Dalhousie rose two spots among Canadian universities that participated in the Times Higher Education's 2025 World University Rankings (WUR), a boost in a year when the pool of national peers grew to be bigger than ever.
The university tied for 12th spot out of 33 Canadian institutions included in the latest rankings, up from 14 out of 31 the previous year.
Dalhousie also maintained its rank among the top 350 schools worldwide even as the number of universities ranked globally grew to 2,092, with 185 new entries this year.
Dal's success comes in a year when THE introduced its WUR 3.0 methodology, which it calls "the world's most comprehensive evaluation of university performance."
The methodology includes 18 indicators to assess universities across five key areas: teaching (worth 29.5 per cent of total score), research environment (29 per cent of total), research quality (30 per cent of total), industry engagement (4 per cent) and international outlook (7.5 per cent of total).
Breaking down Dal's score
Dal received an overall score of 51.1-53.6 in this year's ranking, in line with last year's score of 51.1-53.
The university achieved its biggest improvement year-over-year in the Industry category, where it rose nine per cent for a score of 78.2 and climbed three spots to 15th in Canada. The category measures industry income and patents.
Dal also realized a small four-per-cent gain in the Research Environment category, which measures research reputation, research income, research productivity. It climbed one spot to 19th nationally in the category.
Facts, Figures and Rankings
Dalhousie is about a lot more than numbers — but data, including our rankings, helps demonstrate how our teaching, research, and student experience stacks up against the best universities across Canada and the world.
Dal clinched its top score in the International Outlook category at 88.5, advancing a spot to seventh in Canada. The category weighs the proportion of international students, proportion of international staff, and international collaboration.
Dal’s scores in Teaching and Research Quality, two of the WUR’s biggest categories, remained relatively flat at 29.6 and 76.9, respectively, and its national placement remained unchanged at 17th and 12th, respectively. Teaching considers metrics such as teaching reputation, staff-to-student ratio, doctorate-to-bachelor’s ratio, doctorates-awarded-to-academic-staff ratio, and institutional income. Research Quality measures citation impact, research strength, research excellence, research influence.
A shifting global picture
This year’s WUR was compiled from a staggering amount of data, including 157 million citations, 18 million research publications, and survey responses from more than 93,000 scholars globally.
THE’s analysis of the data revealed a few key trends worth watching:
- the reputations of the UK and U.S. higher education sectors are declining
- China edged closer to the top 10 overall, further boosting its global research influence
- Three new countries joined the top 200 — Brazil, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates — highlighting the rise of emerging markets in higher education.
View the full 2025 World University Rankings.
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