University leads Canadian universities

photo of students crossing road in front of University College
(photo by Laura Pedersen)

A stellar academic reputation helped secure the University of Toronto’s position as one of the top post-secondary institutions in the world in the latest QS World University Rankings.

The prestigious annual list, published by higher education firm Quacquarelli Symonds, ranked U of T first in Canada and 29th out of more than 1,000 universities worldwide.

Among public institutions, meanwhile, U of T ranked 18th globally and third in North America.

“The University of Toronto is grateful to be recognized once again as one of the top academic institutions in the world,” said U of T President Meric Gertler.

“It is a reflection of our commitment to excellence as a leading institution of research and learning.”

The QS World University Rankings is based on six measures: academic reputation, employer reputation, international student and faculty scores, a faculty-student ratio score and a citations-faculty score.

U of T, which was 28th globally in the same ranking last year, achieved some of its highest marks in the academic and employer reputation measures. The university rose one spot to 17th globally in the academic reputation measure this year, and eight spots, to 27th from 35th, in employer reputation.

Six other Canadian universities were in QS’s top 200 this year. They include McGill University, which ranked 35th and the University of British Columbia, which ranked 51st.

The top-ranked university on this year’s list was the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

In the QS World University Subject Rankings earlier this year, U of T held the top spot nationally for five broad subject areas and ranked in the top 10 globally for six subjects.

In the Times Higher Education ranking, U of T leads Canadian universities and is one of only eight universities in the world to place in the top 50 across 11 subjects.

U of T continues to be the highest ranked Canadian university and one of the world’s top-ranked public universities in the five principal international rankings: Times Higher Education, QS World Rankings, Shanghai Ranking Consultancy, U.S. News Best Global Universities and National Taiwan University.

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