McMaster ranked 5th best university in Canada

The results are in.

Hamilton's McMaster Universityranks as the fifth best university in Canada as compiled in the eighth edition of theTimes Higher Education World University Rankings.

The rankings, released Thursday,sitMcMaster at88th overall.

The list, which was compiled with the help of Thomson Reuters, consists of 400 universities from around the world and was based on the 2012-2013 academic year.

"McMaster University has a strong performance across the board and is actually internationally recognized as one of the best universities in Canada," said Phil Baty, the editor of the Times Higher Education World University Rankings.

McMaster had an overall score of 59.

Schools are judged in 13 performance areas that are grouped into five categories: teaching, research (volume, income and reputation), citations (research influence), industry income and international outlook.

McMaster's highest score was in the industry income category, which measures how successful the university is at attracting industry investment regardless of its size.

Baty says McMaster's research influenceis also strong point, adding it's"Almost at the levels of prestigious institutions such as the University of Toronto and the University of British Columbia."

According to Simon Pratt, project manager at Thomson Reuters, McMaster still has room for improvement despite ranking well.

"There are only really three indicators where McMaster is not quite on a level footing with its peers," said Pratt. "The number of PhD's awarded per academic staff and the two reputational indicators for teaching and research."

McMaster's performance wasn't as stellar as last year, seeing as the schoolfell 13 spots from its previous ranking. Many other Canadian universities like the University of Alberta, the University of Victoria and McGill all dropped as well.

Pratt suggested that McMaster should focus its efforts on promoting its brand to the global academic community.

The California Institute of Technology, home of NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab that helps power the Curiosity Rover, beat out Oxford, Stanford and Harvard for the top spot in this year's ranking.

It had an overall total of 94.8 and scored over 95 in all categories except for the international outlook category, where it scored a 56.