The University of Toronto has claimed first place among Canadian postsecondary institutions in the 2015 Academic Ranking of World Universities. It came 25th overall.

UBC placed second among Canadian institutions and 40th overall.

Montreal's McGill (64th) and Hamilton's MacMaster (96th) were the only other two Canadian universities to crack the top 100.

Sixteen of the top 20 were American universities, with Harvard leading the list, followed by Stanford, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and University of California, Berkeley.

Three of the top 20 were in England: Cambridge (fifth), Oxford (10th), and University College London (tied for 18th).

Only one continental European university, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, cracked the top 20, coming in 20th place.

The top two Asian institutions were the University of Tokyo (21st) and Kyoto University (26th).

Germany is seen as Europe's economic powerhouse, but its top institution, Heidelberg University, only ranked 46th on the list.

That was well behind the top French institution, Pierre and Marie Curie University-Paris 6, which was in the 36th spot.