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A new ranking of the best universities in the world has heaped high praise on some of Canada’s top institutions, but yet again, McGill University has fallen far short of one of its biggest competitors.
On November 14, Times Higher Education published the latest edition of its Global Employability University Ranking, which rates universities based on how well they prep students for the real world, according to top employers.
While Canada as a whole performed pretty well, with as many as ten universities in total included on the list, McGill’s ranking is the latest in a line of disappointing results for the school.
Coming in at an impressive 14th place globally and top in Canada overall was the University of Toronto, scoring highly for its commitment to preparing graduates to navigate the world of work.
McGill came second overall in Canada, which isn’t bad going, but the university’s performance on the world stage was a little more disappointing. Trailing behind U of T, McGill came in 31st place—the same position it held last year.
It’s not the first time McGill has been left in the dust in recent university rankings. In September, a global ranking of top universities for research put McGill in 57th, far behind both the University of Toronto and the University of British Columbia in 37th place.
Similarly, the World University Rankings for 2025 recently saw McGill fall short of U of T and UBC based on metrics in key areas like teaching, research environment, research quality, industry engagement, and international outlook.
It’s not all bad news for McGill, though. Earlier this year, QS Best Student Cities 2025 ranked Montreal among the top cities for students to live, praising its abundant career opportunities, safe environment, high student satisfaction, and welcoming attitude. It’s not bad, especially given the city has company like Berlin, Paris, London, Tokyo and Seoul!
Aside from McGill and U of T, Canada had a strong showing with ten universities on the 2025 Global Employability University Ranking, including the University of British Columbia in 36th and Université de Montréal/HEC, which ranks 4th in Canada and 84th worldwide.
It was the United States that dominated the top spots overall though, as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology took the coveted number one spot, followed by the California Institute of Technology in second and Stanford in third.
The top five globally was rounded out by Harvard in fourth and the University of Cambridge (U.K.) in fifth.
Here’s a closer look at how Canada’s top schools fared both nationally and internationally.
Canada’s top universities for graduate employability
1. University of Toronto (14th globally)
2. McGill University (31st globally)
3. University of British Columbia (36th globally)
4. University of Montreal/HEC (84th globally)
5. McMaster University (88th globally)
6. University of Alberta (170th globally)
7. University of Ottawa (181st globally)
8. University of Victoria (186th globally)
9. University of Waterloo (193rd globally)
10. Toronto Metropolitan University (194th globally)
The full Global Employability University Ranking for 2025 can be found here.
