Followings are the list of world’s 10 top universities for the field of engineering and technology produced by Times Higher Education. As of today, this is the latest list as the 2008 ranking is yet to come out.
A student wishing to get the best of exposure, knowledge, learning curve, and create one hell of engineer, these are the institutions you should aim to get in. Whether you’re sitting for SPM (Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia), STPM (Sijil Tinggi Pelajaran Malaysia) enrolling in foundation studies (e.g. A-Levels, Matriculation), sitting for TOEFL & SAT and filling up your UCAS form, now is the time to start aiming.
1. MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), US
MIT was founded in 1861 which combined polytechnic models in Europe, especially German and French. In World War II (WWII), MIT played a key role as a research and development center for defense-related technologies which included radar, missile guidance and military computer application.
Later, it evolved to provide other field of courses that encompass economics, linguistic, political science and management. However, technology and engineering remain as the university’s strongest legacy. The founder of JobStreet.com, Malaysia’s largest online recruitment website, Mark Chang went to this school.
2. University of California, Berkeley, US
The university, often referred as ‘Berkeley’ or ‘Cal’ was established about 140 years ago as a result of a merger between 2 private colleges. Similar to MIT, Berkeley also produced some smart engineers who were involved in the World War II and developed the atomic bombs and hydrogen bombs. The Berkeley students are not only good academically but they also have reputation to produce excellent sportsmen and competitive athletes. To date, their athletes have won an astounding figure of more than 100 medals in Olympic Games.
Malaysian top-notch swimmer, Alex Lim received his sports degree in Berkeley. In 2002, Alex became agonizingly close to winning a 50 meter back-stoke in the Commonwealth Games in Manchester, United Kingdom, losing by 0.02 second to the world champion and multiple-record holder, Ian Thorpe, or popularly nick named ‘The Torpedo’.
Former Finance Minister Tun Daim Zainuddin also graduated from the University of California, in the field of law.
3. Stanford University, US
Another American institution, which was interesting enough, built on a horse farm. It was formed by a California Governor, Leland Stanford and his wife, in tribute to their son, who died of typhoid at a tender age of 18. In the earlier years, the number of female students were capped with certain quota, as Stanford’s wife felt that large number of female students would violate the honor to their son’s tribute.
Technically, Stanford University is considered to have the world’s largest campus, as it occupies the largest land area. The institution enrolls between 14,000 to 18,000 students at one time.
In 1997, Stanford accepted enrollment of a 14-year old Malaysian by the name of Lim Huat Chye, who graduated with a Degree in Computer Science 4 years later, at 18. He went on to work with the world’s biggest online bookstore, Amazon.com. Among other prominent Malaysians with educational background from Stanford are Tan Sri Dr Wan Mohd Zahid Noordin, former Director of Education and Guthrie Chairman, as well as Tan Sri Awang Had Salleh, Vice Chancellor of UPSI and Chairman of a number of private tertiary institutes.
4. California Institute of Technology (CALTECH), US
California Institute of Technology or more popularly known as Caltech is a private institution with strong reputation in engineering and natural sciences. It even houses a NASA laboratory in the campus which oversees the design work and operation of unmanned space probes. The size of the students is considered relatively small, with only over 2000 students occupying the university at one time, but this small number is a bunch of talented students. The institution is also known to have produced many Nobel winning researchers and professors.
Caltech admitted its youngest ever graduate about 15 years ago and the student was a Malaysian by the name of Chiang Ti Ming. Ti Ming was barely 15 when enrolled into the university, and after 4 years graduated among the top 5% of the class. Unfortunately the prodigy died in his hometown, Negeri Sembilan in 2007 at the age of 31.
5. University of Cambridge, UK
The best engineering school in England and United Kingdom. Often, Cambridge and Oxford Universities compete head to head on general reputation but when it comes to technical field, Cambridge is always ahead of its rival.
Ironically, Cambridge was formed by a group of scholars who left Oxford University, after a dispute with local town folks. Every year, the institution accepts between approximately 5-10 Malaysians for enrollment in various courses and colleges, with many of them eventually become the country’s think tanks and corporate hotshots.
The most well-known one is arguably the late Dr Liew Boon Horng, who was crushed to death in his BMW after a block of concrete fell down in the infamous Plaza Damas incident in 2006. Dr Liew was a former McKinsey & Co stalwart before he left and co-founded Ethos Consulting, which is a consulting firm for many government linked companies (GLCs).
6. Imperial College, UK
Imperial College officially goes by the long name of Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, and is located near the heart of one of the world’s most expensive cities, London, and to be exact, South Kensington. It used to belong to the University of London constituent before but today it is no longer the case.
The college also houses the prominent Royal Albert Hall, where the country’s top singer, Siti Nurhaliza, used to perform. The hall is used for the graduation ceremony of students. Imperial is known to be one of the most selective universities in the world, having recorded a consistent acceptance rate of well below 20%.
The present President and CEO of Ranhill Berhad, Tan Sri Hamdan Mohamad, received his masters from Imperial College, while former HEP Vice Chancellor of UTM, Prof. Dr. Ahmad Kamal Idris obtained his PhD in the same institute.
7. Carnegie Mellon University, US
Located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Carnegie Mellon was founded by Andrew Carnegie, the famous industrialist and philanthropist in 1900. For many years, the university has been consistently ranked among the top 20 universities in the world. On approximation, about 70% of the students admitted to the university are in the top 10% of their high school classes, while their engineering and computer science courses are considered the best in its class.
In 2006, Carnegie Mellon collaborated with Universiti Malaya (UM) to provide master’s degree program in Information Technology Management.
8. Georgia Institute of Technology, US
Georgia Institute, or more commonly known as Georgia Tech, is one of the few public universities in the top list. From only 2 buildings during its formation, the university has grown into providing hundreds of courses to close to 20,000 graduate and undergraduate students, as well as becoming a well-known center with very active research activities.
As a matter of fact, many start up companies have been born out of research works initiated by Georgia Tech, with many of them went on to produce many patented technologies.
Unfortunately, the university is also notoriously known as ‘one of the toughest universities’ in the United States, and produce many ‘unhappy students’ due to tough academic life.
9. University of Tokyo, Japan
University of Tokyo belongs to a ring of a so-called the Seven Universities, which refers to seven top public institutions of higher education in Japan. Uni of Tokyo tops the rank, with Kyoto University considered its biggest rival.
University of Tokyo is one of the only two Asian universities in the world’s top 10 rank in the field of engineering and technology. At the moment, more than 30,000 students are enrolled in the campus, with less than 10% of them foreigners, including Malaysians.
10. National University of Singapore (NUS), Singapore
While Malaysia embarrassingly does not have any of its university even in the top 200 list of world’s best university, the neighboring Singaporeans can jump in joy and delight.
Ranked in 10th means National University of Singapore, the oldest and largest university in the country, gets the better of Oxford, Princeton, Harvard, Cornell and so on.
Apart from its main campus, NUS also have colleges in Philadelphia, Silicon Valley, Shanghai, Stockholm and Bangalore.
