McGill Ranked #31 Best University In The World, Concordia Ranked #477

The 2021 QS World University Ranking is out now and three Montreal schools made the top 500. In first place for our city is McGill University at number 31 in the world. It's followed by the Université de Montréal at number 118 and Concordia at number 477. 

Other Quebec schools on the list are the Université Laval (420), the Université du Québec (in the 601-650 range), and the Université de Sherbrooke (in the 701-750 range).

The University of Toronto is the top school in Canada, according to QS, coming in at number 25 in the global ranking.

The University of British Columbia (45) and the University of Alberta (119) round out the Canadian top five.

This is McGill's first climb on the list since 2015.

Montreal's premier anglophone university fell from number 25 to number 35 between the 2015 and 2020 rankings.

It peaked at number 18 in 2012.

U of T, meanwhile, has been on an upward trend since 2016, only dipping between 2019 and 2020, when it was ranked number 29.

The highest QS ranking it has reached was number 17 in 2014. Its ranking plummeted in the two years after that to reach a low of 34.

Concordia's ranking has remained pretty stable. It entered the list in the 501-550 range in 2012 and reached the 411-420 range in 2016.

The school's 2021 ranking is its lowest yet, but not far off from its performance in past years.

Unsurprisingly, the top five schools in the world are, in order, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Stanford, Harvard, the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), and Oxford.

This is MIT's "record-breaking" ninth year in the top spot.

QS says the "biggest story" from the 2021 list, however, is the quick rise of universities in Asia.

"26 institutions from the continent now feature in the global top 100, more than ever before."

In total from across the world, there were "47 new entrants in this year’s top 1,000 while over 5,500 universities were evaluated and considered for inclusion."

QS evaluates schools based on six metrics it calls Academic Reputation, Employer Reputation, Faculty/Student Ratio, Citations per faculty, International Faculty Ratio, and International Student Ratio.

Canadian students have a lot to be proud of this year.