McGill University was founded in 1813. The outstanding Scottish-born Montreal businessman and philanthropist, alumnus of the University of Glasgow, made a will when James McGill died. Gift 47 acres of estate land and £10,000 to the Royal Society of Higher Learning to start a college or university. In 1821 King George IV issued a Royal Charter to establish a college in the name of McGill. In 1829, the teaching department of Montreal General Hospital was merged into McGill College, the school was renamed McGill University (McGill University hereinafter referred to as McGill University), and officially opened in the same year. McGill University was chartered during the British colonial rule of Canada, 46 years earlier than the Canadian federal government, and is one of the oldest universities in Canada. As early as the nineteenth century, three Canadian universities have been ranked among the top 100 in the world. These three universities are McGill University, University of Western, and University of Toronto.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, the University of British Columbia, Queen's University, McMaster University and the University of Alberta made great progress in the academic world, and also ranked among the top 100 in the world. This is the G7, the predecessor of the G10. In the 1990s, the University of Waterloo, Université de Montréal and Université Laval joined the G7, and the leaders of Canada's ten most powerful universities in scientific research formed an organization that holds informal gatherings twice a year to discuss project cooperation, resource sharing, data exchange, and more. Its chairman is rotated by the leaders of each school, which is the "Group of Ten", also known as "G10". By 2006, the organization had successively absorbed the University of Calgary, Dalhousie University, and the University of Ottawa. In 2011, the addition of the University of Saskatchewan and the University of Manitoba brought the number of members to 15, collectively known as "G15". In addition, McGill University has been a member of the AAU (Association of American Universities) since 1926 (a total of 62 universities in North America have been selected, and only two universities in Canada are in this alliance, the other being the University of Toronto. ). In addition, McGill University is also a member of the URA (Universities Research Association, only the University of Toronto and McGill University in Canada), the World University Alliance U21 (Universitas 21) and other members.