Do your homework before applying to university in Canada! Check out the 2022 Maclean’s University Rankings, which ranks universities according to certain categories.
Maclean’s ranking system is based on feedback from more than 19,000 university students, and includes students’ opinions on professors and staff, residence life, and opportunities for extracurricular activities and experiential education, such as co-op programs. In the survey, students are also asked about topical issues such as mental health services, whether the university is doing enough to prevent sexual assault on campus and how well the university is promoting Indigenous histories, cultures and languages on campus.
Comprehensive Universities:
Universities in this category conduct some graduate-level research and offer a wide range of undergraduate, graduate, and professional programs. In 2022, SFU and Victoria jointly top the table in the #1 position. All these universities featured in the Top 10 in 2021, but in a slightly different order, so no big surprises here.
Top 10
- SFU
- Victoria
- Waterloo
- Guelph
- Carleton
- York
- Wilfred Laurier
- Memorial
- New Brunswick
- UQAM
Primarily Undergraduate
Universities in this category are generally smaller and focus strongly on the undergraduate classroom experience, and have fewer postgraduate programs. This year, University of Northern British Columbia takes the #1 spot, while Mount Allison slips to second place.
Top 10
- UNBC
- Mt Allison
- Trent
- Saint Mary’s
- Acadia
- Lethbridge
- UPEI
- Lakehead
- Ontario Tech
- St Francis Xavier
Canada’s best universities by reputation
To rank universities by reputation, Maclean’s surveyed university faculty and senior administrators, as well as a selection of business people across the country, asking them to rate universities in three areas: Highest Quality, Most Innovative and Leaders of Tomorrow.
In the three individual categories, Toronto came out on top for Highest Quality and Leaders of Tomorrow, and Waterloo for Most Innovation.
Top 10
- Toronto
- UBC
- Waterloo
- McGill
- McMaster
- Alberta
- Queen’s
- Montreal
- Western
- Calgary
