If you’re about to begin your post-secondary journey—or thinking about making a switch—Maclean’s 2025 university rankings offer valuable insight to help guide your decision.
Each year, Maclean’s evaluates universities across Canada, and its “Primarily Undergraduate” category focuses on schools where the emphasis is placed on the undergraduate student experience. These institutions offer fewer graduate programs, which often means smaller class sizes, more access to professors, and a tight-knit campus community.
Rankings are based on 12 performance indicators, including student-to-faculty ratio, scholarships and bursaries, operating budget, and overall reputation. Read on to see which schools came out on top this year.
1. Mount Allison University
Last year’s ranking: 1
Mount Allison delivers a quality liberal arts and science education in picturesque Sackville, N.B. The welcoming residential campus, with its ivy-covered sandstone buildings, is easily walkable—students can get across campus in less than 10 minutes and be downtown in just five.
2. University of Northern British Columbia
Last year’s ranking: 2
Where else but at the University of Northern British Columbia can you study in a teaching and learning centre with a 360-degree panoramic view that stretches all the way to the foothills of the Rocky Mountains.
3. Saint Mary’s University
Last year’s ranking: 3
Saint Mary’s University keeps classes small, with an average of 40 students in an introductory course. Saint Mary’s also has a strong international community. Saint Mary’s University also has a strong international community; almost a third of its student body hails from more than 110 countries.
4. Acadia University
Last year’s ranking: 5
More than a third of the students at Acadia University, located in the Annapolis Valley, live on campus, which translates to less time commuting and more time for school work and social activities.
5. Lakehead University
Last year’s ranking: 11
Lakehead University offers a broad range of degree and diploma programs—including programs designed for Indigenous students—across nine faculties on two campuses. The main campus—home to the Bora Laskin Faculty of Law—is located in Thunder Bay, Ontario, where sightings of foxes, beavers and deer are common.
6. Trent University
Last year’s ranking: 7
Born during the tumultuous ’60s, Trent University is a liberal arts and science school in the very best sense. It offers undergraduate students a solid base in business, the environment, education and Canadian and Indigenous studies.
7. Ontario Tech University
Last year’s ranking: 8
Signs of innovation are everywhere at Ontario Tech University. The north Oshawa campus reflects the university’s emphasis on technology with more than 80 specialized research laboratories and facilities.
7. University of Prince Edward Island
Last year’s ranking: 10
Tying for 7th place, the University of Prince Edward Island is the only university on the island and has nine faculties, including veterinary medicine, business, nursing and the faculty of Indigenous knowledge, education, research and applied studies.
9. Bishop's University
Last year’s ranking: 4
Founded when many of the area’s residents were anglophones, Bishop’s University offers an English-language, liberal education in the bilingual Eastern Townships. Today, about a quarter of students are native French speakers and, while classes are taught in English, students can write exams and assignments in French.
10. St. Francis Xavier University
Last year’s ranking: 9
Tucked away in the small town of Antigonish, Nova Scotia, St. Francis Xavier caters mainly to undergraduates in arts, science, business and education. Small class sizes challenge students to think critically and contribute to class discussions.
You can check out the full list of Canada’s top primarily undergraduate universities of 2025 here.
