University placed 9th in Canada
Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) released its 2022 ranking of universities with the University of Ottawa in the 230th spot. The positioning is 49 positions above the university’s 2021 ranking of 279.
QS’s list features 1,300 universities from around the world.
The rankings are based on each post-secondary institution’s score out of a possible 100. The U of O received a score of 40.2. MIT, which received its 10th consecutive number 1 spot, received the only perfect score.
The University of Ottawa received an overall score of 40.2 out of a possible 100 points. The score is 4.8 points higher than last year’s score of 35.4.
In an article for the Gazette, the University identifies two reasons for the year’s success in ranking. Firstly, the school’s 44-spot leap in the ranking systems ‘citation per faculty member’ indicator.
“This places the University in 79th position, which confirms the upward trend for research at our institution,” reads the Gazette’s article.
The U of O attributes this to QS placing more weight on academic citations in the arts and humanities for their research output indicator than has been the case in previous rankings.
Secondly, the school’s higher positioning is influenced by international student ratios.
“The QS global ranking assigns specific importance to this factor: it reflects an ability to attract students from across the globe and speaks to international brand,” according to the Gazette.
The higher score puts U of O in the top 10 of Canadian universities, in 9th place. Canada’s highest-ranked school is the University of Toronto (U of T) at 26 overall with a score of 85.3. U of T has maintained the top Canadian spot since 2019. This is the first year the U of O has been in the Canadian top ten since 2019.
QS includes an array of data for prospective students to look over before making decisions, including each school’s student to faculty ratio (for which Ottawa is listed as 22:1) and size (for which the U of O is listed as XL).
The breakdown of QS’s ranking criteria received a score of 25 out of a possible 100 for academic reputation.
U of O media relations manager Isabelle Mailloux-Polkinghorn said in an email that “[the University of] Ottawa is extremely proud to have moved up in the prestigious QS rankings to a strong 230th of the best universities in the world and to be recognized for its very high research output.”
