The University of Guelph again finds itself among the top research universities in Canada.
According to Research Infosource, a research, consulting, and publishing firm, the U of G was ranked second behind the University of Waterloo among comprehensive universities in 2023, 18th overall out of 50 Canadian universities. The university dropped one spot from last year’s ranking where they placed 17th overall.
The rankings take into factors such as total sponsored research income and research impact. The University of Guelph received $163,541,000 in sponsored research income in 2023, down from $182,768,000 in 2022.
Despite a drop of over $19 million in research funding, the university still managed to stay in the Top 20.
“We have a lot of pride in these results,” said Rene Van Acker, interim vice-president of research. “We’re smaller in terms of the member of faculty than other institutions. But our faculty achieve greater results per faculty member than many of those institutions.”
The statistics used to compile the rankings are based on information that the universities provide to Statistics Canada. Most of the universities at the top of the list are medical universities.
“(U of G) is one of only two universities in the country (the other being Waterloo) that do not have medical schools but have over $100 million each year of research income,” said Ron Freedman, CEO of Research Infosource Inc. “That’s a testament of the quality and quantity of the research happening in Guelph.”
The list of the top research universities in Canada is seen as a measure of how well a university is doing. It is also used to attract new students and those with specific backgrounds to come to Guelph and work.
“We produce our data in part to help the university benchmark themselves so they can see their performance over time,” Freedman said. “And to benchmark themselves against universities that they consider to be similar to themselves.”
In recent years, the University of Guelph has been able to forge partnerships with governments, private institutions and others that has resulted in money coming into the university. It cites the long-time partnership with the Ontario Agri-Food Innovation Alliance as an example.
“We’re very interested in being seen by potential research partners and funders, ” said Van Acker. “We’re very interested in being seen by those who want to work for us. And we’re very interested in being seen by potential students.”
To see the entire list, go to the Resource Infosource website.
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