Academic Ranking of World's Universities in Computer Science
arwu.org
arwu.org
"Institutions are ranked in five subject fields, including Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Computer Sciences and Economics/Business."
You're seriously telling me that - for example - just one university in Germany can't even crack the top 50? That's a joke.
Perhaps it may be that European education is less focused on prestige of universities and funneling funding to those specific uni's. Therefore the talent is spread out much more. Just speculation.
Disclaimer - I'm American.
It's another question to ask whether it's better to have a higher baseline of knowledge in a subject, or to have a group far, far above the rest. As most European countries are social democratic in orientation (the UK less so) I would guess the former is preferred.