Raj Chetty and John Friedman of Time magazine released their worldwide university ranking for 2026. Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador was ranked 295th out of 500 universities globally, 17th out of 29 in Canada, and second in Atlantic Canada.
According to Time’s methodology page, this is the magazine’s first time publishing a university ranking, stating, “TIME, in partnership with Statista R, the leading global provider of market and consumer data and rankings, has published the inaugural edition of the ‘World’s Top Universities of 2026’ ranking. The quantitative study highlights institutions that drive academic excellence globally.”
Memorial University was awarded an overall score of 47.5, tied with the University of Konstanz, a public university in Germany, which put them 295th and 294th, respectively, far from the number one ranked University of Oxford, whose overall score was 90.1, and the number one ranked in Canada. University of Toronto, whose overall score was 75.71.
The overall score and placement of a university are based on their scores in 3 distinct categories: “Academic Capacity & Performance,” “Innovation & Economic Impact,” and “Global Engagement.”
Memorial was given a score of 47.44 in the category of Academic Capacity & Performance, comparable to the University of Canterbury, a public university in New Zealand whose score in this category was 47.66.
Academic Capacity & Performance is defined as “under the pillar of academic capacity & performance, the study examines both the resources universities devote to teaching and research, and the results they achieve in terms of scholarly output and academic excellence.”
In the category of Innovation & Economic Impact, MUN was given a score of 43.50, similar to Marburg University, a public university in Germany, which was given a score of 43.33.
Time Magazine describes the methodology of Innovation & Economic Impact as “[examining] universities’ contributions to the advancement of science and technology, the diffusion of knowledge, and their influence on economic decision-making through the careers of their graduates.”
Lastly, in the final category, Global Engagement, Time Magazine gave Memorial University its highest score of any of the three categories, 62.29, not far off the second-highest-ranked Canadian university, the University of British Columbia, which scored 62.83.
Global Engagement is defined as “a global ranking, the study evaluates the global engagement of universities by measuring the extent to which they attract international students and staff and the degree of international attention they receive.”
Memorial University was quite content with this ranking. Dennis Peters, an associate VP at Memorial, told The Tim Powers Show on VOCM that the ranking is a “source of pride.”
President Dr. Janet Morrison said in a statement in the Memorial University Gazette that “Memorial is on the right track” as well as “Our students and alumni are contributing to their communities and meeting the challenges of a changing world, because of their experiences at Memorial.”
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