Media Releases

U of T Canada’s leading university in major global reputational ranking

March 4, 2013

TORONTO, ON – The Uni­ver­si­ty of Toron­to ranks among the best in the world – and is the best in Cana­da – in a pres­ti­gious inter­na­tion­al rank­ing released today that mea­sures an institution’s rep­u­ta­tion amongst its peers.

The third annu­al Times High­er Edu­ca­tion (THE) World Rep­u­ta­tion Rank­ings places U of T 16th in the world. The Uni­ver­si­ty earned the same result last year.

The 2013 rep­u­ta­tion rank­ings are based on the largest invi­ta­tion-only sur­vey of aca­d­e­m­ic opin­ion ever under­tak­en, fea­tur­ing 16,639 respon­dents from almost 150 coun­tries. The sur­vey, car­ried out by Ipsos Medi­aCT, solic­its respons­es from senior, pub­lished schol­ars, pro­vid­ing a rich and unique insight into the aca­d­e­m­ic pres­tige of uni­ver­si­ties world­wide.

“The Times High­er Edu­ca­tion World Rep­u­ta­tion Rank­ings have rapid­ly become estab­lished as the glob­al index of aca­d­e­m­ic pres­tige,” said Phil Baty, edi­tor of the Times High­er Edu­ca­tion Rank­ings. “The top 100 list rep­re­sents only around 0.5 per cent of the uni­ver­si­ties in the world, so all of those ranked are tru­ly among a tiny elite of the world’s most high­ly regard­ed aca­d­e­m­ic insti­tu­tions.”

Baty said com­pe­ti­tion for a top-100 place is extreme­ly tough in today’s glob­al aca­d­e­m­ic mar­ket­place and that U of T’s per­for­mance should be exam­ined in that con­text.

“The data pro­vides clear evi­dence of the ris­ing sta­tus of flag­ship nation­al uni­ver­si­ties in the East Asian nations, which are sup­port­ed by their gov­ern­ments (and soci­eties) with gen­er­ous, con­cen­trat­ed fund­ing,” he said. “In this con­text, Toronto’s 16th place is a very impres­sive achieve­ment, espe­cial­ly as it has man­aged to sus­tain this posi­tion from 2012.”

The rep­u­ta­tion-only rank­ings are a sub­sidiary of the annu­al World Uni­ver­si­ty Rank­ings, pub­lished in the fall.

For full results of the Times High­er Edu­ca­tion rep­u­ta­tion­al rank­ings 2013, go to: http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/

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For more infor­ma­tion, con­tact:

Lau­rie Stephens
Uni­ver­si­ty of Toron­to
Tel: 416–978-0100
media.relations@utoronto.ca