The 2016 Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) names UBC as the 34th-ranked university in the world. Last year's ranking placed UBC in 40th place.

According to statistics from the ARWU website collected over the past 13 years, UBC's position in the world university rankings has remained relatively similar, hovering between 35th and 40th place each year. This year's ranking is both the first time UBC's placement has climbed above 35th place, and also marks the biggest jump upwards since the data begins in 2003.

The ARWU also ranks UBC's international placement by specific subject — the results of which are from 2015, not 2016. The highest ranking is in the social sciences, in which UBC received 29th place, and the lowest displayed is in "clinical medicine and pharmacy," for which UBC received "101-150th" place. The list of subjects is by no means exhaustive of those offered at UBC.

In contrast to ARWU, the QS World University Rankings place UBC at 50th place for the 2015/16 year.

The Times Higher Education World University Rankings (THE rankings) also placed UBC at 34th in the world in their 2016 list, dropping two spots from its 32nd spot in 2015.

According to the THE rankings, which breaks down their methodology more specifically than ARWU, UBC's review has gone up in five of their six categories since 2015, including "international outlook," "industry income" and "research," and remained quite stagnant (only going down 0.2 points) in "teaching."

The QS rankings place UBC as the third university in Canada, below McGill and University of Toronto. According to the THE rankings and ARWU rankings, UBC is ranked as the second-best university in Canada, under U of T but above McGill.