University maintains top rankings in categories such as quality of students, faculty
BY LORI BONA HUNT
Guelph finished second overall among the nation's comprehensive universities in the Maclean's rankings, but it's still number 1 according to its graduates.
The magazine's annual rankings of Canadian universities, released Nov. 8, saw U of G edged out of the top spot by the University of Waterloo. Guelph maintained its number 1 rankings in categories such as quality of students and faculty, but lost ground in areas most closely tied to the double cohort and provincial funding, including class sizes, student support and finances.
But U of G outstripped its peers in the comprehensive category in Maclean's new “report card” of Canada's universities. Published for the first time this year, the rating was based on the opinions of 12,334 randomly selected graduates of the classes of 1999, 2000 and 2001.
Working with advisers from Angus Reid Consultants, McDougall Scientific Ltd. and Nordic Research Group, Maclean's surveyed alumni across the country. The magazine asked the former students to rate their alma maters in six areas related to educational quality. They were also asked whether they'd recommend their school and if their experience was beneficial.
In that survey, U of G occupied the number 1 spot in five of the six quality areas: teaching and instruction, learning environment, student services, extracurricular environment and overall educational experience. Guelph, along with Waterloo, was also at the top of the list of comprehensive universities most graduates would endorse.
President Alastair Summerlee congratulated the University of Waterloo on its success, calling the ranking “well-deserved recognition for a fine institution. I am, of course, delighted to hear that we did extraordinarily well in the graduate survey and that our former students rated us as one of the best universities in the country. I am also very pleased with our overall placement, especially given the significant challenges we faced.”
U of G took in a large share of extra students last fall, about 600 above its original enrolment target and proportionally more than its peers. But critical support from the provincial government — namely quality assurance funding associated with the double-cohort enrolment — was not provided. This directly affected many of the 23 categories Maclean's uses to determine the rankings.
“The fact that we were able to hold our ground in many of the key Maclean's categories in the context of unfulfilled funding promises is indicative of the strength and excellence of our faculty, students and staff and of their dedication to maintaining a high-quality educational experience,” Summerlee said.
Indeed, U of G maintained or improved last year's winning performance in 15 categories, including:
Maclean's also published a reputational survey based on comments solicited from CEOs of major Canadian corporations, high school counsellors and academic administrators. It ranks the “best overall” comprehensive universities and lists the “reputational winners” in three categories: highest quality, most innovative and leaders of tomorrow. In that survey, U of G ranked second in “best overall” and second in each of the three categories. It also placed second in alumni support.
Among all Canadian universities, Guelph was rated higher this year in every area of the reputational survey. U of G moved up from eighth to fifth place in the “best overall” category,” from eighth to third in “most innovative,” from ninth to eighth in “highest quality” and from eighth to sixth in “leaders of tomorrow.”
The magazine defines comprehensive universities as those with a significant amount of research activity and a wide range of programs at the undergraduate and graduate levels. The other categories are medical/doctoral and primarily undergraduate.
