A Ranking Of The Best Universities In The World Dropped & McGill Is No Longer #1 In Canada

A new ranking of the best universities in the world dropped and McGill's score may have inched up a point, however, it still wasn't enough to keep its lead as one of the best schools in Canada.

QS Quacquarelli Symonds, the world’s leading provider of services, analytics, and insight to the global higher education sector, released the 20th edition of its top universities of 2024. Montreal's McGill University landed in 30th with an overall score of 83.7.

"Based in Montreal, McGill University ranks among Canada's most prestigious universities, attracting thousands of international students from over 150 countries every year, and the highest percentage of Ph.D. students of any Canadian research university," QS said.

The ranking features 1,500 institutions across 104 locations. This year, QS implemented its largest-ever methodological enhancement, incorporating three new metrics including sustainability, employment outcomes and international research network.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), University of Cambridge and University of Oxford made up the top three of this year's ranking with Harvard University and Stanford University rounding off the top five.

The University of Toronto and the University of British Columbia were the only other two Canadian universities to make the top 100 in this year's ranking. And one of them officially surpassed McGill.

After leading the pack in regards to Canadian institutions last year, McGill, whose score boosted from 31 to 30, has officially been beaten out by the University of Toronto.

UofT landed in the 21st spot, a staggering 13-point increase compared to its score in the 2023 QS ranking. As for the University of British Columbia, they secured 34th overall this time around.

McGill was not the only Montreal university to be recognized in this year's ranking. The Université de Montréal landed 141 overall with an official overall score of 52.1.

The University of Calgary (182), Mcmaster University (189), University of Ottawa (203) and Queen's University at Kingston (209) all followed.