The University of Toronto has been ranked third in the world in artificial intelligence and among the top 10 universities globally in four more subjects in the ShanghaiRanking Consultancy's 2025 Global Ranking of Academic Subjects .
U of T's performance in AI - one of two new subjects added to this year's edition of the annual ranking - underscores the university's leadership in developing the potentially revolutionary technology. That includes foundational work by University Professor Emeritus and 2024 Nobel laureate Geoffrey Hinton, widely known as the "godfather of AI," and his graduate students.
In addition, U of T placed fifth in the world for biomedical engineering, sixth for public health, eighth for statistics and ninth for human biological sciences - and ranked among the top 25 in 21 subjects, placing it among the most widely ranked institutions globally.
It was also named the top university in Canada in 28 subjects, the highest total in the country.
"These global rankings consistently reflect the outstanding work that U of T researchers are doing each day across our three campuses," said U of T President Melanie Woodin. "Our faculty and students are making major contributions in a wide range of fields. And it's great to see our world leadership in artificial intelligence reflected here as well, with the addition of AI as one of the subjects covered by ShanghaiRanking."
The Shanghai subject ranking is closely watched as an international benchmark for research performance across disciplines, with about 2,000 universities from nearly 100 countries and regions assessed every year. Each subject is evaluated using nine indicators , including number of papers published, international collaboration, journal quality, citation impact and major academic honours.
In addition to AI, one other new subject was added this year's ranking: robotic science and technology - an area in which U of T ranked 31st globally.
The ShanghaiRanking consultancy ranked a total of 57 subject areas for 2025, and U of T featured in the top 50 in 31 of them. Only five universities - Harvard University, National University of Singapore, Stanford University, Tsinghua University and Zhejiang University -ranked that highly in more subjects.
Compared to last year's ranking, U of T's position rose in 18 subjects, declined in 24 and remained unchanged in six.
Earlier this year, U of T placed 25th globally in the 2025 edition of ShanghaiRanking's overall ranking of universities worldwide.
Overall, U of T continues to be ranked among the top 30 universities globally across the five most closely watched international rankings: QS World University Rankings, U.S. News & World Report's Best Global Universities, Times Higher Education's World University Rankings, ShanghaiRanking Consultancy's Academic Ranking of World Universities and National Taiwan University World University Rankings.
