2 Canadian universities beat McGill in another global ranking and it's getting embarrassing

A new ranking of the best universities in the world has dropped, and Montreal's supposed "Harvard of the North" has found itself trailing behind its biggest competitors. Sound familiar? It should if you've been following university ranking-related news lately.

According to the QS World University Rankings: Sustainability 2025, released by global higher education experts Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) on December 10, two Canadian universities have secured spots among the top 10 best in the world when it comes to "tackling the world’s greatest environmental, social, and governance challenges."

But McGill University isn't one of them.

McGill did make the list, tying for 15th place with Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. But once again, the University of Toronto (UofT) left it in the dust, coming in first for the second year in a row, followed by ETH Zurich in second place.

"We are thrilled that our university is once again ranked 1st in the world in the QS Sustainability Rankings, confirming our resolve to lead the way to a sustainable future," said Prof. Meric Gertler, President of the University of Toronto, in a press release.

Meanwhile, the University of British Columbia (UBC), which has also beat McGill in multiple rankings this year, placed fifth, dropping one spot since last year.

The rankings, which analyzed nearly 1,800 universities worldwide, scored institutions on factors including environmental impact (sustainability, education, research), social impact (equality, knowledge exchange, employability opportunities) and good governance.

It's worth noting that McGill did exceptionally well in the environmental research category, scoring 98.4. However, that was still lower than both UBC and UofT, which scored 98.5 in the same category.

While McGill continues to perform well in these sorts of rankings, it has been consistently surpassed by UofT and UBC as of late — whether September's National Taiwan University (NTU) World University Rankings (McGill #57; UBC #27; UofT #4), the World University Rankings 2025 (Toronto #21; UBC #41; McGill #45) or the 2025 edition of Maclean's Best Universities in Canada by National Reputation (Toronto #1; UBC #2; McGill #3).

All in all, with two universities in the top five, Canada fared better than any other country or territory. But McGill’s place, while still impressive, shows it has some ground to make up.

Here's a closer look at the top 15 for the QS World University Sustainability Rankings of 2025:

• 1 - University of Toronto (Canada)
• 2 - ETH Zurich - Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (Switzerland)
• 3 - Lund University (Sweden)
• 3 - University of California, Berkeley (United States of America)
• 5 - UCL (United Kingdom)
• 5 - University of British Columbia (Canada)
• 7 - Imperial College London (United Kingdom)
• 7 - The University of Edinburgh (United Kingdom)
• 9 - The University of Manchester (United Kingdom)
• 9 - The University of Melbourne (Australia)
• 11 - The University of Sydney (Australia)
• 12 - The University of New South Wales (UNSW Sydney, Australia)
• 12 - University of Bristol (United Kingdom)
• 14 - King's College London (United Kingdom)
• 15 - Delft University of Technology (Netherlands)
• 15 - McGill University (Canada)

For the full list, visit the QS Top Universities website.

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