Canada’s universities slip in Times World University Rankings

As universities in the United Kingdom and the United States continue to hold their top positions, an annual ranking of the world’s top universities suggests Canada’s schools may be losing ground.

All three top Canadian universities ranked lower in The Times Higher Education 2016-17 World University Rankings this year. University of Toronto, the highest ranking Canadian school, fell from 19 to 22. University of British Columbia slid from 34 to 36. And Montreal’s McGill University continued its nosedive from 38 to 42.

The latter two universities have been outperformed by some of Asia’s top schools: National University of Singapore moved from 26 to 24, while China’s Peking University climbed from 42 to 29.

“What is threatening Canada is that other nations are investing and improving, which means someone else has to move down,” Phil Baty, editor of the rankings, told The Globe and Mail newspaper.

The rankings are a crucial tool for recruiting students, faculty and staff, as well as attracting investment from private and industry donors.

In total, Times Higher Education evaluated 980 universities using 13 numerical indicators related to teaching, research, citations, international outlook and industry income.

Research funding is a crucial component of the rankings. Over the last several years, China has invested billions into its top universities to increase their research capacity.

China wants to see six of its universities in the list of Top 15 universities by 2030.

In comparison, the Canada First Research Excellence Fund announced in early September that it is investing $900 million in 13 universities across the country.