Technion named among leading computer universities

Chinese ranking places the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa 15th among 500 universities around the world in computer studies.

By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH
Computer technology keyboard 311 (R) (photo credit: Reuters/Catherine Benson)
Computer technology keyboard 311 (R)
(photo credit: Reuters/Catherine Benson)
The Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa has been ranked an impressive 15th among 500 universities around the world in computer studies, it was announced on Wednesday.
In addition, it was given 42nd place among 75 in engineering and technology.
Both rankings were accorded by the Center for World-Class Universities at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, which has measured the performance of top universities worldwide for the last nine years.
The listings can be viewed at www.shanghairanking.com.
Harvard led the general university list, while the Massachusetts Institute of Technology topped the engineering and technology ranking. The Technion also placed 42nd on a list of universities in the fields of mathematics, life sciences and chemistry.
The Shanghai lists are based on objective criteria and much data including the number of Nobel Prize laureates among their staff and graduates, the number of scientific papers published in leading journals and other accomplishments relative to other leading universities. The Chinese experts assessed a total of 1,000 universities and chose 500 as the best among them.
Technion president Prof. Peretz Lavie said that the Technion’s high rating in computers and other fields explain Israel’s major importance in the global hi-tech industry. A new study found that Technion graduates are the “engines that pull the Israeli economy forward.”
In the last two decades, 76 percent of Technion graduates have been hired in the hi-tech industry, which is responsible for 51% of the country’s industrial exports, he said.
Of these, 25% have been directors- general and 10% in other management positions. A total of 59 out of the 129 companies traded on NASDAQ were established or are run by Technion graduates.