TOP 10 BEST UNIVERSITIES IN CANADA 2023

The QS World University Rankings, 19th edition, has been made public. For the previous five years, the ranking of Canadian institutions has been consistent. While the United States dominates the top 10 with 5 colleges, the rest of the globe sees countries like China and Malaysia rise rapidly. However, the overall rankings have fallen for the third year in a row.

One of the most dependable and trustworthy rankings in the world is the QS World University Rankings. To create the rating, QS considers five factors:

• Based on survey responses from more than 150,000 academics and 99,000 companies, Academic and Employer Reputation is calculated.
• Impact of research is measured by citations per faculty.
• The ratio of faculty to students is used as a stand-in for instructional ability.
• The internationalization of an institution is measured using the international faculty ratio and the international student ratio.

Two new unweighted performance lenses were added by QS this year:

• Student employability is evaluated by Employment Outcomes.
• International Research Network examines knowledge transmission and international research collaboration.

With more than 1,400 institutions across 100 sites, this year’s rankings are the most extensive ever. In light of this, let’s examine the top institutions in Canada for 2023.

#1 MCGILL UNIVERSITY

The top university in Canada, according to QS, is McGill. For the first time in five years, McGill is the top-ranked university in Canada.

Its rating is supported by consistent performance across all of the QS measures. In terms of research, it does better than Canada’s other two top institutions. It is 203rd internationally in terms of Citations per Faculty, whereas the Universities of Toronto and British Columbia are 313rd and 332nd, respectively.

The McGill University is ranked 31^st university in the world.

#2 UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO

The University of Toronto was placed first in Canada in the most recent edition of the QS University Rankings. However, it continued to rank among the top 50 colleges worldwide. Globally, U of T was placed 34.

With an average score of 95.5 percent across all internationalization factors, the University of Toronto did do well. The university has a solid reputation, scoring about 100 points (99.6). This rating has a direct impact on the university’s standing with potential employers. Toronto scored 98.3 points.

#3 UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA

Over the past ten years, the University of British Columbia has mostly maintained its standing in the world. It was ranked 47th globally in the 19th edition of the QS university rankings.

UBC scored the highest on three metrics: academic reputation (98 points), international research network (97.9 points), and employer reputation (95.5 points).

#4 UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA

The University of Alberta climbed 16 spots in the 19th edition of the QS World University Rankings to take 110th position overall, thanks in large part to considerable improvements in crucial international reputation indices. In the regional rankings, Alberta improved one position and defeated the University of Montréal.

The rise in the rankings coincides with improvements in a number of significant areas, including citations per professor, employer reputation, and academic reputation (up three positions to 139th, 181st, and 181st, respectively) (up 20 spots to 237th). Additionally, the U of A rose 21 positions in the category of faculty-student ratio.

#5 UNIVERSITY OF MONTRÉAL

UofM was placed 116th in the world and 5th in Canada by QS this year. This is a decrease both nationally and internationally compared to previous year, as it dropped from the fourth rank in Canada and the 111th place overall.

One of Canada’s leading university research centres, University of Montreal receives over $500 million in research funding annually.

The UofM received the highest ratings in the categories of “International Faculty Ratio” (89.5) and “International Research Network” (86). In terms of “Employer Reputation,” the university performed poorly when compared to its counterparts worldwide (47.2).

#6 MCMASTER UNIVERSITY

In the 19th edition of the QS University Rankings, McMaster is placed 152 internationally, a twelve-spot drop from the previous year. Since the change in the criteria for the rankings at the beginning of this decade, McMaster has consistently been among the top 200.

In actuality, McMaster scored 99.3 points, the maximum possible for its international faculty ratio (from 100). Faculty Student Ratio, which had an overall performance rating of 84.7 points, came in second.

#7 UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO

The University of Waterloo is rated 7 in its home country of Canada while falling five spots to 154 in the 2023 QS World University Rankings.

The rankings revealed that the university only received 7 out of a possible 100 points for its performance in the faculty student ratio category. Meanwhile, this year’s favorable outcome was aided by strong performance across all other measures.

The International Faculty Ratio, International Student Ratio, and International Research Network all showed strong results for the University of Waterloo in terms of internationalization.

Additionally, Waterloo scored a high 88 out of 100 for Employment Outcomes.

#8 WESTERN UNIVERSITY

Western dropped two ranks from its prior position and was ranked 172nd globally in the 2023 QS.

The International Faculty Ratio at Western University received the highest marks, coming close to a perfect score. It scored 86 points for the International Research Network and 96.9 points out of a possible 100 for the criterion of Citations per Faculty.

#9 UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA

uOttawa dropped one spot from the year prior, when it was rated 230, to 237. On metrics with a global focus, University of Ottawa did the best. For the ratio of the international faculty and the share of the international research network, the university scored more than 90 points. The percentage of international students also played a significant role.

With 80.3 points, the university outperformed the global median in terms of citations per teacher.

#10 UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY

The University of Calgary, which is ranked as Canada’s 10th best university, dipped to 242 from 235 last year.

The University of California received the highest marks in the categories of international faculty ratio and global research network, but the categories of faculty to student ratio and academic reputation, which account for 40% of the final grade, received the lowest marks. The University of California scored 39 out of 100 total.