McGill finally beat U of T in a new world university ranking — But it's complicated

McGill University just earned a major academic win.

According to the newly released 2026 Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings, McGill has officially been named the best university in Canada — overtaking the University of Toronto, which has long held the top national spot in global rankings.

QS ranked McGill 27th in the world, placing it two spots ahead of the University of Toronto at #29 and well above the University of British Columbia at #40. The list evaluated over 1,500 institutions across more than 100 countries, taking into account research strength, academic reputation, graduate employability, global engagement, sustainability, and student experience.

Here are the top 10 universities in the world, according to QS:

1. MIT
2. Imperial College London
3. Stanford University
4. University of Oxford
5. Harvard University
6. University of Cambridge
7. ETH Zurich
8. National University of Singapore
9. UCL
10. California Institute of Technology

Plenty of other Canadian universities were ranked too, including Université de Montréal and Concordia University. Here's where some of Canada's other universities landed on the 2026 QS World University Rankings:

University of Alberta — 94th
University of Waterloo — 119th
Western University — 151st
Université de Montréal — 168th
McMaster University — 173rd
Queen’s University — 191st
University of Calgary — 211th
University of Ottawa — 219th
Dalhousie University — 283rd
Simon Fraser University — 308th
York University — 333rd
University of Victoria — 358th
University of Saskatchewan — 378th
Concordia University — 465th
Université Laval — 469th
University of Guelph — 504th
University of Windsor — 546th
University of New Brunswick — 622nd
University of Manitoba — 643rd
Memorial University of Newfoundland — 660th

It's a notable win for Montreal’s most prestigious school, which boast an impressive overall score of 88.9, especially given U of T's usual dominance in recent rankings.

However, this new title comes just days after a different global ranking told another story. Earlier this week, U.S. News & World Report placed McGill at #62 in the world, behind U of T (#16) and UBC (#41) in its 2025–2026 Best Global Universities list. That ranking leans heavily on research output and publication data, while QS uses broader criteria like sustainability and learning experience.

So is McGill truly Canada's best university? That depends on who you ask. But one thing's clear — Montreal's top school is back in the spotlight.

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