Only three Canadian universities in “Top 50 under 50”

University rankings often favour older institutions, because, in many cases, older schools have bigger endowments, more alumni and prestige.

The new QS Top 50 under 50 ranking takes the age-bias into account by removing all the universities founded before 1962.

Young schools are ranked on the same six criteria used in the QS World Top 300 ranking: academic reputation, employer reputation, citations per faculty, student/faculty ratio, international student ratio and international faculty ratio.

But the results are very different. In the World Top 300 rankings, the U.S. and U.K. dominate. Canada has 14 entries, but none are in the Top 50.

In the new Top 50 under 50 ranking, Canada has three universities that measure up: the University of Calgary at #17, Simon Fraser University at #25, and the University of Victoria at #34.

But the Asian Tigers have us beat, especially on a per capita basis. Hong Kong leads with the five spots—#1, #2, #9, #13, and #23. South Korea takes #5 and #7. Singapore earned #4.

More worryingly, Australia takes nine of the Top 50 spots—three times the number Canada got. That ought to give us pause. Australia, after all, is a major competitor for international students.