Rankings of universities in Canada

Rankings of universities in Canada are typically published annually by a variety of nationally, and internationally based publications. Rankings of post-secondary institutions have most often been conducted by magazines, newspapers, websites, governments, or academia. Ranking are established to help inform potential applicants about universities in Canada based on a range of criteria, including student body characteristics, classes, faculty, finances, library, and reputation. Various rankings consider combinations of factors, including funding and endowment, research excellence and/or influence, specialization expertise, admissions, student options, award numbers, internationalization, graduate employment, industrial linkage, historical reputation and other criteria. Various rankings also evaluate universities based on research output. Canadian-based publications have generally limited their evaluations on universities in Canada, whereas internationally based rankings ranked Canadian institutions alongside other higher education institutions around the world.

Canadian universities have ranked in international rankings including the Academic Ranking of World Universities, QS World University Rankings, the Times Higher Education World University Rankings, and the U.S. News & World Report Best Global University Ranking. Several nationally based publication have also produced rankings for Canadian universities, the most prominent being the news magazine Maclean's under the name Guide to Canadian Universities which began in 1991.[1]

International rankings

Bibliometric-based rankings

Bibliometric rankings are based on citation analysis, evaluating the impact a university has on specialized journals and other academic publications. Bibliometrics is a field of statistics used to provide quantitative analysis of academic literature. Annual international rankings of this nature include the Academic Ranking of World Universities, published by the Shanghai Ranking Consultancy; the Performance Ranking of Scientific Papers for World Universities, published by the National Taiwan University; and University Ranking by Academic Performance, published by the Middle East Technical University. Although these rankings attempt to provide a quantitative analysis of a university's academic performance, differences in methodologies, and weighting of factors differentiates these rankings.

The following table includes Canadian universities, and their most recent global rank (up to the top 1000) in the aforementioned publications (with national ranks in parenthesis):

University 2020 Academic Ranking of World Universities[2] 2019 Performance Ranking of Scientific Papers for World Universities[3] 2018–19 University Ranking by Academic Performance[4]
University of Alberta 101 – 150 (5) 81 (4) 78 (4)
University of British Columbia 38 (2) 27 (2) 27 (2)
University of Calgary 151 – 200 (6–9) 132 (7) 139 (7)
Carleton University 501 – 600 (20) 501 – 550 (20) 536 (20)
Concordia University 601 – 700 (21–24) 701 – 750 (24) 612 (24)
Dalhousie University 201 – 300 (10–12) 301 (T-12) 302 (13)
University of Guelph 301 – 400 (13–18) 446 (18) 407 (18)
Lakehead University 901– 1000 (27–28) N/A N/A
Université Laval 301 – 400 (13–18) 255 (11) 238 (11)
University of Manitoba 301 – 400 (13–18) 301 (T-12) 285 (12)
McGill University 78 (3) 47 (3) 37 (3)
McMaster University 98 (4) 119 (6) 126 (6)
Memorial University of Newfoundland 601 – 700 (21–24) 601 – 650 (22) 580 (22)
Université de Montréal 151 – 200 (6–9) 104 (5) 99 (5)
University of New Brunswick N/A N/A 925 (28)
Ontario Tech University 801 – 900 (26) N/A N/A
University of Ottawa 151 – 200 (6–9) 147 (8) 152 (8)
Université du Québec à Montréal 601 – 700 (21–24) 651 – 700 (23) 605 (23)
Queen's University at Kingston 201 – 300 (10–12) 344 (14) 353 (14)
University of Regina 701 – 800 (25) N/A 898 (26)
Ryerson University 901– 1000 (27–28) N/A 730 (25)
University of Saskatchewan 301 – 400 (13–18) 428 (17) 365 (16)
Université de Sherbrooke 601 – 700 (21–24) 551 – 600 (21) 552 (21)
Simon Fraser University 301 – 400 (13–18) 378 (16) 362 (15)
University of Toronto 23 (1) 4 (1) 2 (1)
University of Victoria 301 – 400 (13–18) 374 (15) 370 (17)
University of Waterloo 151 – 200 (6–9) 242 (10) 191 (10)
University of Windsor N/A N/A 922 (27)
University of Western Ontario 201 – 300 (10–12) 197 (9) 187 (9)
York University 401 – 500 (19) 488 (19) 488 (19)

Opinion-based rankings

A number of international publications formulate their rankings using the weighted average of opinions gathered in surveys, including Quacquarelli Symonds's World University Ranking, The Times' Higher Education World University Ranking, and the U.S. News & World Report's Best Global University Ranking. The methodologies used in these rankings differ amongst one another, although most opinion-based rankings use opinion surveys to evaluate a university's rank. Those surveyed typically includes members of academia, and the business community. In addition to opinion surveys, the following publications also use a quantitative measure of a university's academic performance, similar to bibliometric-based rankings. However, in contrast to bibliometric rankings, the quantitative results are used alongside the qualitative results gathered from opinion surveys.[5][6][7]

The following table includes Canadian universities, and their most recent global rank in the aforementioned publications (with national ranks in parenthesis):

University 2021 QS World University Ranking[note 1][8] 2020 Times Higher Education World University Ranking[note 2][9] 2020 U.S. News & World Report Best Global University Ranking[note 3][10]
University of Alberta 119 (5) 136 (6) 139 (T-5)
University of British Columbia 45 (3) 34 (2) 30 (2)
Brock University N/A N/A 1093 (30)
University of Calgary 246 (T-9) 201 – 250 (8–10) 178 (7)
Carleton University 601 – 650 (20–22) 501 – 600 (19–21) 483 (19)
Concordia University 477 (17) 601 – 800 (22–28) 671 (23)
Dalhousie University 291 (12) 251 – 300 (11–14) 322 (14)
University of Guelph 571 – 580 (19) 501 – 600 (19–21) 469 (18)
Université Laval 420 (15) 251 – 300 (11–14) 315 (13)
Lakehead University N/A 601 – 800 (22–28) 1172 (31)
Laurentian University N/A N/A 1266 (34)
University of Lethbridge N/A 1000+ (30) 1358 (36)
University of Manitoba 601 – 650 (20–22) 351 – 400 (15) 388 (16)
McGill University 31 (2) 42 (3) 49 (3)
McMaster University 144 (6) 72 (4) 126 (4)
Memorial University of Newfoundland 701 – 750 (23–24) 501 – 600 (19–21) 657 (22)
Université de Montréal 118 (4) 85 (5) 139 (T-5)
University of New Brunswick N/A N/A 938 (26)
University of Northern British Columbia N/A 800 – 1000 (29) N/A
University of Ontario Institute of Technology N/A N/A 1022 (29)
University of Ottawa 279 (11) 141 (7) 198 (8)
Université du Québec 601 – 650 (20–22) 601 – 800 (22–28) [note 4]
Queen's University at Kingston 246 (T-9) 251 – 300 (11–14) 379 (15)
University of Regina N/A 601 – 800 (22–28) 1020 (28)
Ryerson University 801 – 1000 (26) 601 – 800 (22–28) 904 (25)
University of Saskatchewan 465 (16) 401 – 500 (16–18) 541 (20)
Université de Sherbrooke 701–750 (23–24) 601 – 800 (22–28) 722 (24)
Simon Fraser University 323 (13) 251 – 300 (11–14) 290 (12)
University of Toronto 25 (1) 18 (1) 18 (1)
Trent University N/A N/A 1270 (35)
University of Victoria 370 (14) 401 – 500 (16–18) 262 (10)
University of Waterloo 166 (7) 201 – 250 (8–10) 217 (9)
University of Western Ontario 203 (8) 201 – 250 (8–10) 276 (11)
Wilfrid Laurier University N/A N/A 1180 (32)
University of Windsor 751 – 800 (25) 601 – 800 (22–28) 1018 (27)
York University 531 – 540 (18) 401 – 500 (16–18) 416 (17)

Other metrics

Webometrics Ranking of World Universities is biannual university ranking produced by Cybermetrics Lab. The webometrics rankings use link analysis in an effort to evaluate the institution's overall web presence, and accessibility.[11]

National rankings

Opinion-based rankings

A number of Canadian-based publications have ranked universities in Canada. The most prominent of which is Maclean's, a Toronto-based news magazine that has published an annual rankings of Canadian universities since 1991.[1] In addition to the Maclean's ranking, there are other Canadian-based publications that also rank Canadian universities. In 2012, the Toronto-based Higher Education Strategy Associates published a study ranking Canadian Universities based on research strength. The study ranks Canadian Universities in two broad fields: Science and Engineering, and Social Sciences and Humanities.[12]

A number of nationally based organizations have also crafted ranking using input from students and alumni. In 2014, the Toronto-based CampusRanking.ca began publication of its annual Canadian University and College Rankings, focusing on undergraduate education. The student-generated rankings asked over 40,000 undergraduate students and alumni to rate their schools. The survey was done across 135 schools in Canada.[13] This data was used to develop a school matching quiz, MatchU, where students are matched to schools based on their personality type and school preferences.[14] In February 2017, University Magazine, based in Windsor and Edmonton, started publishing its list of Top 10 universities in Canada.[15] University Magazine surveyed undergraduate and graduate students at 96 Canadian universities, using this information to rank the universities

Maclean's

Maclean's publishes an annual ranking of Canadian universities, intended to measure a university's overall "undergraduate experience".[16] Universities are split into three categories: medical/doctoral, comprehensive, and undergraduate. Maclean's evaluates post-secondary institutions on a number of performance factors, such as awards collected, resources, reputation, as well as student satisfaction surveys.[17] In addition to the medical/doctoral, comprehensive, and undergraduate university categories, the magazine also produces rankings for that focus on individual academic fields.

The Maclean's ranking of "medical/doctoral universities" includes universities that are heavily research-based, and have a broad range of graduate-level programs.[18] Universities placed within Maclean's comprehensive rankings includes universities with a significant degree of research activity and a wide range of programs at the undergraduate, graduate, and professional levels.[19] Universities placed in their primarily undergraduate rankings features universities that are smaller in size and offer fewer graduate programs than universities found in other categories.[20]

Maclean's medical/doctoral, comprehensive, and undergraduate annual rankings uses a number of performance factors to evaluate universities; with the magazine's reputational survey accounting for 15 per cent of the final score in the medical/doctoral, comprehensive, and undergraduate rankings.[17] Respondents to the magazine's reputation survey includes university administrators and faculty, secondary school guidance counsellors, and members of the business community.[17][21] In addition to using the information obtained from the reputational survey for its medical/comprehensive/undergraduate university rankings, Maclean's also publishes the results of the survey in the form of a reputational ranking.[17][21]

2020 Maclean's reputational rankings[note 3][21]
University Overall reputation rank Highest quality Most innovative Leaders of tomorrow
University of Toronto 1 1 2 1
University of Waterloo 2 3 1 4
University of British Columbia 3 4 4 2
McGill University 4 2 5 3
McMaster University 5 5 3 6
University of Alberta 6 6 6 5
Queen's University at Kingston 7 7 8 9
University of Western Ontario 8 8 9 12
Simon Fraser University 9 9 7 10
Université de Montréal 10 10 12 7
University of Calgary 11 13 10 8
University of Guelph 12 12 11 14
University of Victoria 13 14 14 17
Dalhousie University 14 11 15 21
Université Laval 15 16 16 13
Ryerson University 16 17 13 11
Concordia University 17 18 17 18
University of Ottawa 18 15 20 19
Université de Sherbrooke 19 19 18 16
University of Saskatchewan 20 21 19 22
York University 21 23 23 15
Memorial University of Newfoundland 22 20 21 29
University of Manitoba 23 25 22 25
Carleton University 24 22 24 20
Wilfrid Laurier University 25 24 27 31
Université du Québec à Montréal 26 29 26 26
Mount Allison University 27 26 34 38
St. Francis Xavier University 28 27 32 34
Acadia University 29 28 33 43
Trent University 30 30 30 27
University of New Brunswick 31 32 29 39
University of Ontario Institute of Technology 32 40 25 23
University of Regina 33 33 31 36
University of Northern British Columbia 34 35 28 28
University of Lethbridge 35 34 36 24
Saint Mary's University 36 31 37 35
University of Winnipeg 37 38 35 37
Brock University 38 36 39 30
Bishop's University 39 37 42 41
University of Windsor 40 41 38 40
University of Prince Edward Island 41 39 40 46
Lakehead University 42 44 41 33
Mount Saint Vincent University 43 42 44 48
Université de Moncton 44 43 45 45
Laurentian University 45 45 43 32
Cape Breton University 46 47 46 44
St. Thomas University 47 46 47 49
Brandon University 48 48 48 42
Nipissing University 49 49 49 47
Criticism

In September 2006, 26 Canadian universities, including several of Canada's largest universities such as the University of Alberta, University of British Columbia, Concordia University, Dalhousie University, McMaster University, Queen's University at Kingston, Université de Montréal, University of Ottawa, and the University of Toronto, refused to complete Maclean's questionnaire.[22][23][24] In the same year, 11 Canadian universities issued a joint statement which described the rankings as "over-simplified and arbitrary," and criticized low response rates for its reputation surveys.[22]

University of Alberta president Indira Samarasekera wrote that Maclean's initially filed a "Freedom of Information" request but that it was "too late" for the universities to respond. Samarasekera further stated, "Most of [the universities] had already posted the data online, and we directed Maclean's staff to our website. In instances where the magazine staff couldn’t find data on our website, they chose to use the previous year's data."[25] Beginning with its 2007 rankings, the magazine gathered information previously obtained from the questionnaires from third-party, or other official sources and reports.[22]

See also

References

Notes

  1. Although 2021 is used in the title, the following was released in June 2020
  2. Although 2020 is used in the title, the following was released in September 2019
  3. Although 2020 is used in the title, the following was released in October 2019
  4. Publication did not look at the Université du Québec system as a whole, but at its individual component institutions. The Université du Québec à Montréal was ranked 581 (21), whereas École de technologie supérieure was ranked 1189 (33) in the U.S. News & World Report's ranking.

Works cited

  1. Honey, Kim (29 October 2015). "2016 Maclean's University Rankings: A letter from the editor". Maclean's. Rogers Media. Retrieved 13 November 2017.
  2. "Academic Ranking of World Universities 2020 - Canada". ShanghaiRanking Consultancy. 2020. Retrieved 16 August 2020.
  3. "World University Rankings By 2019". NTU Rankings. 2019. Retrieved 8 July 2019.
  4. "2018-2019 RANKING BY COUNTRY". Informatics Institute of Middle East Technical University. 2018. Retrieved 3 November 2018.
  5. "Methodology". QS World University Rankings. QS Quacquarelli Symonds Limited. 6 June 2018. Retrieved 4 November 2018.
  6. "World University Rankings 2018 methodology". Times Higher Education World University Rankings. TES Global Limited. 29 August 2017. Retrieved 4 November 2018.
  7. Krivian, Alexis; Morse, Robert; Martin, Elizabeth (29 October 2018). "How U.S. News Calculated the Best Global Universities Rankings". U.S. News & World Report. U.S. News & World Report L.P. Retrieved 4 November 2018.
  8. "QS World University Rankings - 2019". QS Quacquarelli Symonds Limited. 2020. Retrieved 10 June 2020.
  9. "World University Rankings 2020". Times Higher Education. 2019. Retrieved 14 September 2019.
  10. "Best Global Universities in Canada". U.S. News & World Report LP. 21 October 2019. Retrieved 27 October 2019.
  11. "Methodology". webometrics.info. Cybermetrics Lab. 2019. Retrieved 14 September 2019.
  12. Jarvey, Paul; Usher, Alex (2012). "Measuring Academic Research in Canada: Field-Normalized University Rankings 2012" (PDF). Higher Education Strategy Associates. Retrieved 13 November 2017.
  13. "School Rankings". Campusranking.ca. Student Life Network. Retrieved 13 November 2017.
  14. "MatchU". Campusranking.ca. Student Life Network. Retrieved 13 November 2017.
  15. "Top Universities in Canada". UniversityMagazine.ca. AMG Brands. 19 February 2017. Retrieved 13 November 2017.
  16. "Maclean's – Maclean's unveils its 21st annual University Rankings". Cision. CNW Group Ltd. 26 October 2011. Retrieved 13 October 2018.
  17. Dwyer, Mary (11 October 2018). "University Rankings 2019: Our methodology". Maclean's. Rogers Digital Media. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
  18. "Canada's best Medical Doctoral universities: Rankings 2020". Maclean’s. Rogers Media. 3 October 2018. Retrieved 4 October 2019.
  19. "Canada's best Comprehensive universities: Rankings 2020". Maclean's. Rogers Media. 3 October 2018. Retrieved 4 October 2018.
  20. "Canada's best Primarily Undergraduate universities: Rankings 2020". Maclean's. Rogers Media. 3 October 2018. Retrieved 4 October 2018.
  21. "Canada's best universities by reputation: Rankings 2020". Maclean's. Rogers Media. 3 October 2019. Retrieved 4 October 2019.
  22. Iype, Mike (10 November 2010). "Maclean's releases its 20th university rankings". Vancouver Sun. Postmedia Network Inc. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
  23. Alphonso, Caroline (14 August 2006). "11 universities opt outof Maclean's survey". The Globe and Mail. The Woodbridge Company. Retrieved 13 October 2018.
  24. Schmidt, S. (2 September 2006). "Universities continue to shun Maclean's ranks". Canada.com. Postmedia News. Archived from the original on 22 August 2012. Retrieved 9 May 2009.
  25. Samarasekera, Indira (2 April 2007). "Rising Up Against Rankings". Inside Higher Ed. Retrieved 13 October 2018.
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