China’s Tsinghua University has emerged as the world’s top institution in computer science across multiple major global rankings, marking a symbolic shift in a field once dominated by American universities. AdvertisementFor the first time, Tsinghua now leads lists ranging from the widely recognised US News Best Global Universities to CSRankings, a system seen as rigorously academic and historically US-centric within the research community. In the latest CSRankings results – which weigh institutions by faculty publications in top-tier conferences across artificial intelligence, computer systems, theory and interdisciplinary research – Tsinghua has overtaken long-time leader Carnegie Mellon University to claim the top spot. Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Zhejiang University and Peking University followed in third, fourth and fifth place. The US is hailed as the birthplace of modern computer science, from the first electronic computers to the creation of the internet.