Teaching, research strongest pillars in U of T's ranking
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Times Higher Education magazine named U of T the top university in Canada and 19th globally in its 2015-2016 World University Rankings released on Sept. 30.
“These results demonstrate the University of Toronto's stature as Canada’s top university and as one of the world’s great institutions of higher learning, ” said President Meric Gertler.
“It's a tribute to U of T's excellence in research and teaching. Our faculty, staff and students are doing cutting-edge work in virtually every field. In turn, this helps us to continue attracting top talent from around the globe, building our capacity as an engine of discovery and innovation.”
Times Higher Education doubled the number of institutions it rated this year, ranking a total of 800 universities worldwide. However, U of T edged up one spot, compared to last year's 20th-place finish. The university also holds the number one spot compared with 25 other universities in Canada evaluated by Times Higher Education.
Times Higher Education bases its rankings on an assessment of teaching, citations, industry income, international outlook and research – the pillar in which U of T performed best, placing 11th in the world. Teaching was also an area where U of T excelled, ranking 23rd globally.
Other Canadian Universities named within the top 100 were the University of British Columbia, in 34th rank; McGill, ranked 38th; and McMaster, tied in 94th place with Georgetown University and the University of Bonn.
U of T holds top ranking globally for a university of its size – all others in top 20 have fewer than 40, 000 full-time students.
These latest rankings are consistent with U of T’s best-of-class performance in other international rankings such as the Academic Ranking of World Universities by Shanghai Jiao Tong University, where it ranks 25th, US News & World Report's Best Global Universities Ranking, where it ranks 14th, and National Taiwan University rankings where the University of Toronto ranks fourth in the world.
In March of this year, the university also scored highly in THE’s World Reputation Rankings. U of T placed first in Canada and 16th in the world, based on results from an invitation-only survey that polled around 10, 500 senior and published scholars from 142 countries.
Times Higher Education, a London-based magazine that focuses on the higher education market, began compiling the world reputation list in 2011 to offer an insight into the academic prestige of the world’s top 100 universities.
“The list has become a widely-referenced global index of university prestige, as reputation is a key driver of success in a highly competitive global higher education market, helping institutions to attract the top student and academic talent as well as investment, research partners and benefactions, ” said Phil Baty, editor of the Times Higher Education’s Rankings.
