Alberta universities drop slightly in global ranking
Posted Jun 3, 2026 10:54 am.
Many of Canada’s universities dropped in the annual ranking of the world’s best places of higher learning – and Alberta did not buck the trend.
The Center for World University Rankings evaluated more than 21,000 institutions based on four main criteria: teaching quality, graduate employability, faculty prestige, and research.
In Canada, only the University of Toronto retained its 23rd-place ranking, whereas most other universities dropped a few spots.
In Alberta, the University of Alberta was nudged down to 82nd in the global ranking, down from No. 81 in 2025.
The University of Calgary is considered the 203rd best institution, down from No. 202 the year before.
And the University of Lethbridge, which was ranked No. 1,749 in 2025 is now No. 1,782.
After the University of Toronto, Montreal’s McGill University (28th in the world) and the University of British Columbia (49th) are the country’s best.
Thirty-eight Canadian universities are included in the 2026 rankings.
Harvard University once again took the top spot, with MIT, Stanford, Cambridge and Oxford rounding out the top five.
The full ranking is available here.
