As they pick their Canadian educational institution, it is common for international students to consult trusted rankings and evaluators to help choose the best school for their needs.

One of those trusted evaluators is Quacquarelli Symonds (QS), viewed globally as a leader in analyzing higher education institutions around the world.

In fact, back in 2013, QS was the first “global and regional University rankings” organization to be “International Ranking Expert Group (IREG)-approved for three of its research outputs”. The IREG is “an international institutional non-profit association of ranking organizations, universities and other bodies interested in University Rankings and academic excellence.

This article will focus on the standing of three Canadian schools (the University of Toronto, McGill University, and the University of British Columbia) in the updated 2024 QS World University Rankings.

Results: QS’ World University Rankings 2024

In their recently published World University Rankings for 2024, QS identified three schools across Canada as being among the best in the world. Specifically, QS has ranked one school in Ontario, one in Quebec and one in British Columbia – Canada’s three most popular newcomer destination provinces – all inside the top 34 educational institutions in the world.

Note: QS’ 2024 rankings include over 1400 educational institutions across the globe, with the highest score awarded being 100.

Under each school below, this article will include the institution’s overall score as well as its individual score in each of the five key factors (more on QS methodology later in the article) that make up the final score.

21: University of Toronto (overall score: 86.3)

Up from 34th on QS’ World University Rankings in 2023, the University of Toronto (UofT) is Canada’s highest-ranking educational institution for the 2024 list. Receiving great scores for academic reputation, employer reputation and for both international ratios, the University of Toronto has three campuses in Ontario and is regarded as one of the top post-secondary institutions in the world.

This is the highest that UofT has been ranked by QS since 2015 (20th).

• Academic Reputation: 99.7
• Faculty/Student Ratio: 54.2
• Citations per Faculty: 57.2
• Employer Reputation: 96
• International Faculty/Student Ratio: 95.7 (Faculty) and 96.4 (Student)

30: McGill University (overall score: 83.7)

In 2023, McGill University (McGill) was 31st on QS’ World University Rankings.

For 2024, McGill was given high scores – all above 87.5 – for academic reputation, employer reputation and for both international ratios. McGill has two campuses in the province of Quebec and has now ranked in QS’ top 35 universities in the world every year since 2012.

• Academic Reputation: 93.7
• Faculty/Student Ratio: 64
• Citations per Faculty: 62.1
• Employer Reputation: 87.6
• International Faculty/Student Ratio: 88.9 (Faculty) and 93.3 (Student)

34: University of British Columbia (overall score: 81.5)

After ranking 47th on QS’ World University Rankings in 2023, the University of British Columbia (UBC) has made the same 13-position jump as UofT this year. UBC has been given great scores for academic reputation, employer reputation and for the school’s international faculty ratio this year. UBC has two campuses in the province, one in Vancouver and another in Kelowna.

Until this year, UBC has never been ranked higher than 43rd by QS’ World University Rankings.

• Academic Reputation: 98.2
• Faculty/Student Ratio: 44.4
• Citations per Faculty: 57
• Employer Reputation: 93.5
• International Faculty/Student Ratio: 96.4 (Faculty) and 74.1 (Student)

About QS’ World University Rankings

The five-factor methodology that is used to formulate QS’ World University Rankings is described below.

1. Academic reputation (40%): Obtained by surveying thousands of those “who teach and research” in higher education

2. Faculty/student ratio (20%): Low student-to-faculty ratios and small class sizes are rewarded because “a more personalized and collaborative learning environment” is considered advantageous by QS

3. Citations per faculty (20%): The number of times papers produced by a particular institution’s faculty members (in the last five years) are cited by different publications; considered a measure of the school’s reliability with respect to academic writings

4. Employer reputation (10%): Employers around the world are asked to “name [up to 10 (local) and 30 (international) universities that] they believe tend to produce some of the most employable graduates”

5. International faculty/student ratio (10%): The ratios of international faculty members to domestic faculty members and international students to domestic students (as reported by the university and verified against government data where possible), each one with a 5% weight