As universities worldwide hustle to sharpen their academic elbows, McGill University has nudged itself into a commendable spot on the 2025 QS World University Rankings. Not quite the crown, but hey, not everyone can be MIT, which continues to lounge comfortably at number one for the 13th year running.
This year's list from Quacquarelli Symonds was more crowded than a freshman lecture hall, featuring over 1,500 institutions. McGill managed to secure 29th place globally, up one place and no small feat, considering it keeps company with the likes of the University of Toronto, which snagged the 25th spot (down from 21).
But let's not confuse friendly neighbourly competition with actual rivalry — this is about global bragging rights, after all.
The University of Toronto and McGill University each excel in different categories in the 2025 QS World University Rankings, showing strengths that define their academic profiles. The University of Toronto dominates in academic and employer reputation, scoring 99.7 and 96.9 respectively, suggesting a strong perceived quality of graduates and employer interest. It also excels in international metrics, with scores of 96.9 for international faculty ratio and 97.7 for international students ratio, indicating a highly global campus environment.
McGill University, although not leading overall, shines in the faculty-student ratio with a score of 62.3 compared to Toronto’s 44.9, pointing to more accessible professors and smaller class sizes. Its citations per faculty score of 57.9 also surpasses Toronto's 50.8, reflecting McGill's strong research impact relative to its faculty size.
In sustainability, Toronto achieves a perfect score of 100, showcasing its leadership in environmental and sustainability initiatives, a domain where McGill trails slightly with a score of 99.1. While Toronto shows a broad-based strength particularly in internationalization and reputation, McGill offers a competitive edge in student engagement and research effectiveness, making each institution attractive based on different priorities.
But before either school starts printing t-shirts with "Top 30 and Climbing" it's worth noting that other Canadian universities aren't far behind. The University of British Columbia and the University of Alberta are also on the rise. And Montreal’s Concordia University secured the 415th spot, placing it within the top third of the best worldwide institutions, showing the overall strength and competitiveness of Canadian higher education on the global stage.
Here are the Canadian universities listed in the top 200 of the 2025 QS World University Rankings, ordered by their rank:
- University of Toronto (25)
- McGill University (29)
- University of British Columbia (38)
- University of Alberta (96)
- University of Waterloo (115)
- Western University (120)
- Université de Montréal (159)
- McMaster University (176)
- University of Ottawa (189)
- Queen's University at Kingston (193)
- University of Calgary (198)
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
- Imperial College London
- University of Oxford
- Harvard University
- University of Cambridge
- Stanford University
- ETH Zurich
- National University of Singapore (NUS)
- UCL (University College London)
- California Institute of Technology (Caltech)
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