The University of Waterloo is amongst the top 150 universities in the world, according to QS World University Rankings, an annual publication of comparative data about university performance.

One of 1,300 institutions ranked, Waterloo placed 149th in the 2022 ranking, 17 spots higher than its 2021 mark of 166th. Waterloo’s ranking amongst Canadian institutions remained stable at 7th out of 28, but saw the largest overall improvement for Canadian universities in the top 150 over one year.

“This great leap over a one-year period is a testament of the hard work and dedication of our University community in the areas of teaching and academic excellence,” says Feridun Hamdullahpur, president and vice-chancellor of Waterloo. “To be recognized on the global scale as one of the world’s top 150 universities demonstrates the incredible impact we have on society every day.”

The University’s strongest indicators include:

  1. Employer reputation (improving from 85th to 76th, 4th in Canada) where 75,000 employers were asked to rank university graduates in terms of hireability, and;
  2. Citations per faculty (improving from 95th to 80th, 3rd in Canada) measures the average number of citations obtained per faculty member and is a measure of the impact and quality of the scientific work produced by universities.

Waterloo’s academic reputation rank dropped slightly from 210th last year to 213th this year, however ranks improved in the international student indicator from 145th last year to 141st this year (fifth in Canada) and international faculty indicator from 234th to 214th. Both measures are based on the proportion of faculty members or students that are international and measure how internationally attractive the University is to these groups.