CoinDesk’s rankings cover courses, research output, campus blockchain offerings (like student clubs and research centers), employment outcomes, academic reputation and cost.

Read More: The Top Universities for Blockchain – Methodology

This year’s ranking rates 230 schools internationally, expanding the sample from just U.S. schools in our first university ranking last year.

Overall, the National University of Singapore is in first place as a result of its multiple blockchain research centers, its frequently hosted blockchain-themed conferences, its many blockchain clubs, its company partnerships and its masters program in digital financial technology.

Also representing Asia in the top 10 are Hong Kong Polytechnic, Tsinghua University and Chinese University of Hong Kong. RMIT in Melbourne comes second while representing Europe are the University of Zurich, UCL and ETH Zurich.

The top U.S schools are Berkeley (third) and MIT (fifth). Cornell, which was second last year, is now in 17th place. Stanford, which placed fourth in 2020, is now in 12th. Harvard, which was fifth last year, is now 49th, reflecting stronger competition this time, and that schools with strong overall reputations aren’t always the best performers when it comes to blockchain.

Place
School
Points
1
National University of Singapore
100.00
2
Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology
97.65
3
University of California Berkeley
93.26
4
University of Zurich
91.66
5
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
91.57
6
Hong Kong Polytechnic University
84.30
7
UCL
81.54
8
Tsinghua University
79.20
9
Chinese University of Hong Kong
75.30
10
ETH Zurich
75.04
11
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
74.98
12
Stanford University
68.41
13
UNSW Sydney
66.29
14
City University of Hong Kong
66.13
15
University of Oxford
65.47
16
Shanghai Jiao Tong University
65.18
17
Cornell University
63.98
18
Delft University of Technology
63.85
19
University of Hong Kong
61.97
20
University of Sydney
61.48
21
Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (Switzerland)
60.78
22
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
60.10
23
University of Cambridge
58.69
24
Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
58.51
25
University of California Los Angeles
58.40
26
Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology
57.87
27
Sun Yat-sen University
57.18
28
University of British Columbia
55.80
29
Peking University
54.15
30
Arizona State University
51.86
31
Technical University of Munich
51.78
32
University of Edinburgh
51.77
33
Carnegie Mellon University
51.10
34
University of Melbourne
50.95
35
Worcester Polytechnic Institute
50.77
36
Georgetown University
50.40
37
Fudan University
49.95
38
University of Southern California
49.57
39
Korea University
48.85
40
Imperial College London
48.59
41
New York University
48.55
42
Tokyo Institute of Technology
47.37
43
University of Warwick
47.19
44
Fordham University
46.89
45
Columbia University
46.46
46
Seoul National University
45.72
47
King Abdulaziz University
45.59
48
Monash University
44.05
49
Harvard University
43.89
50
Zhejiang University
43.37
51
University of Manchester
43.31
52
University of Pennsylvania
43.01
53
Yonsei University
42.93
54
Rutgers University
42.67
55
University of Oslo
42.48
56
University of Amsterdam
41.96
57
Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU)
41.34
58
Aarhus University
41.23
59
King’s College
40.96
60
Wageningen University & Research
40.84
61
Osaka University
40.58
62
University of California Davis
40.46
63
University of Tokyo
39.96
64
University of Florida
39.62
65
University of Toronto
39.57
66
Princeton University
39.10
67
University of Science and Technology of China
38.93
68
National Taiwan University
38.54
69
University of Geneva
38.20
70
Humboldt-Universitat zu Berlin
37.94
71
Georgia Institute of Technology
37.88
72
University of Michigan
37.86
73
Utrecht University
37.69
74
Michigan State University
37.61
75
University of Arkansas
37.39
76
University of Chicago
37.02
77
Technical University of Denmark
37.00
78
McGill University
36.87
79
University of Texas at Austin
36.86
80
KU Leuven
36.75
81
Stony Brook University
35.22
82
Erasmus University Rotterdam
34.66
83
University of California San Diego
34.64
84
University of Glasgow
34.38
85
University of Auckland
34.17
86
Institut Polytechnique de Paris
34.12
87
London School of Economics and Political Science
33.93
88
Northwestern University
33.90
89
Northeastern University
33.61
90
University of Adelaide
33.43
91
University of Western Australia
33.05
92
University at Buffalo SUNY
32.64
93
Ghent University
32.63
94
Pohang University of Science And Technology (POSTECH)
32.01
95
University of Barcelona
31.90
96
Sorbonne University
31.71
97
Temple University
31.63
98
Pennsylvania State University
31.58
99
University of Massachusetts
31.54
100
Technion-Israel Institute of Technology
31.48
101
University of Southampton
31.44
102
University of Tubingen
31.11
103
Boston University
31.00
104
University of Sheffield
30.99
105
Purdue University
30.95
106
University of Groningen
30.93
107
University of Connecticut
30.70
108
Universite de Paris
30.68
109
University of Notre Dame
30.62
110
University of Washington
30.33
111
Universidad de Buenos Aires
30.24
112
Universite Paris-Saclay
30.23
113
Kyoto University
29.97
114
University of Bonn
29.92
115
Lehigh University
29.61
116
University of Basel
29.55
117
University of California Santa Barbara
29.53
118
Virginia Tech
29.48
119
KTH Royal Institute of Technology
29.45
120
University of Freiburg
29.40
121
California Institute of Technology
29.23
122
University of Helsinki
29.21
123
University of Copenhagen
29.09
124
University of Bristol
29.05
125
Lomonosov Moscow State University
28.99
126
Universiti Malaya
28.80
127
Stockholm University
28.76
128
Australian National University
28.33
129
University of Arizona
28.30
130
Ludwig Maximilians Universitat Munchen
28.22
131
VU University Amsterdam
28.16
132
Paris Sciences et Lettres PSL Research University Paris
27.89
133
University of Queensland
27.78
134
North Carolina State University
27.67
135
University of California Santa Cruz
27.37
136
University of Birmingham
27.12
137
Boston College
27.07
138
University of Pittsburgh
27.06
139
Charite Universitatsmedizin Berlin
26.84
140
Yale University
26.60
141
LMU Munich
26.48
142
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
26.33
143
University of California Irvine
26.25
144
Weizmann Institute of Science
26.06
145
Tohoku University
25.87
146
Ruprecht-Karls-Universitat Heidelberg
25.52
147
Syracuse University
25.34
148
Tufts University
25.34
149
Duke University
25.34
150
Binghamton University SUNY
25.34
151
Uppsala University
25.20
152
University of Cape Town
25.00
153
UCSF
24.82
154
Brown University
24.62
155
Leiden University
24.56
156
University of North Carolina
24.27
157
University of Wisconsin
24.15
158
McMaster University
23.92
159
University of Leeds
23.92
160
Texas A&M University
23.81
161
CU Boulder
23.77
162
Johns Hopkins University
23.75
163
Ohio State University
23.46
164
University of Minnesota
23.41
165
Florida State University
23.08
166
Indiana University
23.04
167
Durham University
23.03
168
Emory University
22.42
169
University of New Mexico
22.32
170
Dartmouth College
22.20
171
Nagoya University
22.17
172
University of Houston
22.08
173
Lund University
21.77
174
University of Maryland
21.60
175
Case Western Reserve University
20.17
176
University of Montreal
19.34
177
University of Illinois at Chicago
18.38
178
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
18.10
179
University of Georgia
18.05
180
Rockefeller University
17.47
181
University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center
17.23
182
George Washington University
17.15
183
Karolinska Institute
17.05
184
Vanderbilt University
16.79
185
Tulane University
16.60
186
Ecole Polytechnique (France)
15.94
187
University of St. Andrews
15.78
188
Wake Forest University
14.50
189
University of Miami
14.50
190
The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas
14.04
191
Rice University
13.81
192
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
13.75
193
Washington University in St. Louis
13.68
194
Santa Clara University
13.18
195
Heidelberg University
13.01
196
University of Rochester
13.00
197
Southern Methodist University
12.62
198
Villanova University
12.53
199
Loyola Marymount University
12.51
200
Clemson University
10.35
201
University of Virginia
10.18
202
William & Mary
9.57
203
Pepperdine University
9.25
204
Scripps College
7.80
205
Drexel University
7.58
206
Smith College
7.45
207
Brandeis University
5.91
208
Wellesley College
4.75
209
Davidson College
2.02
210
Grinnell College
1.73
211
Bryn Mawr College
1.71
212
Swarthmore College
1.45
213
Bates College
1.41
214
Middlebury College
1.39
215
Lafayette College
1.37
216
Pomona College
1.27
217
Mount Holyoke College
1.27
218
Bowdoin College
1.25
219
Claremont McKenna College
1.22
220
Hamilton College
1.21
221
Haverford College
1.16
222
Carleton College
1.07
223
Colgate University
0.85
224
Washington and Lee University
0.79
225
Amherst College
0.75
226
University of Richmond
0.72
227
Williams College
0.58
228
Barnard College
0.40
229
Wesleyan University
0.12
230
Vassar College
0.00

More about Top Universities for Blockchain by CoinDesk

This is the second year CoinDesk has done these rankings. Last year we tracked 46 U.S. schools, and ranked the top 30. This year, we tracked 230 schools internationally.

Data is good. There is an absence of data on this space: Research and teaching can only get better if we track what academic institutions are offering.

We hope these rankings prompts the sharing of best practices in teaching and other campus offerings. We profile the top 30 schools here, and invite those and other schools to share with the world what they are doing. We want to hear from you.

Research was led by Reuben Youngblom, a researcher from Stanford and MIT, along with CoinDesk’s Joe Lautzenhiser. To assess the rankings, they scoured publicly available sources including course catalogues, program prospectuses, social media channels, club web page the Clarivate Web of Science, and devised an online survey where academics, students and stakeholders could rate the offerings at their schools and their competitors.

Mindful that the cost of university education varies wildly, this year we introduced a metric that compares the unsubsidized tuition costs against the average cost of living in the region in which the school is located.

Read More