The University of Alberta has moved up in the ranks of the top universities worldwide and in Canada, according to this year's Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) released Aug. 15.
The U of A rose five spots from last year to rank 101st globally and improved its national standing to fourth in Canada. The university's improved performance this year was due to increased scores in two categories assessing the quality of its faculty members and its research output.
"The University of Alberta's improvement this year in the highly regarded ARWU rankings reflects the impact of the outstanding research and teaching that happens every day at our university," says U of A president Bill Flanagan. "I am pleased to see our researchers being recognized as leaders in their fields and innovators striving for solutions to the world's greatest challenges."
The U of A saw a significant jump in the Highly Cited Researchers category, based on the number of researchers on an annual list compiled by the analytics company Clarivate, representing the most-cited researchers in their fields over the past decade. The most recent Clarivate list includes 10 leading researchers affiliated with the U of A.
The university also gained in an indicator related to research output, based on the number of publications in two of the world's foremost journals, Nature and Science, over the last five years.
More than 2,500 institutions are ranked each year for the ARWU rankings. Harvard, Stanford and Massachusetts Institute of Technology finished in the top three slots for the fourth straight year. The University of Toronto maintained its perennial standing as the highest-ranked Canadian institution, coming in at 25th worldwide.
The U of A's improvement in the 2025 ARWU rankings comes after a streak of similar showings in three other influential global rankings released in June.
U.S. News ranked the university first in Canada and 53rd in the world for artificial intelligence as part of its Best Global Universities Rankings.
The U of A also came in at eighth globally and second in Canada in the Times Higher Education Impact Rankings, which assess universities' contributions toward achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals for 2030. And in the same week, the university rose to 94th in the world and held steady at fourth in Canada in the highly regarded QS World University Rankings, thanks mainly to a gain in the category of academic reputation.
