The University of Zurich and ETH Zurich ranked third and 27th respectively on CoinDesk’s latest annual best universities for blockchain rankings.

The rankings were made from a shortlist of 240 institutions around the world, calculated based on their scholarly, industrial and pedagogical impact on blockchain.

The top 50 universities for blockchain education and research in the world. Source: CoinDesk Best Universities for Blockchain 2022

Metrics that were taken into account included the institutions’ blockchain research publications, courses, degrees, conferences, clubs and industry partnerships or grants.

The rankings also took into account the institutions’ reputations, where their graduates get jobs, and other measurements from publicly available sources.

The University of Zurich moved up the rankings this year from fourth to third place, while ETH Zurich dropped from 10th place to 27th place.

The École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), which ranked 21st on last year’s rankings, did not make this year’s top 50 list.

#3 — University of Zurich

The University of Zurich is home to the UZH Blockchain Center — Switzerland’s largest and one of the world’s most active blockchain research hubs.

Founded in 2017, the UZH Blockchain Center has 22 faculty members from a cross section of the university’s business, STEM and law departments.

The center also hosts over 40 researchers from UZH and other institutions, has published 108 blockchain-related research papers, and earned more than 550 citations.

While UZH currently offers no blockchain degree programmes, it does offer 25 blockchain and related courses, plus four certification programmes.

In April 2022, the UZH Blockchain Center and Cardano Foundation announced a partnership to advance the UZH’s educational programming and launch new research projects.

#27 — ETH Zurich

ETH Zurich or the Federal Polytechnic School is known for its blockchain-related collaborations with think tanks, peer institutions and industry.

The institution has two key initiatives: the ICE Center for computer science and engineering R&D and the ETH Blockchain Initiative which engages in blockchain research.

Researchers have published 100 influential blockchain papers between 2019 and 2022, with 1,838 total citations.

ETH Zurich has also hosted blockchain conferences and partnered with the Web3 Foundation and the Concordium Foundation to promote blockchain innovation and development.