Canada’s higher education system has once again earned international recognition, with three Canadian institutions placing among the world’s top 100 universities and the University of Toronto securing a coveted spot in the global top 20.
According to the latest 2026-27 Best Global Universities rankings released by U.S. News & World Report, the University of Toronto ranks 20th in the world and remains Canada’s highest-rated university. The rankings assessed 2,438 universities across 105 countries using measures such as research reputation, academic publications, citations and international collaboration.
The University of Toronto’s strong performance was driven largely by its research output and the global impact of its publications, placing it among the world’s leaders in those categories.
Canada’s second-highest-ranked institution, University of British Columbia, placed 42nd globally. Its strengths included book publications and strong international and regional research reputations.
McGill University ranked third in Canada and 68th worldwide, giving Canada three universities among the top 100 globally.
The report also ranked 39 Canadian institutions. Among the top ten in Canada were McMaster University (150th globally), University of Alberta (164th), Université de Montréal (193rd), University of Waterloo (199th), University of Calgary (208th), University of Ottawa (264