Universities, colleges and polytechnics in Western Canada are outperformers.
You may take issue with their criteria, but post-secondary rankings provide valuable information about how Canadian institutions line up against their national and international peers. And by any measure, universities, colleges and polytechnics in Western Canada are outperformers.
Research Infosource ranks Canada's polytechnic and applied research colleges in terms of research income generated, and on the 2014 list, five of the top 20 institutions were from Western Canada.
The Times Higher Education World University Rankings is one of the most influential lists. In the 2014-2015 list, Western Canadian universities were judged against the world's top schools in terms of teaching, research, knowledge transfer and international outlook. Out of 1,000 universities surveyed, 17 Canadian institutions placed within the top 250 in the world, and five of those were in Western Canada: UBC (32), the University of Alberta (124), the University of Victoria (173), Simon Fraser University (226-250) and the University of Calgary (226-250).
The 2015 Maclean's rankings also highlight the region's strong performance. In the medical-doctoral category, universities in Western Canada took one-third of the top 15 spots; in the comprehensive category, Simon Fraser University and the University of Victoria took spots one and two, followed by the University of Regina in tenth place; and in the primarily undergraduate category, UNBC and the University of Lethbridge took spots two and three, with the University of Winnipeg placing fourteenth.
This content was produced by Randall Anthony Communications, in partnership with The Globe and Mail's advertising department. The Globe's editorial department was not involved in its creation.