Best Canadian Universities

according to the Times Higher Education rankings

https://www.timeshighereducation.com/student/best-universities/best-universities-canada

 

I'm generally skeptical about lists of "best" universities.

'Best' in terms of teaching? 'Best' for research productivity? 'Best' in terms of graduates' subsequent success? 'Best' for doctoral students? 'Best' for undergraduates?

And there's the inescapable fact that a particular university isn't equally good in every subject. Universities might score high in some specialties and low in others. An obvious example is the fact that THES has Cal Tech as the best university in the US, which may be true in some physics specialties, but probably not in the biological sciences (though Cal Tech is strong there too) and especially not in the many subjects that it doesn't even offer (it's a science and engineering specialty school).

I personally pay attention to the Philosophical Gourmet Report which ranks philosophy departments in a host of specialties. (Cal Tech doesn't offer a philosophy PhD.) Their methodology is to collect a group of big-name philosophers in various specialties, then poll them about strength-of-faculty in their specialties at various departments. That's a measure of research productivity and is of obvious relevance to prospective doctoral students. That said, it's less indicative of whether or not an undergraduate will get good instruction at the BA level.

Regarding Canadian universities, this publication's ranking of 'best' Philosophy programs varies tremendously, depending on specialty.

http://www.philosophicalgourmet.com/breakdown.asp

Picking some specialties of interest to me:

In Metaphysics they have the #1 department in the English speaking world as NYU. The #1 Canadian university is the U. of Toronto, which seems to fall at about #11 in the English speaking world. (Still ahead of Harvard, Yale, Stanford and Berkeley).

In Philosophical Logic they have Oxford and NYU tied for #1 in the English speaking world. #1 in Canada is the U. of Toronto, down around #20 in the English speaking world. (Still better than Harvard.)

In General Philosophy of Science they have the U. of Pittsburgh as #1 in the English speaking world. #1 in Canada is the U. of Western Ontario (I think they call it 'Western University' now) in an 8-way tie for #2 in the English-speaking world. So Western's a player, ahead of Harvard, Stanford, Berkeley, MIT and most of the usual suspects. #2 in Canada is the U. of Toronto, at about #13 in the English speaking world. #3 in Canada is U. Waterloo, with UBC #4.

For Philosophy of Biology, the U. of Wisconsin Madison is #1 in the English speaking world. #1 in Canada is the U. of Calgary at around #7 in the English speaking world (ahead of the usual suspects.)

I could go on but you get the point.

This is just Philosophy. Imagine what would happen if people investigated Physics, Molecular Biology or History in granular detail. You would see departments bouncing all over, from strong to weak, depending on what precise research problems or historical periods we are talking about.

 

I do get the point. And I also agree. However, I think that you'll agree that given any two universities an individual could be able, through some means, to decide which school is best for them. And then if you repeated that exercise 1,000 or 10,000 times then you might be able to make some general statements about which school is "better." In this way we might be able to come to some general conclusions that indicate that , let's say, Harvard University is "better" than nearby LaSell University. However, if it is my goal to become an Athletic Trainer then I might decide that despite those statistics that indicate that Harvard is the better university, LaSell is the better choice for me. This is one of those times when I wish Rich Douglas would drop in with a mini lecture on inferential statistics.
As for the Philosophical Gourmet, I think it’s a great guide. I haven’t really looked at it in years but the rating used to be based almost entirely on which Philosophers were working at which school. If a rockstar philosopher like Nussbaum was coaxed to a new school then that school’s ratings could rise substantially.