June 16, 2021

UCalgary moves up 9 spots in world QS ranking to 235

Hard work of faculty and staff helps UCalgary achieve new heights in world ranking
Students walk around campus in the fall of 2017.
Students walk around campus in the fall of 2017. Riley Brandt

The University of Calgary has moved up in Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) world university rankings. Ranked 235 out of 1,300 global universities and 10th in Canada, UCalgary’s commitment to innovation, research and entrepreneurial thinking is paying off. UCalgary sits steady in the top quartile of the world’s best universities. This year’s ranking represents a significant move up globally, from 246 in 2021 to 235 today. Nationally, UCalgary’s ranking fell one level, from ninth to 10th.

“UCalgary’s rising global profile is a reflection of our exceptionally dedicated faculty and staff. They have made great strides focusing our energies on teaching, research and innovation, and promoting a culture of creativity and entrepreneurial thinking across our campus community,” says UCalgary President Ed McCauley.

“Despite the challenges that COVID-19 presented in remote teaching and research, these results indicate our collective commitment to student supports and academic excellence.”

UCalgary also improved its rankings in academic reputation (up 17 points), employer reputation (up 45 points), international faculty (up 13 points), and citations per faculty (up 10 points). The university also maintained its score on the international students criteria.

Quacquarelli Symonds is a leading provider of university analytics, ranking universities from around the world on established criteria. The QS World University Rankings is an annual publication of university rankings and is one of the most widely read rankings in the world. On June 8, 2021, QS released its annual World University Rankings 2022. QS uses the following indicators to rank world universities:

  • Academic reputation (40 per cent) – Based on collated expert opinions of individuals in the higher education space regarding teaching and research quality at the world’s universities.
  • Citations per faculty (20 per cent) – A ‘citation’ means a piece of research being cited (referred to) within another piece of research. Generally, the more often a piece of research is cited, the more influential it is. So, the more highly cited research papers a university publishes, the stronger its research output is considered.
  • Faculty-to-student ratio (20 per cent) – This is a simple measure of the number of academic staff employed relative to the number of students enrolled.
  • Employer reputation (10 per cent) – Based on a survey of 50,000 graduate employers who identify universities they perceive to be producing the best graduates
  • International faculty ratio (five per cent) and International students (five per cent) – The last two indicators aim to assess how successful a university has been in attracting students and academics from other countries. This is based on the proportion of international students and faculty members at the institution.