The 2015 international rankings released by the Center for World University Rankings (CWUR) have placed Queen’s University at 284th among more than 25,000 degree-granting institutions around the world.

The CWUR ranking is a global university ranking based on factors such as the number of faculty and alumni who have won prestigious international awards, the number of alumni who hold CEO positions at the world’s top companies, and the number of research papers appearing in highly influential journals. It does not use reputational surveys or university data submissions.

“While it is always good to see Queen’s counted among the world’s top universities, the fact is no single ranking captures the full range of Queen’s strengths, particularly the quality of our student learning experience,” says Alan Harrison, Provost and Vice-Principal (Academic). “It is important to bear in mind that Queen’s vision as a balanced academy and its smaller faculty complement relative to other research-intensive universities, do not necessarily help us in international rankings, many of which depend heavily on total research output.”

CWUR began producing its world university rankings in 2012. Last year, Queen’s placed 277th worldwide.

“Fluctuation in international rankings is to be expected, and Queen’s may go up or down a few positions in any particular ranking from year to year,” says Harrison. “Ultimately, the success of Queen’s internationalization efforts will be built on what has defined our success within Canada – the ability to offer a transformative student learning experience within a research intensive environment.”

The complete 2015 ranking is available on the CWUR website.