Saint Mary's has once again earned a spot as one of Canada's top 3 undergraduate universities.
Saint Mary's University is the third Best Primarily Undergraduate University in the country, according to the 2025 Maclean's University Rankings. This marks the third year in a row that SMU has achieved this enviable position.
The annual rankings also confirm Saint Mary's status as the top-ranked primarily undergraduate university in Nova Scotia, and its Sobey School of Business as one of the top 20 business programs in the country.
"I am extremely proud of our consistent placement in the Maclean's rankings", says Saint Mary's University President Dr. Robert Summerby-Murray. "One reason for our high standing is that faculty and students alike participate on the front line of real-world research and knowledge creation. We take pride in offering these amazing opportunities to both undergraduate and graduate students in a supportive community where they thrive."
Located in the heart of Halifax, Saint Mary's has been a renowned place of learning and scholarship since 1802, encouraging discovery and innovation across a wide range of disciplines in the humanities, social sciences, sciences and business.
The university is known for its long history of investing in student support; a point made clear in the rankings, with Saint Mary's taking second place for scholarships and bursaries and tying for second place in student awards.
Saint Mary's continues to advance student life on campus. The Sobeys Inspiration Hub, a four-storey, 43,000-square-foot building designed to foster student entrepreneurship and innovation opened in Fall 2023, and the new space for SMU Engineering, a 28,000-square-foot building with specially designed labs and project rooms, opened in Fall, 2024.
The university's research activity and calibre are also gaining recognition, with Saint Mary's ranking fourth in medical/science grants and fifth in total research dollars. Saint Mary's is now Nova Scotia's second-largest research university by research income.
Saint Mary's is also listed as one of Canada's Top 50 Research Universities; in the undergraduate institution category, we ranked 1st in Atlantic Canada and 16th in the country.
