All but one of Canada’s top universities dropped last year in the rankings of the most watched international scale. University of Toronto maintained its position in the top 20 of the Times Higher Education World University Rankings. The universities were judged on their learning environments, research and innovation.
But all other Canadian universities that had made the top 200 moved down the scale. This occurred even though Canada spends almost $24, 000 per student placing it second only to the United States in terms of university funding.
The principal of McGill University told the Globe and Mail newspaper that one of the problems is that the government controls how its money is spent and McGill’s own administration lacks flexibility.
The editor of the rankings suggested that Canada is perhaps too egalitarian, funding all universities equally instead of giving some top institutions more money.
Universities compete for foreign students
The drop in ranking is bad news for the universities. They are funded according to how many students are enrolled. They struggle with dropping enrollment and compete to attract foreign students who pay much higher fees.
The Canadian universities that made the top 200 were:
University of Toronto 20
University of British Columbia 32
McGill University 39
McMaster University 94
University of Montreal 113
University of Alberta 124
University of Ottawa 188
For reasons beyond our control, and for an undetermined period of time, our comment section is now closed. However, our social networks remain open to your contributions.