Top five universities for engineering degrees
1. Harvard University
The John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences is the newest school at Harvard University, having been established in 2007. Its roots are in the Lawrence Scientific School, which was founded in 1847 and became a school in its own right in 2007.
The school covers a number of teaching areas such as applied mathematics, applied physics, bioengineering, computer science, electrical engineering, environmental science and engineering, and materials science and mechanical engineering.
Alumni of the school have been awarded a Nobel prize, a MacArthur Fellowship Award, a Turing Award and a Guggenheim Fellowship, among others.
2. University of Oxford
University of Oxford students are admitted for a specific engineering degree, differing from US universities where students can pick from various strands of engineering to study.
For undergraduates, this will be a four-year course in engineering science or, more specifically, biomedical engineering, chemical engineering, civil engineering, electrical engineering, information engineering or mechanical engineering.
Just under half of all applicants to these courses get through to the interview round, and 15 per cent secure a place on a course.
Many Oxford engineering graduates go on to careers as professional engineers, although some enter business, consultancy or further study.
3. Stanford University
Stanford University’s School of Engineering has been at the cutting edge of new technology and innovation for the past century.
There are nine departments in the school and additional institutes, laboratories and research centres.
Research focuses on 10 of the “most daunting human challenges of the coming decades”. These are: systems design, bioengineering, network security, climate change, robotics, information technology, materials and matter, urban design, affordable accessible healthcare, and computation and data analysis.
Across the nine departments, there are eight interdepartmental undergraduate programmes that students can major in.
4. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The MIT School of Engineering is one of five schools at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and is the largest of the five.
The school has eight academic departments and two interdisciplinary institutes. Departments include aeronautics and astronautics, biological engineering, mechanical engineering, nuclear science and engineering, among others.
The school offers both undergraduate and postgraduate courses and encourages students at all levels to conduct research.
5. University of California, Berkeley
The College of Engineering is one of 14 schools and colleges at the University of California, Berkeley. It was established in 1931.
Students can choose to pursue a number of different areas, including civil and environmental engineering, mechanical engineering and nuclear engineering, among others.
Notable alumni of the college include Steve Wozniack, the co-founder of Apple, Marc Tarpenning, the co-founder of Tesla, Andrew Ng, co-founder and executive chairman of Coursera, and Peter Norvig, director of research at Google.