Top Programs at a Glance

Canadian University Rankings 2020

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.