<p>QS subject rankings for 2013 recently came out, and I was disappointed to see Berkeley fall in the rankings for CS.</p>
<p>Cal has been in the #3/#4 for as long as I can remember, and it dropped to #7 this year. This worries me a little. Have the budget cuts really affected the quality of education? And should we expect the decline to continue.</p>
<p>Here are the links,
[QS</a> World University Rankings by Subject 2013 - Computer Science & Information Systems | Top Universities](<a href=“http://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/university-subject-rankings/2013/computer-science-and-information-systems]QS”>QS World University Rankings for Computer Science and Information Systems 2013 | Top Universities)</p>
<p>[University</a> of California, Berkeley (UCB) Rankings | Top Universities](<a href=“http://www.topuniversities.com/node/2238/ranking-details/university-subject-rankings/2013/computer-science-and-information-systems]University”>http://www.topuniversities.com/node/2238/ranking-details/university-subject-rankings/2013/computer-science-and-information-systems)</p>
<p>I know these rankings are not meant to be taken too literally, but they do reflect upon the world’s opinion of Berkeley.</p>
<p>Wait, who did we drop below? Harvard, Cambridge, and CMU?</p>
<p>Can’t stop laughing … I’m wondering, why don’t they just put all the famous private institutions on top of Berkeley…</p>
<p>Actually, we were always below CMU for CS. What I find surprising is that now we are below Harvard, Oxford and Cambridge as well. But I thought these universities aren’t good for sciences!!</p>
<p>Worldwide rankings have always had the same Top 4 (MIT/Stanford/Carnegie Mellon/Berkeley), and this is from USNews: [World’s</a> Best Universities in Computer Science; Top Computer Science Schools | US News](<a href=“http://www.usnews.com/education/worlds-best-universities-rankings/best-universities-computer-science]World’s”>http://www.usnews.com/education/worlds-best-universities-rankings/best-universities-computer-science). Also, Quacquarelli Symonds, the producer of the QS World University Rankings is not well-regarded since the Times Higher Education found their ranking methodology problematic and therefore ended their partnership in 2010 in producing the Times Higher Education–QS World University Rankings, which thereafter became the Times Higher Education World University Rankings.</p>
<p>CalBear2K10 - US News does not produce it’s own World rankings. They publish QS world rankings. If you go to the link you provided, on the top left, you will see the US news logo underneath which is a badge saying “Based on data from QS World University rankings”</p>
<p>That link is still showing data from 2012. And as you said, “Worldwide rankings have always had the same Top 4 (MIT/Stanford/Carnegie Mellon/Berkeley).” This has changed this year. US news will update the list soon and Berkeley has dropped to #7.</p>
<p>This is why I am worried. After being in the top 5 for so long, we are beginning to decline.</p>
<p>Also, QS is the most cited source of Worldwide university rankings.</p>
<p>Harvard’s CS department appears to offer all of the usual CS courses, although it appears to have a smaller student base, since most CS courses are offered only once per year (including its lower division courses 20, 50, 51, 61) instead of every semester.</p>
<p>[Computer</a> Science Courses ? Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences](<a href=“http://www.seas.harvard.edu/academics/areas/computer-science-courses]Computer”>http://www.seas.harvard.edu/academics/areas/computer-science-courses)</p>
<p>Well that is quite irritating then.</p>
<p>Well that sucks.</p>
<p>Back to busting my butt for finals for courses only ranked #7 in the world.</p>
<p>These rankings are so arbitrary. Our CS ranking went down, but many of our other engineering/science discipline rankings went up. Mathematics went up from 5 to 4, Materials Science went from 4 to 2, Mechanical Engineering went from 6 to 4, Civil Engineering went from 3 to 2, Physics went from 7 to 5, Statistics and Operations Research went from 2 to 1, and Earth and Marine Sciences made a whopping move from 5 to 1. Chemical Engineering (2), Electrical Engineering (3), and Biological Sciences (6) all maintained their rankings from 2012. Chemistry went down from 2 to 3. </p>
<p>Last year, Berkeley had ZERO #1 rankings and this year we have FIVE.</p>
<p>All the rankings will probably go the opposite way next year. Anyone who changes their opinion of Berkeley based on these rankings needs their head checked.</p>