It’s been a long time since Montreal’s McGill University was considered Canada’s top academic institution. And it looks like that reputation isn’t changing anytime soon.
The Academic Ranking of World Universities, better known as the Shanghai Ranking, recently released its 2026 edition, and McGill landed well outside the top 50 with a 73rd-place finish and a total score of 30 out of 100.
Unlike rankings that weigh things like institutional reputation or student experience, the Shanghai Ranking is almost entirely research-focused. First published in 2003, it evaluates more than 2,500 universities worldwide using six indicators, five tied to research output and quality, and one that adjusts for the size of an institution’s academic staff. Only the top 1,000 schools actually make the published list.
McGill’s ranking over the years
This year’s 73rd-place finish is part of a pattern that’s held for a while now:
- 2022: 73rd
- 2023: 70th
- 2024: 74th
- 2025: 76th
- 2026: 73rd
McGill hasn’t cracked 70th since 2023, and it’s been sitting in this general range for years rather than trending clearly up or down.
The top Canadian universities
The University of Toronto, Canada’s top-ranked school, placed 24th globally. Meanwhile, the University of British Columbia came in 54th, meaning McGill isn’t just outside the top 50, it’s the third-ranked school in its own country.
Rounding out the Canadian list: McMaster University and the University of Alberta tied for 4th-5th nationally (both in the 101-150 global band), followed by the University of Montreal and the University of Waterloo tied for 6th-7th (151-200 globally). Queen’s University, the University of Calgary, the University of Ottawa and Western University all tied for 8th-11th nationally, landing in the 201-300 global range.
The top global universities
Harvard University topped the global list for another year, posting a perfect total score of 100.0. Here’s how the rest of the top 15, which was largely dominated by American schools, shook out:
- Harvard University
- Stanford University
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- University of Cambridge
- University of California, Berkeley
- Princeton University
- University of Oxford
- Columbia University
- University of Chicago
- California Institute of Technology
- Yale University
- Cornell University
- Paris-Saclay University
- University of California, Los Angeles (tied)
- University of Pennsylvania (tied)
The full ranking is available at shanghairanking.com.
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