U of T ranked first in Canada in QS World University Rankings by Subject 2020

(photo by Diana Tyszko)

The University of Toronto ranked first in Canada in five broad subject areas – and in 30 of 45 specific subjects in which U of T was ranked – in the latest annual subject ranking by Quacquarelli Symonds, the London-based analytics and insights firm.

The QS University Rankings by Subject 2020, released Tuesday, also ranked U of T in the top 50 globally for 43 subjects, a result unmatched by any other university.

“This ranking, like other global university rankings, highlights the University of Toronto’s excellence across an incredibly wide range of disciplines,” said U of T President Meric Gertler.

“It’s one of U of T’s distinctive qualities – and one of the many reasons U of T is such an exciting place for students to learn, and to engage in research and innovation.”

“Excellence across an incredibly wide range of disciplines is one of U of T’s distinctive qualities”

The QS World University Rankings by Subject ranked nearly 1,400 institutions based on academic survey results, employer review survey results, citations per research paper and the H-index, an author-level metric that attempts to capture the productivity and impact of a scholar’s publications. In the arts, humanities and social sciences rankings, academic and employer surveys weigh more heavily than STEM subjects, where citation-based indicators are more important. 

U of T placed in the top 10 globally in the QS subject ranking in eight subjects. They were: library and information management (third); pharmacy and pharmacology (fourth); sports-related subjects (fifth); education (fifth); nursing (eighth); anatomy and physiology (10^th); computer science (10^th); and English language and literature (10^th).

U of T also ranked in the top 25 for 31 subjects, placing it in the company of several other top-tier schools like the University of California, Berkeley, Cambridge University, Harvard University, University of Oxford, Stanford University and University of California, Los Angeles.

Overall, U of T continues to be the highest-ranked Canadian university and one of the top-ranked public universities in the five most closely watched international rankings: Times Higher Education World University Rankings, QS World University Rankings, Shanghai Ranking Consultancy’s Academic Ranking of World Universities, U.S. News & World Report’s Best Global Universities and National Taiwan University World University Rankings.