The University of Calgary has failed to make the grade in an influential ranking of the world's 200 best post-secondary institutions.

The weekly British publication Times Higher Education's list placed the U of C 149th in its 2009 rankings, and 170th in 2008.

But the Calgary university was excluded from this year's rankings, which were released earlier this week.

"They don't matter that much to us," said Alan Harrison, provost of the University of Calgary.

"We're in good company. Queens University — along with University of Western Ontario and University of Waterloo — have all fallen out of the top 200," he said.

This year's survey put less weight on scientific research, which may be one reason the U of C fell off the list, Harrison said.

'It's very difficult for us actually to figure out what happened, except to presume that something they were giving a lot of weight to somehow worked against us.'—Alan Harrison, U of C provost

"It's very difficult for us actually to figure out what happened, except to presume that something they were giving a lot of weight to somehow worked against us."

The University of Alberta is still on the list, dropping from 59th place to 127th.

Calgary is not in competition with the bigger and older Edmonton university, Harrison said, adding that he does not expect to see any decline in enrollment — or a change in academic direction — as a result of the survey.

Last month, the University of Calgary was ranked 165th in a competing survey of the word's best places for higher education: the QS World University Rankings.

Until this year, Times Higher Education produced the annual list in conjunction with QS. But the two organizations parted ways, putting out separate lists this year, based on different criteria.

While the University of Calgary, the University of Waterloo, the University of Western Ontario and Queen's University made the QS list, these institutions fell out of the top 200 rankings in the Times list.

The reason, according to the Times, is a new methodology that focuses less on scientific research and more on a school's reputation and performance.

This was measured by looking at research, teaching, citations and the international mix of students, officials said.