Several publications in Canada release annual rankings of Canadian Universities. Most notably, rankings of universities in Canada is published annually by news magazine Maclean's under the name Maclean's University Rankings which began in 1991. Other publications include online sources such as The World University Rankings and CollegeSage's annual Canadian University Rankings. The primary aim of the rankings is to inform potential undergraduate applicants about Canadian universities based on a range of criteria, including student body characteristics, classes, faculty, finances, library, and reputation. The rankings are split into three categories: schools that focus on undergraduate studies with few to no graduate programs, schools that have both extensive undergraduate studies and an extensive selection of graduate programs and schools that have a professional medical program and a selection of graduate programs. A notable difference between rankings in the United States and Maclean's rankings, however, is that Maclean's excludes privately funded universities.
Contents
- Macleans rankings
- MedicalDoctoral Universities
- Comprehensive Universities
- Undergraduate Universities
- Criticism
- Canadas Top Universities in 2016
- References
In 2012, the 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.
Starting in 2014, UniversityHub.ca launched its 2015 University Rankings, which focuses mainly on undergraduate education. These rankings were created from surveying over 1000 undergraduate students and alumni in Canada across 9 key categories. The guide includes rankings, university profiles, and statistical analysis of its own data as well as publicly available data in order to provide students with unique insights. These are available for free to students online.
Maclean's rankings
The data below is from the 2016 Maclean's University Rankings.
Medical/Doctoral Universities
The top category of universities in Canada are referred to in the Maclean's rankings as "Medical/Doctoral" universities (or major research universities with associated medical schools). They offer a broad range of PhD and other graduate programs and have medical and other professional schools. Below are the most current rankings of these universities.
Comprehensive Universities
Comprehensive universities have a significant degree of research activity and a wide range of programs at the undergraduate and graduate levels, including professional degrees.
Undergraduate Universities
Primarily Undergraduate universities are largely focused on undergraduate education with relatively fewer graduate programs and graduate students.
Criticism
The University of Calgary produced a formal study examining the ranking methodology, illuminating the factors that determined its rank and criticising certain aspects of the methodology. The University of Alberta, the University of Toronto and University of Manitoba have expressed displeasure over the ranking system.
Since September 2006, over 20 Canadian universities, including several of the most prestigious and largest universities such as the University of Ottawa, University of Toronto, University of British Columbia, University of Alberta, Concordia University, McMaster University and Dalhousie University, jointly refused to participate. 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 Web sites. In instances where the magazine staff couldn’t find data on our Web site, they chose to use the previous year's data."
Canada's Top Universities in 2016
The below table lists the rankings of Canada's top universities in 2016, as given by the ARWU (Academic Ranking of World Universities), QS (Quacquarelli Symonds) and THE (Times Higher Education). These are international rankings; the #1 university in each ranking is the top university in the world (by that ranking methodology), not just in Canada.