Canada’s top universities for 2027 were ranked and McGill got a bittersweet score

Every year, QS Quacquarelli Symonds releases its World University Rankings, and every year, it’s one of the more closely watched report cards in Canadian higher education.

The 2027 edition came out today. MIT, Imperial College London, and Stanford University rounded out the top three. But the results north of the border aren’t exactly cause for celebration.

Canada is “under pressure,” in QS’s own words, after approximately 66% of the country’s ranked universities dropped in this year’s edition.

Montreal’s McGill University retained its title as the best university in the country, holding the national top spot for the second year in a row at 30th globally. But that’s three spots lower than last year, and the longer view is even more telling. In 2015, McGill was ranked around 21st in the world. It’s been drifting in the wrong direction ever since, with a few recoveries along the way.

The school’s indicator scores paint a pretty clear picture of where the strength is and where the gaps are. McGill scores exceptionally well on Academic Reputation (98.2), Employment Outcomes (98.3), Sustainability (97.9), Employer Reputation (95.9) and International Research Network (95.2). Where it lags is on Citations per Faculty (64.8) and Faculty Student Ratio (64.9), two areas that carry significant weight in the overall score.

The University of Toronto came in 32nd, down three spots, and the University of British Columbia landed 45th, down five. After those top three, the University of Alberta is 96th, the University of Waterloo is tied for 113th, Western University is tied for 142nd, the Université de Montréal is tied for 162nd, McMaster is tied for 174th, Queen’s is tied for 179th, and the University of Ottawa is tied for 228th.

Here’s how other Canadian schools placed:

• University of Calgary: 249th
• Dalhousie University: 298th
• Simon Fraser University: 312th
• York University: 322nd (tied)
• University of Victoria: 370th (tied)
• University of Saskatchewan: 411th (tied)
• Concordia University: 497th (tied)
• Université Laval: 526th (tied)
• University of Windsor: 537th (tied)
• University of Guelph: 546th (tied)
• University of Manitoba: 560th (tied)
• Toronto Metropolitan University: 669th
• University of New Brunswick: 677th (tied)

Memorial University of Newfoundland, Carleton University, Université de Sherbrooke, Université du Québec, University of Regina, Brock University and the University of Northern British Columbia also appear further down the list.

The full ranking is available at topuniversities.com.