McGill University is an internationally-renowned research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university bears the name of James McGill, a prominent Montreal merchant from Glasgow, Scotland and alumnus of Glasgow University, whose bequest formed the beginning of the university. Founded in 1821, McGill was chartered during the British colonial era, 46 years before the Canadian Confederation, making it one of the oldest universities in Canada.
As of 2012, McGill ranked 18th in the world in the QS World University Rankings, maintaining its position among top 20 universities globally, and as Canada's top university, for the ninth consecutive year. According to the 2011 Emerging/Trendence Global Employability Ranking, McGill was ranked 19th in the world for popularity among major employers. In the Maclean's 22nd Annual University Ranking (2012), McGill was ranked 1st in Canada among all its major/research universities offering medical and doctoral degrees, maintaining this ranking for the eighth consecutive year. McGill also topped the rankings of all Canadian universities from 1991 (when these Maclean's university rankings started) to 1994. As per Bloomberg Businessweek 2012 Business Schools Ranking, McGill's Desautels Faculty of Management ranked 10th for non-US business schools.
With almost 215,000 living alumni worldwide, students and professors at McGill have been recognized in fields ranging from the arts and sciences, to business, politics, and sports. Notable alumni include eight Nobel Laureates, one hundred and thirty-two Rhodes Scholars, three astronauts, two Canadian prime ministers, eleven justices of the Canadian Supreme Court, three foreign leaders, nine Academy Award winners, three Pulitzer Prize winners, and twenty-eight Olympic medalists. Overall, twelve Nobel laureates are affiliated with the university. McGill University is one of two member-universities of the Association of American Universities situated outside the United States.
The main campus is set upon 32 hectares (79 acres) at the foot of Mount Royal in Downtown Montreal, covering much of the Golden Square Mile. A second campus, the Macdonald Campus, is situated on 6.5 square kilometres (2.5 sq mi) of fields and forested land in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, 30 km (19 mi) west of the downtown campus. With 21 faculties and professional schools, McGill offers degrees and diplomas in over 300 fields of study, including medicine and law. Although the language of instruction is English, students have the right to submit any graded work in English or in French, except when learning a particular language is an objective of the course. Approximately 34,000 students attend McGill, with international students comprising one-fifth of the student population.
Read more about McGill University: University Identity and Culture, Finances, Notable People
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“To get a man soundly saved it is not enough to put on him a pair of new breeches, to give him regular work, or even to give him a University education. These things are all outside a man, and if the inside remains unchanged you have wasted your labour. You must in some way or other graft upon the man’s nature a new nature, which has in it the element of the Divine.”
—William Booth (1829–1912)