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It’s official: McGill University has been named Canada’s top large university for 2027 in this coveted annual university ranking.
Released in October, the latest Maclean’s rankings place McGill in first position among Canada’s large universities, ahead of the University of Toronto in second place and the University of British Columbia in third.
The results put the Montréal institution at the top of a national list of 15 universities with more than 30,000 students.
And McGill—located just a short distance from Time Out Market Montréal, which sits inside the Montréal Eaton Centre—isn’t the only Montréal university to make the cut. Université de Montréal landed in 12th place, while Concordia University rounded out the list at No. 15. Québec City’s Université Laval ranked 11th.
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What is the top-ranked Canadian university for 2027?
Here’s where the four Québec institutions placed in Maclean’s 2027 large-university category:
No. 1: McGill University, Montréal
No. 11: Université Laval, Québec City
No. 12: Université de Montréal, Montréal
No. 15: Concordia University, Montréal
McGill’s result comes with some notable category-level performances. According to reporting on the rankings, the university placed first in student awards, retention rates, graduation rates, student-to-faculty ratio and library acquisitions. It also ranked highly in several research and scholarship measures.
Check out: Canada’s most beautiful library is in Montréal—and it’s free to visit
What changed in Maclean’s 2027 Canadian university rankings?
This year’s results come with a major change: Maclean’s has replaced its long-standing Medical Doctoral, Comprehensive and Primarily Undergraduate categories with three groups based on university size.
The new categories are large universities, with more than 30,000 students; mid-size universities, with 10,000 to 30,000; and small universities, with fewer than 10,000. The 2027 edition covers 56 Canadian universities across these groups.
The rankings also incorporate updated evaluation measures, including student retention, graduation rates, research volume per faculty member and research impact. Together with other indicators, these measures assess universities across areas such as student experience and success, faculty quality, student resources and support, and reputation.
For more information about the Maclean’s 2027 rankings, click here.
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