University Rankings in Canada

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  Top U of A subjects rise in new ranking of world’s best

  March 04, 2020

  Sports-related fields, mining engineering and nursing lead strong showing in latest QS subject rankings.

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  U of A among Canada's top 5 universities in latest Maclean's ranking

  October 08, 2019

  Nursing, business and science stand out in new ranking of top medical-doctoral universities.

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  U of A grads among most employable in Canada, according to new QS rankings

  September 19, 2019

  University ranks second in graduate employment rate and employer-student connections.

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  Environmental research boosts U of A standing in latest Shanghai rankings

  August 01, 2019

  Engineering, MBA, agriculture, earth science and nursing programs among standouts in new subject rankings.

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  U of A among world's top 90 in research output and impact

  June 19, 2019

  Agriculture, medicine and social sciences lead strong performance in latest NTU global research ranking.

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  U of A holds strong amid tougher global competition in latest QS rankings

  June 19, 2019

  University remains fourth in Canada and 37th in North America, bolstered by low faculty-to-student ratio and high citations per faculty.

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  Sports subjects, mining engineering and nursing lead U of A programs among world's best

  February 27, 2019

  University maintains strong showing with seven programs rated among world's top 50 in latest QS subject rankings.

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  U of A nursing and education programs land near top of Maclean's university rankings

  October 11, 2018

  Science, engineering and business programs also make top five in latest rankings of Canadian universities.

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  U of A ranked among world's top 50 in eight subjects

  July 30, 2018

  Engineering, MBA programs lead list of subjects rated among world's best in 2018 Shanghai rankings.

• More

Top Programs at a Glance

Canadian University Rankings 2020-21

Ranking Criteria & Ranking Bodies

• Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU)

  Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) ranks universities by several indicators of academic or research performance, including alumni and staff winning Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals, highly cited researchers, papers published in Nature and Science, papers indexed in major citation indices, and the per capita academic performance of an institution.

  • Quality of Education - Alumni of an institution winning Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals [10%]
  • Quality of Faculty - Staff of an institution winning Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals and Highly cited researchers in 21 broad subject categories [40%]
  • Research Output - Papers published in Nature and Science* and Papers indexed in Science Citation Index-expanded and Social Science Citation Index [40%]
  • Per Capita Performance - Per capita academic performance of an institution [10%]

  Find a more detailed breakdown of the ARWU ranking methodology here.

• Center for World University Rankings (CWUR)

  The Center for World University Rankings uses eight objective and robust indicators to rank the world's top 1000 universities:

  • Quality of Education, measured by the number of a university's alumni who have won major international awards, prizes, and medals relative to the university's size [25%]
  • Alumni Employment, measured by the number of a university's alumni who have held CEO positions at the world's top companies relative to the university's size [25%]
  • Quality of Faculty, measured by the number of academics who have won major international awards, prizes, and medals [25%]
  • Publications, measured by the number of research papers appearing in reputable journals [5%]
  • Influence, measured by the number of research papers appearing in highly-influential journals [5%]
  • Citations, measured by the number of highly-cited research papers [5%]
  • Broad Impact, measured by the university's h-index [5%]
  • Patents, measured by the number of international patent filings [5%]

  More information on the ranking methodology.

• Quacquarelli Symonds (QS)

  Published annually since 2011, the QS World University Rankings by Subject highlights the world's top-performing institutions in a broad spectrum of individual academic areas. The rankings aim to help prospective students identify leading universities in their chosen field of study.

  For its subject-area rankings, QS ranks universities based on:

  • academic reputation,
  • employer reputation,
  • academic citations and
  • research impact.

  Find more information on QS ranking indicators and methodology here.
• Times Higher Education (THE)

  Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings list the best global universities and are the only international university performance tables to judge world class universities across all of their core missions - teaching, research, knowledge transfer and international outlook. Performance indicators are grouped into five areas:

  • Teaching (the learning environment)
  • Research (volume, income and reputation)
  • Citations (research influence)
  • International outlook (staff, students and research)
  • Industry income (knowledge transfer).

  Read more about the THE ranking indicators and methodology.