University of Toronto ranks 17th globally, up one spot, in U.S. News & World Report university rankings

The University of Toronto has climbed one spot to 17^th globally in the latest U.S. News & World Report ranking.

The 2021 edition of the research-focused Best Global Universities Rankings placed U of T first in Canada and 17^th in the world, continuing an upward climb from the previous year when U of T moved into 18^th position from 20^th. 

Among public universities, U of T ranked seventh globally – up one spot from last year – and fifth in North America.

“I’m delighted that the University of Toronto continues to be ranked among the top 20 universities in the world by U.S. News and World Report,” said U of T President Meric Gertler. “U of T’s consistently strong performance in these and other rankings is testament to our research excellence across a diverse array of fields, from medicine and life sciences to the arts, humanities and social sciences.

“It reflects the growing impact of U of T’s students, faculty, staff and librarians on the research landscape regionally, nationally and around the world.”

U of T’s strong performance in the U.S. News & World Report ranking comes on the heels of the recent National Taiwan University Ranking – another research-focused ranking – that ranked U of T third in the world, up one spot from a year earlier. In September, Times Higher Education ranked U of T 18th globally in its closely watched World University Rankings.

In addition to the overall ranking, U.S. News & World Report ranked U of T first in Canada in 30 of 38 subject areas. It was also named among the top 10 universities in the world in 12 subject areas: oncology (4^th), surgery (4^th), clinical medicine (5^th), endocrinology and metabolism (5^th), cardiac and cardiovascular systems (6^th), arts and humanities (8^th), psychiatry/psychology (8^th), gastroenterology and hepatology (9^th), radiology, nuclear medicine and medical imaging (9^th), biology and biochemistry (10^th), cell biology (10^th) and social sciences and public health (10^th).

The U.S. News & World Report ranking assessed 1,500 universities from 87 countries through the lens of research performance, as measured by indicators such as global and regional reputations, citations, scholarly publications, international collaboration and citation impact. Data was obtained from Clarivate Analytics.

The methodology used to compile the rankings was identical to 2020, though this year’s edition featured the addition of 10 new subject areas.

Two other Canadian schools joined U of T among the top 100 globally in the most recent ranking by U.S. News & World Report: University of British Columbia, which ranked 31^st, and McGill University, which ranked 51^st.

The top five universities in the 2021 edition of the ranking were Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, the University of California, Berkeley and the University of Oxford.

Overall, U of T continues to be the highest-ranked Canadian university and ranked among the top 25 universities globally in the five most closely watched international rankings: Times Higher Education World University Rankings, QS World University Rankings, Shanghai Ranking Consultancy’s Academic Ranking of World Universities, U.S. News & World Report’s Best Global Universities Rankings and National Taiwan University World University Ranking.