The University of Victoria was ranked second in the comprehensive category in Maclean's magazine's annual ratings while Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, B.C., was ranked first for the second year in a row.

The magazine groups universities into three categories.

McGill University nabbed the top spot in the medical doctoral category of the rankings, released Thursday, and the University of Toronto ranked second, its same rank as last year.

Queen's University, however, fell from second place in 2008, when it tied with Toronto, to third place.

Institutions in the medical doctoral category have medical schools and a variety of PhD programs, and generally receive higher research grants than other schools.

The University of British Columbia and the University of Alberta maintained their 2008 rankings of fourth and fifth.

Schools placed in the comprehensive category by Maclean's offer professional degrees and a wide range of undergraduate and graduate programs, and conduct a significant amount of research.

Waterloo retained its same rank at third, as did Guelph, at fourth.

The fifth spot went to Memorial University.

In the primarily undergraduate category, East Coasts schools dominated the rankings, with Mount Allison University in New Brunswick placing first and Acadia in Nova Scotia placing second. The University of Northern British Columbia placed third.

St. Francis Xavier and Wilfrid Laurier tied for fourth. Bishop's University ranked 11th and made a major jump up from its 17th place finish last year.

A full list of the annual rankings are listed in a special issue of the magazine available Thursday.

Maclean’s places universities in one of three categories, recognizing the differences in types of institutions, levels of research funding, the diversity of offerings, and the range of graduate and professional programs.

Primarily Undergraduate universities, as the name suggests, are largely focused on undergraduate education, with relatively few graduate programs.

Those in the Comprehensive category have a significant degree of research activity and a wide range of programs at the undergraduate and graduate levels, including professional degrees.

Medical Doctoral universities offer a broad range of Ph.D. programs and research; as well, all universities in this category have medical schools, which sets them apart in terms of the size of research grants.

In each category, Maclean’s ranks the institutions on performance indicators in six broad areas, allocating a weight to each indicator. Primarily Undergraduate and Comprehensive universities are ranked on 13 performance measures; Medical Doctoral universities are ranked on 14. Figures include data from all federated and affiliated institutions. The magazine does not rank schools with fewer than 1,000 full-time students, those that are restrictive due to a religious or specialized mission, newly designated universities or those that are not members of the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC).

The rankings have been done since 1991 and have been panned by institutions as a limited assessment.