McGill University simply bought handed a actuality verify on the world stage.
TIME and Statista launched their 2026 ranking of the world’s top universities this week, and McGill’s efficiency is fairly tough. The Montreal college landed at 154th general, placing it method behind its Canadian rivals and nowhere close to the highest 100.
For context, the College of Toronto got here in at twenty fourth globally. The College of British Columbia landed at thirty third. Even the College of Alberta (73rd), McMaster (ninetieth), and the College of Calgary (ninety fifth) all ranked considerably greater than McGill.
It is one factor to fall behind U of T, however McGill was lapped by colleges most individuals outdoors Canada have by no means heard of.
How McGill stacked up towards Canadian colleges
The hole between McGill and different Canadian universities on this rating is hanging.
This is the place Canadian colleges landed in TIME’s world record:
- College of Toronto: twenty fourth
- College of British Columbia: thirty third
- College of Alberta: 73rd
- McMaster College: ninetieth
- College of Calgary: ninety fifth
- College of Manitoba: 136th
- College of Waterloo: 148th
- McGill College: 154th
- Université de Montréal: 169th
- College of Saskatchewan: a hundred and seventy fifth
- Simon Fraser College: 187th
- Laval College: 202nd
- College of Victoria: 215th
- College of New Brunswick: 266th
- Western College: 271st
- College of Guelph: 289th
- Memorial College of Newfoundland: 295th
- Dalhousie College: 354th
- Queen’s College: 372nd
- Carleton College: 387th
- College of Regina: 415th
- College of Windsor: 427th
- College of Ottawa: 447th
- Lakehead College: 464th
- Brock College: 471st
To place this in perspective: U of T is 130 spots forward of McGill. UBC is 121 spots forward. Even Waterloo, identified extra for its co-op program than world status, ranked greater.
What this rating truly measures
TIME’s methodology focuses closely on real-world influence and pupil outcomes after commencement.
The rating evaluates universities primarily based on three important classes: tutorial fame and analysis capability, innovation and financial influence (together with patents, startups, and contributions to business), and world engagement.
McGill’s complete rating got here in at 56.63 out of 100. The college’s strongest class was world engagement (68.46), which is smart given its worldwide pupil inhabitants. But it surely scored simply 51.84 in tutorial fame and capability.
For comparability, U of T scored 75.78 general, with notably robust marks in innovation and financial influence (80.64). UBC scored 71.56 general and completely dominated the innovation class with a rating of 85.36.
The rating locations heavy emphasis on whether or not college students go on to attain “extraordinary success” in areas like patenting innovations, rising to management roles in enterprise, or making important contributions to their fields.
By that measure, McGill’s not protecting tempo with high Canadian colleges.
How this compares to different current rankings
This is not the primary time McGill has been outranked by Canadian rivals, however the hole in TIME’s record is especially large.
Just some weeks in the past, CourseCompare released its 2026 ranking of Canada’s best universities, and McGill got here in second place behind U of T. That rating targeted particularly on profession readiness and job placement.
The TIME rating additionally revealed some uncomfortable truths about elite universities globally. The article accompanying the rankings famous that high colleges are overwhelmingly accessible to college students from rich households, with greater than 15% of scholars at America’s Ivy-Plus schools coming from households within the high 1% of earners.
The place McGill nonetheless has strengths
To be truthful, McGill stays a revered analysis establishment with explicit strengths in neuroscience, drugs, and local weather science.
The college has a $1.9 billion endowment, attracts college students from 150 international locations, and maintains a 16:1 student-teacher ratio that is considerably higher than U of T’s 30:1 ratio.
McGill additionally scored highest amongst all Canadian colleges within the world engagement class (68.46), reflecting its worldwide fame and various pupil physique.
However in terms of the metrics like innovation, financial influence, and producing graduates who obtain extraordinary success, McGill’s merely not competing on the identical stage as Canada’s high colleges.
In case you are curious, here is how the worldwide high 10 rounded out:
- College of Oxford (UK)
- Yale College (US)
- Stanford College (US)
- Massachusetts Institute of Know-how (US)
- The College of Chicago (US)
- Harvard College (US)
- College of Cambridge (UK)
- Imperial School London (UK)
- College of Michigan (US)
- College of Pennsylvania (US)