When a new university ranking drops, the conversation in Montreal usually starts and ends with McGill. And fair enough — it’s consistently one of the top schools in the country. But McGill isn’t the only Montreal institution showing up on the global stage.
We aren’t considered an international student hub for no reason.
The Times Higher Education World University Rankings for 2026 cover 2,191 institutions across 115 countries and measure universities across five pillars: teaching, research environment, research quality, international outlook, and industry. It’s widely considered one of the most comprehensive global benchmarks out there, used by students, academics, and governments alike.
All four of Montreal’s major universities made the list.
Here’s how they each did.
McGill University
McGill leads the pack by a wide margin, coming in at 41st in the world, tied with one other institution. It scores particularly well in research quality (86.2) and international outlook (89.2), which reflects the university’s long-standing reputation as one of Canada’s top research institutions.
Université de Montréal
Université de Montréal comes in next at 150th globally, with strong scores in industry connections (95.5) and research quality (83.1). It’s a significant gap behind McGill, but a top-200 finish in a ranking that covers over 2,000 schools worldwide is still a respectable result.
Université du Québec
Université du Québec lands in the 501-600 band. THE ranks it as a single network entry encompassing several institutions across the province, including UQAM in Montreal, so while it isn’t a standalone entry for UQAM specifically, the city’s francophone urban university is part of what’s being ranked here.
Concordia University
Concordia rounds out Montreal’s presence in the rankings, landing in the 601-800 band. It scores 63.7 in research quality and 74.7 in international outlook, reflecting a university that punches in a lower weight class than its Montreal counterparts but still holds its own on the world stage.
The full Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2026 are available on their website.
