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The University of British Columbia has been ranked the 51st best university in the world, according to the new 2020 QS World University Rankings.

The education networking company has ranked schools since 2004.

UBC’s ranking is good enough to edge it up against the top five per cent worldwide.

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However, it marks a decline for the school from last year’s position at 47th, and from as high as 43rd in 2015.

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“With beautiful green campuses in Vancouver and Okanagan, the University of British Columbia is home to a concert hall, a working farm, an Olympic ice hockey venue, Canada’s largest blue whale skeleton, world-class science labs for subatomic physics, and a center for interactive research in sustainability,” reads UBC’s entry on the ranking.

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The annual index looks at 1,000 universities around the world, including 26 in Canada, and ranks them based on six weighted metrics, including academic and employer reputations, faculty-to-student ratio, citations and international student and faculty ratios.

UBC’s score on the six metrics that make up the QS Top Universities ranking. QS Top Universities

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) took first overall spot, followed by Stanford University, Harvard University, and the UK’s University of Oxford.

Many of the top slots in the rankings are dominated by prestigious private U.S. institutions, however, when it comes to public universities, UBC moves up in the rankings to 36th.

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“At just over 100 years old, UBC is comparatively young among global universities. To be cited as among the world’s best is a tremendous achievement to be celebrated by our entire community – students, faculty and staff,” said UBC president Santa Ono in a statement.

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The QS ranking noted that UBC has a particularly good reputation with international faculty, and found it excels particularly in the areas of geography, mineral and mining engineering and sports-related subjects.

UBC moved up one spot in this year’s rankings for research reputation, to 28th place, and came in 52nd place for employer reputation.

Two other Canadian universities ranked ahead of UBC: the University of Toronto, which came in at 29th, and McGill University in Montreal, which came in at 35th.

The only other B.C. institutions to make the list were Simon Fraser University, at 314th place, and the University of Victoria at 364th.