanyang Technological University ranked ninth.

The ranking is compiled annually by U.K.-based higher education analyst Quacquarelli Symonds, which evaluates universities based on academic reputation, employer reputation, research impact, and international collaboration.

The 2026 edition assessed more than 21,000 academic programs across 1,912 institutions in 100 countries and territories.

Outside the top 10, China's Tsinghua University remained just outside in 11th, while Peking University fell two places from 14th last year.

New entrants to the top 20 included the Institute of Science Tokyo and University College London, replacing New York University and the University of Washington.

Below are the top 20 universities in the 2026 QS World University Rankings by subject for computer science and information system.