In two rankings released this month, McGill University was recognized as one of the world’s top universities. The QS World University Rankings placed McGill 19th globally and first in Canada, while the Times Higher Education (THE) Rankings placed McGill 35th globally and third in Canada.
McGill has been in the top 25 universities in the world by the QS rankings for the last seven years. It was ranked highest in 2007, when it was ranked 12th globally. This year, the QS rankings also affirmed McGill among the top 35 universities in Arts & Humanities, Engineering & Technology, Life Sciences & Medicine, Natural Sciences, and Social Sciences & Management.
In the THE rankings, McGill placed behind the University of Toronto and the University of British Columbia within Canada.
The publications of the two reports is the first since the end of the partnership between QS Quacquarelli Symonds Ltd and Times Higher Education. Previously, the two organizations worked together, with QS as the data supplier for THE magazine. This year, however, QS produced rankings in association with partners such as US News & World Report and Scopus, the Elsevier database. THE partnered with Thomson Reuters to produce its own university rankings.
“THE is very happy to be working with Thomson Reuters, who have very reliable data collection methods,” said Richard Renolds, a researcher for THE. “THE has rebalanced away from reputational surveys and adopted a more scientific approach.”
The two ranking systems now employ substantially different methodologies. Academic reputation is the largest part of the QS rankings, compromising 40 per cent of a university’s score. This is measured by an academic peer review, an opinion survey asking active academics about top universities in their field.
The THE rankings on the other hand, place the greatest weight on citations, which make up 32.5 per cent of a university’s ranking, compared to just 20 per cent in the QS rankings. THE also assigns equal weights to teaching and research, with each accounting for 30 per cent of a university’s score.
Another advantageous factor for McGill in the QS rankings is the greater weight placed on international students and faculty (10 per cent compared to 5 per cent), a category in which McGill has consistently performed well.
“Part of both the teaching and the research components of the ranking had a reputational component to it as well,” said Vaughan Dowie, executive head of public affairs at McGill.
Dowie said that he was pleased with the recognition McGill was given and explained that the rankings are a useful method of determining how McGill is performing from year to year.
Dowie also spoke about the unique financial situation faced by McGill compared to other universities of a similar stature.
“We have a reality in Quebec in terms of the funding issues which is part of the equation. The kind of miracle of McGill rankings is that with a much smaller resource base than that of universities with which we are ranked, we still do really well. We will continue to do more with less.”
Dowie’s words echoed similar statements made by McGill Principal and Vice-Chancellor Heather Munroe-Blum.
“[McGill is] tremendously gratified to be recognized consistently as one of the world’s leading universities,” Munroe-Blum said in a press release. “[McGill has] managed to maintain its standing despite a growing funding gap between us and the universities with which we compete.”
