Rankings of universities in Canada are typically published annually by a variety of nationally, and internationally based publications.
Ranking are established to help inform potential applicants about universities in Canada based on a range of criteria, including student body characteristics, classes, faculty, finances, library, and reputation.
Various rankings consider combinations of factors, including funding and endowment, research excellence and/or influence, specialization expertise, admissions, student options, award numbers, internationalization, graduate employment, industrial linkage, historical reputation and other criteria.
Several international publications assess the quality of a university by using the weighted average of opinions gathered in surveys, alongside other quantitative measures.
These rankings use quantitative measures to assess the quality of an institution, such as bibliometrics, or through the number of awards and distinctions accrued by a university's faculty and/or alumni.
In 2012, the Toronto-based Higher Education Strategy Associates published a study ranking Canadian Universities based on research strength.
In 2014, the Toronto-based CampusRanking.ca began publication of its annual Canadian University and College Rankings, focusing on undergraduate education.
Maclean's evaluates post-secondary institutions on a number of performance factors, such as awards collected, resources, reputation, as well as student satisfaction surveys.
[20] In addition to the medical/doctoral, comprehensive, and undergraduate university categories, the magazine also produces rankings for that focus on grants awarded in groups of academic fields.
[18] Respondents to the magazine's reputation survey includes university administrators and faculty, secondary school guidance counsellors, and members of the business community.
"[30] Beginning with its 2007 rankings, the magazine gathered information previously obtained from the questionnaires from third-party, or other official sources and reports.
The report offers a statistical findings summary, along with discussions regarding status quo as well as effects of the surveys on student welfare.