The university ranked 9th overall out of 15 schools included in the category, which tracks institutions with a broad range of PhD programs and research as well as medical schools.
Maclean's rankings are produced using 12 weighted performance indicators spread across five broad areas: students, faculty, resources, student support, and reputation.
Reputation and supports in focus
While Dal's overall ranking dropped two spots year-over-year, the 2026 rankings released Tuesday, Oct. 14 showed improvements in two performance indicators: Reputation and Scholarships & Bursaries.
Reputation improved by two places to ninth nationally based on views of quality and innovation from hundreds of university faculty and senior administrators, as well as employers across the country, collected in partnership with Angus Reid Group.
Meanwhile, Dal rose one spot to sixth nationally for its spending on in Scholarships and Bursaries an indicator based on expenditures tracked by the Canadian Association of University Business Officers.
Students and faculty shine
Dal showed continued strength year-over-year in maintaining fourth spot nationally for Student Awards, which uses data on student success in winning national academic awards over a five-year period. It also ranked fourth for Student/Faculty Ratio, an indicator that tracks the number of full-time-equivalent students per full-time faculty member.
The university also kept its ranking of fourth spot for Faculty Awards. The metric calculates the number of faculty who have won major awards over the past five years, including the Killam, Molson and Steacie prizes, the Royal Society of Canada awards, the 3M Teaching Fellowships, and more than 30 other award programs.
Learn more about the Maclean's methodology and find full details for Dal's performance and this year's rankings.
