Concordia’s steady rise in world rankings continues

The latest rankings highlight Concordia’s place among the top higher education institutions. The university and its subjects made moderate — or better — gains in the latest releases despite a growing field of ranked institutions.

Performance Ranking of Scientific Papers for World Universities (NTU Ranking)

Five Concordia subjects placed among the top 10 in Canada and the top 750 worldwide in the 2021 edition of the Performance Ranking of Scientific Papers for World Universities, also known as the NTU Ranking, published by the National Taiwan University in August.

NTU ranked Concordia’s Civil Engineering number 5 in the country, up from 7 in 2020, climbing 83 spots to 90th in the world. Also making significant gains internationally were Mechanical Engineering, up 35 places to 143rd, and Psychiatry/Psychology, up 10 spots to 277th.

The university’s five top-10 subjects were: Civil Engineering, 5th in Canada; Electrical Engineering, 6th; Mechanical Engineering, 6th; Computer Science, 8th; and Chemical Engineering, 10th.

The NTU Ranking consists of an overall classification of the top universities globally, as well as six field-based rankings and 27 subject-based rankings, three more than last year.

Overall, Concordia placed in the 701–750 category for the fifth straight year.

Shanghai Ranking’s Academic Ranking of World Universities

Concordia took a big step up in the 2021 edition of the Shanghai Ranking’s Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), released in August. It placed in the 501–600 category out of more than 2,000 universities, compared to landing in the 601–700 range last year.

Among 28 Canadian universities, Concordia ranked 21st–22nd, compared to 21st–24th in 2020.

The ARWU uses six ranking indicators: alumni winning Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals; faculty winning Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals; highly cited researchers; papers published in Nature and Science; papers indexed in Science Citation Index-Expanded and Social Science Citation Index; and per capita academic performance.

Concordia’s superior ARWU placement this year is due in part to its increase in the highly cited researchers indicator, issued by Clarivate. Three Concordia researchers appeared on Clarivate’s November 2020 Highly Cited Researchers list, compared to one on the 2019 list.

As well, the university scored 3.8 on the Nature and Science indicator, up from 1.4 last year. This reflects the greater number of articles published in these prestigious journals in the last five years from authors affiliated with Concordia.

Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings

Concordia retained its standing among international institutions in the newly released Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings 2022. It placed in the 601–800 category for the fourth consecutive year, putting it in the top 48 per cent of 1,662 universities ranked by THE, despite an increase of 135 institutions, or 9 per cent.

Concordia tied for 20th place among 32 Canadian universities, up from 22nd out of 30 in 2021.

The university’s scores improved in four of the five higher education “pillars” used in THE rankings: teaching, research, industry income and international outlook. As well, Concordia’s scores for three pillars were above the median for all participating institutions: teaching, research and international outlook.

The international outlook pillar measures the ratios of international students and faculty as well as international co-authorships. It is Concordia’s highest ranked pillar, 159th globally, and has double the worldwide median score.

The 2022 results are based on 2018-19 data.

QS Graduate Employability Rankings

The 2022 QS Graduate Employability Rankings, which compares university graduates’ employment and prospects, placed Concordia in the 301-500 category worldwide. The university has held the same spot in the last four rankings, although QS did not release the rankings last year. 

For the 2022 rankings, QS analyzed 679 institutions and ranked 550. That included 18 Canadian universities ranked, out of 22 analyzed. Concordia placed in the 10-17 category nationally, similar to the last ranking, 10-16. 

The rankings measure universities’ employer reputation, alumni outcomes, employer-student connections, partnerships with employers and graduate employment rate.

Concordia’s strongest indicator is in alumni outcomes, with a world rank of 222 out of 550 universities.

Moscow International University Ranking

Moscow International University Ranking’s newly released Three University Missions 2021 placed Concordia in the 351–400 category out of 1,650 universities, a rise from 451–500 out of 1,500 last year. Concordia placed 16–19 among 33 Canadian universities, up from 22–24 out of 30 in 2020. 

This is the third year Concordia has been included in the ranking, which employs 16 quantitative indicators to evaluate the three traditional university missions: education, research and interaction with society.

For the full listings, see 2021 Academic Ranking of World Universities, Performance Ranking of Scientific Papers for World Universities, Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings 2022 and Moscow International University 2021.

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