SJSU Beats Stanford, Berkeley in Tech Rankings

San Jose State University has climbed to No. 2 in the nation for software engineering and data-driven programming skills, surpassing Stanford, Caltech, and UC Berkeley in a national computer science assessment — trailing only MIT.

Since 2021, the university has jumped 47 spots in the CodeSignal University Ranking Report, a rise driven by its master's program in artificial intelligence and coursework spanning machine learning, advanced coding, and robotics.

The momentum accelerated after the California State University system invested $16.9 million with OpenAI in 2025 to provide ChatGPT.edu licenses to students, faculty, and administrators across its campuses. SJSU President Cynthia Teniente-Matson has been a vocal champion of integrating AI across university operations.

"If you're in our engineering and computer science programs, they're very far ahead," she said on the Nvidia AI Podcast. "That is really a competitive advantage for our students."

Jorjeta Jetcheva, chair of the Computer Engineering Department, credits faculty who work in the tech industry with keeping curricula current. The university is now launching an AI minor for all College of Engineering students and expanding its robotics minor to include a software track.

Industry partners including Nvidia, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, and Qualcomm regularly recruit SJSU graduates. The college's advisory council — composed of CEOs, engineers, and senior directors — reviews course content to ensure it stays relevant.

SJSU's Silicon Valley location amplifies the advantage. Faculty member Ahmed Banafa brings in guest speakers from Google and Nvidia, while students tap into a dense ecosystem of hackathons and tech events to network and build skills.

Graduates say the edge was evident early. Anoushka Gade, who earned her master's in AI at SJSU in 2023, noted that her program covered retrieval-augmented generation back in 2021 — well before the concept went mainstream. Fellow alumnus Shishir Dongre credited advanced AI coursework and Silicon Valley networking with landing him a role at Amazon.

"Our students have the thirst — they want to learn technology and grow," said Ethel Tshukudo, assistant professor of computer science. "Rather than shying away from AI, we want to find a way to embrace it in our classrooms."