The Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings 2023 rates McGill as the 46th best university in the world. It marks the 13th consecutive year that McGill ranks in the top 50 universities globally.
The rankings were published online on October 11. A record number of 1,799 universities from 104 countries and regions are included in the World Rankings this year – 137 more than last year – making it the largest edition in the 19-year history of the rankings.
The THE World University Rankings provide a rigorous overview of a university’s quality, drawing on an analysis of 15.5 million research publications and 121 million citations to those publications, plus over 40,000 responses to an annual academic reputation survey and hundreds of thousands of additional data points covering a university’s teaching environment, international outlook and industry links. Institutions are measured across 13 separate performance metrics, providing a comprehensive picture of excellence among world-class research universities.
The 13 key performance indicators grouped into five thematic areas:
- Teaching (the learning environment)
- Research (volume, income and reputation)
- Citations (research influence)
- Industry income (knowledge transfer)
- International outlook (staff, students and research)
The University of Oxford topped all universities for the seventh year in a row, finishing ahead of Harvard, University of Cambridge (tie), Stanford (tie), and MIT, in that order. McGill is one of three Canadian universities ranked among the top 50 in the world. In all, Canada has seven universities ranked in the top 200.
Sustained rankings success
McGill has enjoyed significant rankings success in 2022, as demonstrated in the list below:
- October: Maclean’s Magazine ranks McGill Canada’s top Medical Doctoral university for 18th straight year
- October: McGill’s Master of Management in Analytics program is named 10th best Business Analytics program in the world in the QS Business Masters Rankings 2023.
- September: McGill rates in the top 10 in three categories in the 2021 Sustainable Campus Index, an AASHE publication.
- August: McGill ranks 73rd out of 2,500 universities worldwide by the Academic Ranking of World Universities.
- July: Five subjects taught at McGill rank in the global top 50 – and 23 rank in the top 100 – according to the Global Ranking of Academic Subjects 2022.
- June: McGill rates as Canada’s best university and 31st in the world by the QS World University Rankings.
- May: THE’s Impact Rankings rates the University in the global top 20 in research on climate change, use of energy, and preparations for dealing with the consequences of climate change.
- April: QS Rankings by Subject rates 32 subjects taught at McGill in the global top 50.
- April: McGill named one of Canada’s Greenest Employers for the fifth straight year by Mediacorp Canada.
- January: THE ranks McGill as the 28th most international university in the world.
Consult the THE World University Rankings 2023.
McGill is the definition of a university who can state that it continually works towards growth and a premium education for its students. Could not be more proud to be a part of its story as an alumni. Thank you!
Are we being graded lower
This latest global rating (Times) is a great embarrassment for McGill, which this publication wants to cover up by saying that McGill remains in the top 50 university because it is no. 46. Next year, when McGill slides down further to no. 65, this publication will say again that McGill remains in the top 70 universities, and on and on.
Last year, McGill was no. 32 in these rankings. And McGill continues to be outdone by the University of Toronto (ranking 18th) and UBC (ranking 40th). McGill’s decline continues and keeps getting worse and worse.
I would suggest two things. First, it is not McGill’s role to tout UofT or UBC. Second, I blame this constant francization of the university, pandering to Quebec, for its decline.
When a publication like McGill Reporter touts McGill as a top 50 university, just because it ranks 46th, it will inevitably be compared to peers like Toronto (ranked 18th) and UBC (ranked 40th). For it is obvious that McGill is declining in all the international rankings (Times, QS, Shanghai, US News, etc.) every year. It is getting worse and worse as one commentator (Mostafa Ghozlan) below aptly wrote. Better for McGill Reporter to just say that McGill is no. 46 rather than say that it is top 50, because next year when it goes down to 65 or so, this… Read more »
You’re completely wrong. Last year McGill was 44th. The university dropped two spots in a ranking that rates over 1,700 universities. Bad enough that you whine all the time, but at least get your facts straight.
We can argue about when McGill went down by how many notches year in and year out. Just read the comment below by Mostafa Ghozlan: it was 20th during his time less than 12 years ago. McGill’s ranking by the same Times Higher Education was 24th just in 2016 and it is now all the way down to 46th. You said it was 44th last year. Doesn’t help much at all other than to say that 44th is a bit better than what I miswrote as 32nd just less than 7 years ago. And you pride yourself in saying that… Read more »
Wrong again. You say, that McGill “is declining EACH year in ALL the international rankings (Times, QS, Shanghai, US News, etc.)”. The all caps are yours, btw. “EACH year… in ALL rankings”? Really? Do you actually try and back up any your claims or do you just grind your axe blindly? Hell, McGill jumped up 11 spots in last year’s ARWU (Shanghai) rankings. Search the headline and see for yourself. (“McGill climbs prestigious global university rankings”) Also last year, McGill rose 4 spots in the QS rankings — for the second straight year. (“McGill breaks Top 30 in global university… Read more »
Fake news?? It looks like you are the one faking. Here’s for the undeniable record: 1) McGill declined in its present rankings at QS, Times Higher Education, US News. 2) McGill (currently ranked at #46 in Times) is ranked way lower than the University of Toronto (ranked as high as #18 in Times) AND the University of British Columbia (ranked #40 in Times), which was my point 2 above? 3) Even the current ARWU global university ranking that you cite puts McGill only at #73 , while the University of Toronto ranks #22 AND the University of British Columbia ranks… Read more »
You should look up the definition of “fake.” Nothing I have said is false. You, on the other hand, have been exposed as having tried to pass off falsehoods as the truth. “McGill is declining EACH year in ALL the international rankings,” is false. End of argument. You can deflect all you want, but what you wrote was wrong/false/fake news. Sorry if you don’t like it. Next time, instead of spouting off with what you think or want to be the truth, actually make the effort to verify your (false) claims. It really isn’t that difficult.
And why don’t you debate also with Mostafa Ghozlan below, who aptly notes that McGill was ranked 20th during his time at McGill and is now all the way down to 46th today?
McGill is a goner. That’s all I am saying. Wanna bet if it will slide to lower than 46th at Times next year?
The reason why I’m addressing you is because YOU are the one trying to pass off falsehoods. Your assertion that “McGill is declining EACH year in ALL the international rankings” is completely false as I have PROVEN in my earlier response. Sorry. If you don’t like it, just get better at supporting your claims. As I said earlier, it took me all of 15 minutes to find the facts to shoot your argument all to hell.
Well, if you are hurt by the truth, especially when I say McGill is declining, let me say it a much better way just for you: McGill is a GONER. No falsehoods there. Happy now?
Hard to believe you can keep being wrong — but, there you go again. I never even mentioned your assertion that McGill is declining. If you look at every one of my responses, I take umbrage with you trying to pass off your ridiculous — and false — assertion that “McGill is declining EACH year in ALL the international rankings”.
As I said before, like it or not, you are a purveyor of fake news.
So, no, I am not “hurt by the truth.” But I *am* concerned by people like you who try to pass off falsehoods as truth.
YOU, not me, are the purveyor of fake news. You cannot even admit, despite my persistent questioning (#2 above), that McGill ranks way below the University of Toronto and UBC (University of British Columbia) in the aggregate. McGill is a goner. That is all we are saying. No fake news because these global rankings do not fake them and they are all consistent in showing the decline of McGill in international rankings.
Nothing I have said is false. I only joined this conversation when I saw your false claim that “McGill is declining EACH year in ALL the international rankings.” Like it or not, you are the one who made completely false claims. See my first comment of you need to go over the proof of your fake news. Sorry, chum. Now you’re making fake claims that I am spreading fake news. You’re like a child. “I’m not spreading fake news — YOU ARE!” Time to up your game, chum. P.S. BTW, if McGill is such a “goner”, how is it that… Read more »
Again,you are spreading fake new by asking the same question I already addressed in the Maclean’s editorial of the Reporter and hoping that you can accuse me again of falsities.
To make the long story short, McGill can top Maclean’s because it is only competing with 14 universities of the Canadiens, within O Canada!. When matched against good schools, even non-Ivy schools, like Michigan or Berkeley or UCLA, McGill slides and sinks down and cannot seem to get back up.
Seriously, you don’t understand the meaning of “fake news” or “falsities,” do you? Nothing I have said is fake or false. Here, I’ll give you a crash course. Fake or false is when you say something that isn’t true. Example: when you wrote “McGill is declining EACH year in ALL the international rankings” in your original comment. As I proved, you are 100% WRONG with that statement. Nothing — absolutely nothing — I have written is untrue. Has McGill been ranked top university in Canada by Maclean’s for 18 straight years? Yes it has. That’s a fact. Whether or not… Read more »
Your little, provincial school called McGill of the Quebecois, which no one has heard of in California or Hawaii or Australia, is a LOSER and a GONER. And that is not fake news unless you want a consolation prize called Maclean’s rankings where McGill competes only with 14 ecole Canadien (O Canada, Air Canada!). Fools. Got it now?
Oooooo, someone’s getting grouchy. lol. Sorry if I’ve touched a nerve with the whole fake news thing, my friend. I’ll stand down now before you blow a gasket. BTW, however, concerning your whole “no one has heard of [McGill] in California or Hawaii or Australia” premise, you *do* realize that THE ranked McGill as the 28th most international school in the world, right? Seems like as of 2020-2021, dear old McGill had 12,000 international students from 154 countries. Just search “McGill named one of the world’s most international universities”. Poor, poor, Benjamin. So angry, so wrong. 🙂
Still does not change the fact that no one has heard of your McGill in California or Hawaii or Australia. There may be x number of international students (mostly rejects from the Ivy League and you can read that from their Google-posted stories) but does not give McGill any name recall. Proof of the pudding is in the eating (again no fake news here like what you are spreading). In the current Times ranking, McGill ranks only 46th now, but Tsinghua University ranks no. 16 and Nanyang University ranks no. 36. Anyone ever heard of Tsinghua or Nanyang??? Do you… Read more »
Interesting — one of the universities you’ve mentioned (Tsinghua) also ranked higher than institutions like UofT, Cornell, Duke University, the London School of Economics, Carnegie Mellon, and King’s College London. Clearly, just because YOU have never heard of Tsinghua , doesn’t mean others haven’t. Sounds like you’re the one whose little, insular bubble needs expanding. With each post, you expose yourself more and more as the angry, semi-coherent, fake-news-spreading, internet hack with a stunted world view that you are. Maybe you should quit while you are behind.
You did not get my point again because you continue to misinform with fake news. Precisely because Tshinghua ranks higher than Duke or Cornell or LSE or Carnegie Mellon or any other school you mentioned above does not necessarily give it name recall and respect. That was my point. Same thing with McGill. Call it Top 50 globally, and next year when it slides down to #65, call it Top 70. Add to that and say it now has 1 million international students. All these do not change the fact that McGill is a virtual unknown outside of Canada. Ask… Read more »
No, I don’t get your point because you are increasingly incoherent with your diatribes. That you have a Filipino friend who mispronounces McGill, or that cartoons depict Harvard as the world’s top university, or t-shirts, or, or, or… how does any of that even matter? lol. Benjamin, you’re ranting now. P.S. I have a friend from Thailand who pronounces McGill just fine. See how ridiculous that sounds?
Exactly, that is my point for you, Mak-Jill (McGill) grad. My friend from the Philippines “never heard” of McGill. Your Thai friend probably never heard it, too, but luckily knows how to read or pronounce it properly. It depends on luck. But the Top 50, etc. American schools do not depend on luck. No one has never heard of Harvard, or mispronounces Yale (as yell), or Michigan (as mit- chie -gan), and knows what a Berkeley is, etc. But covering up – as you have consistently done here – by saying McGill is this and that, ranks this and that,… Read more »
truth is you would never get in McGill with your GPA 🙂
When I first joined McGill University to conduct my PhD research work, McGill University ranked the 20th. Throughout the years, during my PhD years, then later as a McGill employee, the ranking has been dropping down constantly till it became the 46th now according to the same THE World University Ranking. I genuinely believe that the university leadership should be concerned and alarmed of this consistent deterioration and proper corrective strategies should be put in place to address the deteriorating elements.
McGill university is sliding down in the ranking, and so all Canadian universities. What a shame! Quebec’s hardline attitude to conserve the French language is very bad for McGill, and Canada’s political correctness is very bad of the Canada.