McMaster ranks among Canada’s top universities in Maclean’s rankings 

University Hall seen behind a big leafy tree on a sunny day.

For the fifth straight year, McMaster is one of Canada's top four universities that offer a broad range of PhD and research programs, including medical schools. 


Driven by a commitment to student services and excellence in teaching, research and innovation, McMaster has retained its top-tier placement in Maclean’s annual ranking of universities with a broad range of research and PhD programs, including medical schools.

For the fifth consecutive year, McMaster ranked fourth in the country. McGill, the University of Toronto, and the University of British Columbia also held steady in Canada’s top four.

Among medical doctoral universities, McMaster is ranked first in student services, second in total research dollars and grants and second in library acquisitions.

“Our position in the rankings reflects McMaster’s dedication to creativity, innovation and inclusive excellence,” says President David Farrar. “Our goal is to equip our students and enable our researchers to make a transformative impact in the world through our world-class teaching and research.

“We’re happy to see McMaster’s commitment to these areas recognized by the broader community.”

Maclean’s also provides rankings for individual programs and academic areas. The DeGroote School of Business is ranked tenth, the Faculty of Engineering is sixth and the nursing program retained its spot in fifth.

McMaster researchers, primarily in the Faculties of Humanities and Social Sciences ranked first in Ontario for funding per researcher from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, an important indicator of research strength in the liberal arts. Overall, McMaster was second only to the University of Toronto in average number of grants per 100 faculty members.

McMaster is one of Canada’s most research-intensive universities, and is also ranked among the top 80 universities in the world.

Earlier this year, Times Higher Education ranked McMaster 37th in the world for its impact at home and globally. The University Impact Rankings are based on the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a call to action to end poverty and hunger, protect the planet, and to address the most pressing challenges of our time.