Top 20 Construction Management Schools in the World

Whether you want to study in the US or abroad, these colleges and universities should be at the top of your list.

Reviewed by Joanna Zambas

Students attending one of the best construction management schools

When it comes to choosing a major, construction management is certainly an excellent choice. Indeed, it helps you build a diverse and highly valuable skill set, opens the doors to vast professional and networking opportunities, and offers ample career options — from project manager to construction site supervisor, and beyond.

But which are the top universities for construction management?

Based on EduRank’s latest rankings, here are the 20 best construction management schools in the world to consider applying to and starting your journey into a high-paying career.

20. Tongji University

Tongji UniversityPsd01 via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Location: Shanghai, China

Acceptance rate: 36%

Starting the list of the top colleges and universities in the world for construction management degrees is Tongji University.

Founded in 1907 and affiliated with the Ministry of Education of China, Tongji University boasts more than 2,800 experts on its teaching staff and over 37,000 students across a broad range of disciplines including science, engineering, economics and medicine at undergraduate and graduate level.

Its construction management program particular is considered one of the best in the world, and ranks as the fourth-best in China and fifth-best in Asia.

19. Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State UniversityCBGator87 via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Location: Blacksburg, VA, United States

Acceptance rate: 57%

Better known as Virginia Tech, the Blacksburg-based Viriginia Polytechnic Institute and State University promises a 100% job placement rate for all its construction engineering and management degree graduates.

The university itself, meanwhile, ranks highly for most of its other programs. For example, its engineering management and automotive engineering degrees rank as the third- and sixth-best in the US, respectively. Their construction management program ranks 12th among national universities.

18. Arizona State University – Tempe

Arizona State University - Tempedavidpinter via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0)

Location: Tempe, AZ, United States

Acceptance rate: 90%

Among the most lenient universities on this list in terms of acceptance rates, Arizona State University – Tempe currently hosts 65,600 undergraduate and 14,600 graduate students across more than 800 programs within fields like architecture and construction, business, computing and mathematics, and science.

Beyond its construction management degree program, the university also ranks highly for others subjects, both on a national and an international level. Indeed, its landscape architecture program ranks first in the US and its engineering management course ranks sixth in the world.

17. Carnegie Mellon University

Carnegie Mellon UniversityCorey Seeman via Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

Location: Pittsburgh, PA, United States

Acceptance rate: 11%

Carnegie Mellon University is perhaps one of the hardest universities to get into, if its acceptance rate is anything to go by — as well as its comprehensive admissions requirements. In fact, only 1,700 of the 34,000 applicants made the cut in 2023.

And for good reason, too: the university only admits the best of the best onto their programs, which include construction management (with a US ranking of #10) as well as systems engineering, architecture, human–computer interaction, engineering management and robotics (which each rank first in the world).

16. University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign

University of Illinois Urbana-ChampaignKevin Dooley via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)

Location: Champaign, IL, United States

Acceptance rate: 45%

Founded in 1867, the University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign is one of the country’s largest public universities in terms of enrolment — over 59,000 students currently study here.

The university offers more than 150 undergraduate and 100 programs, ranging from bachelor’s degrees to PhDs. Its computer networking, structural engineering, and reliability and quality engineering programs in particular, rank #5, #4 and #3 in the world, respectively.

15. Tsinghua University

Tsinghua UniversityN509FZ via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Location: Beijing, China

Acceptance rate: 21%

If you’re looking to study construction management in China, you might want to consider Tsinghua University, which is among the top three universities for this academic field. It’s also the best university in the world for studying subjects like environmental management, chemical engineering and automotive engineering, to name a few.

Tsinghua University is one of the hardest universities in the country to get into. In fact, only 0.1% of all test takers for the Chinese national college entrance exam are admitted to the university.

14. University of Texas at Austin

University of Texas at AustinRandy von Liski via Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Location: Austin, TX, United States

Acceptance rate: 31%

Boasting an impressive list of notable alumni (including Neil deGrasse Tyson, Janis Joplin and Matthew McConaughey), the University of Texas at Austin is one of the world’s top 100 universities.

Also known as UT Texas, it was founded in 1883 and currently offers 100 undergraduate and 170 graduate degrees to some 52,500 students. Its Construction Engineering and Project Management program, offered via the Cochrell School of Engineering, ranks among the top 10 in the US and in North America generally.

13. Stanford University

Stanford UniversityOnasill - Bill Badzo via Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

Location: Stanford, CA, United States

Acceptance rate: 4%

Considering that Stanford University is the second-best university in the world, it’s easy to see why its acceptance rate is low, which accounts for a mere 2,000 admissions from more than 56,000 applications.

While its construction management program only comes in at #13, it tops the global university rankings in several other subjects, such as game design and development, acoustical engineering, linguistics, journalism and digital media, and earth science.

12. Delft University of Technology

Delft University of TechnologyPrzemyslaw Pawelczak via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0)

Location: Delft, Netherlands

Acceptance rate: 50%

As the oldest and largest public technical school in the Netherlands, the Delft University of Technology was established in 1842 as a royal academy before becoming a technical school in 1864 and eventually a university in 1905.

The university’s two-year Construction Management and Engineering master’s program is taught in English and covers all the basics for a successful career in the field, from systems ensuring design to legal and governance, and process management to spatial data science.

11. Polytechnic University of Milan

Polytechnic University of MilanIta140188 via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Location: Lombardy, Italy

Acceptance rate: 28%

The second European construction management school in this list is found in Italy: the Polytechnic University of Milan. While it has a predominantly male student body (a ratio of 65 men to 35 women), it’s the largest technical school in the country with some 40,000 students.

Its construction management program is rated the best in Italy, as is its architecture, industrial engineering, computer engineering, telecommunications and biomedical engineering programs — in fact, most of its programs are regarded the best in the country, considering that the university itself is too.

10. University of Michigan – Ann Arbor

University of Michigan - Ann ArborDwight Burdette via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0)

Location: Ann Arbor, MI, United States

Acceptance rate: 18%

Jumping into the top 10, we have the world’s third-best university: the University of Michigan – Ann Arbor. Hosting a student body of nearly 33,000 undergraduates and 18,500 graduates, UMich is the oldest institution in the state of Michigan and one of the earliest research universities to be established in the country.

The Tishman Construction Management Program, via the university’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, offers various study options, including an online certificate in construction engineering and management, an MEng in CEM and a PhD in civil engineering.

9. Purdue University

Purdue UniversityDiego Delso via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Location: West Lafayette, IN, United States

Acceptance rate: 53%

Boasting a rather lenient acceptance rate (over 36,000 local and international students were admitted, of nearly 69,000 applications), Purdue University is widely considered as one of the world’s top universities.

The university’s MS in Construction Management Technology, offered through the Purdue Polytechnic Institute, is designed to provide students with the knowledge and skill sets needed for a successful career in the field of construction. The program is available as thesis-based and non-thesis-based options, and can be taken online or on campus.

8. University of Hong Kong

University of Hong KongColin Tsoi via Flickr (CC BY-ND 2.0)

Location: Hong Kong, China

Acceptance rate: 17%

Originally founded as a medical college in 1887, the University of Hong Kong came to its current existence in 1911, and is the oldest tertiary institution in Hong Kong. It hosts a relatively small student body compared to other universities on this list, standing at over 18,000 undergraduates and 20,500 postgraduates.

The university’s MSc program in construction project management is the second-best in China and third-best overall in Asia. It can be taken as 12 prescribed and elective courses (including construction economics and procurement systems) or as 9 courses plus a dissertation.

7. Loughborough University

Loughborough UniversityChick0nPTCG via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Location: Loughborough, England

Acceptance rate: 33%

Founded in 1909 as a technical institute and formally established as a university in 1966, Loughborough University offers various degree programs in construction management, including a BSc in Construction Engineering Management and an MSc in Construction Management, which is the best in the UK and in Europe overall.

Other subjects that the university ranks highly for include engineering management and industrial engineering, both of which are rated the second-best in the UK.

6. University of California, Berkeley

University of California, BerkeleyCharlie Nguyen via Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

Location: Berkeley, CA, United States

Acceptance rate: 11%

As the fifth-best university in the world, the University of California, Berkeley is the founding university of the California University System, having been established in 1868. It is one of the eight original Ivy League universities in the country.

While the university’s construction management program ranks fourth in the US, other programs take the top spot nationally. These include computer engineering, nuclear physics, astrophysics and astronomy, environmental chemistry, cyber security, history, and law enforcement.

5. Georgia Institute of Technology

Georgia Institute of TechnologyDaderot via Wikimedia Commons (CC0 1.0)

Location: Atlanta, GA, United States

Acceptance rate: 17%

Heading into the top five construction management schools in the world, the Georgia Institute of Technology’s program ranks not only fifth globally but also third nationally.

The university’s BSc in Construction Science and Management covers a broad range of topics, from construction law to calculus and project management to construction safety, among others.

4. Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyMys 721tx via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Location: Cambridge, MA, United States

Acceptance rate: 4%

Also known as MIT, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is notorious for its low acceptance rates: just under 1,400 admissions from nearly 34,000 applications! It was founded in 1861 and has since become the sixth-best university in the world, while its alumni feature 41 Nobel Prize winners, as well as former astronaut Buzz Aldrin, the late diplomat Kofi Annan and business magnate Charles Koch.

The institute’s construction management program ranks second in the country as well as in North America.

3. Pennsylvania State University

Pennsylvania State UniversityNathaniel C. Sheetz via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 1.0)

Location: University Park, PA, United States

Acceptance rate: 55%

For the best American university for construction management, Pennsylvania State University has one of the most lenient acceptance rates. In 2023, over 47,000 of some 85,800 applications were accepted. Meanwhile, the Princeton Review gives PSU an Admissions Selectivity Rating of 90 out of 99.

The university was founded in 1855 as a high school and became the state’s first land-grant university in 1863.

2. National University of Singapore

National University of Singaporealex.ch. via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)

Location: Singapore City, Singapore

Acceptance rate: 23%

At number two is the National University of Singapore, which was officially established in 1980 after the merger of the University of Singapore and Nanyang University.

Its construction management program not only ranks second in the world but also in Asia, while it ranks first in Singapore. Through the Professional Certificate in Infrastructure and Construction Project Management, students are exposed to topics like international construction management, infrastructure finance and construction law.

1. Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Hong Kong Polytechnic UniversitySee-ming Lee via Flickr (CC BY-NC 2.0)

Location: Hong Kong, China

Acceptance rate: 26%

The top spot for construction management schools belongs to the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, according to EduRank’s rankings. It was founded in 1937, while it was granted university status in 1994. It has a relatively small student body, totaling over 26,000 students.

In addition to ranking first globally for construction management, the same holds true for the university’s architectural engineering program. Within Asia, it also ranks first for operations engineering, engineering management and management information systems.

Final thoughts

When it comes to choosing a university to pursue an educational journey in construction management, you’re truly spoiled for choice, whether you’re hoping to study abroad or a little closer to home.

The key lies in achieving good grades in relevant high school subjects, gaining practical experience (with a part-time job or through volunteer work, for example), and developing a stand-out résumé. Once you have all this under your belt, you’ll be one step closer to university admission.

Which construction management school are you thinking of applying to? Let us know in the comments section below!