International Students Rank Guelph No. 1
April 01, 2013 - News Release
For the second year in a row, the University of Guelph ranks tops among Ontario universities for living and learning environment for international students, says a new survey.
U of G ranked No. 1 for overall learning, living and student support, and had the highest overall average in the 2012 International Student Barometer.
Conducted by the International Graduate Insight Group, it’s the largest annual survey of international university students in the world.
“I think it's a credit to everyone at Guelph that we're No. 1 for the second year in a row,” said Lynne Mitchell, director of the Centre for International Programs.
“What I'm really proud of is the fact that, even though we did so well last year, we listened to what our international students had to say, made a few changes to serve them better and strengthened our first-place position this year with even better results.
“What makes the difference at Guelph is that we all work together to meet the needs of international students. It's not the responsibility of just one office. That really shows when you measure the students' overall living and learning satisfaction. They love it here.”
The survey included more than 161,781 international students from 193 institutions in 15 countries.
"In terms of their overall satisfaction, our students' responses rank us seventh in the world out of nearly 200 institutions. That's phenomenal," Mitchell said.
About 338 of the international students who participated in the survey were from U of G, representing all seven colleges and levels of study. Guelph currently has nearly 900 international students.
The survey was funded by Ontario’s Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities. Guelph was among 10 Ontario universities that participated. Others were York University, Carleton University, the Ontario Institute of Technology, Queen’s University, Ryerson University, University of Toronto, University of Waterloo, University of Windsor and Wilfrid Laurier University. Four universities from outside of the province also took part and were benchmarked separately.
Conducted in fall 2012 and released March 28, the survey included numerous questions in four categories: learning, living, support and arrival. Schools were ranked “overall” in each category and in various subcategories for an average category score.
U of G had the highest average and highest overall score for student support, including counselling, career services and food service.
For living experience, U of G was first overall and received the top mark in safety, campus environment, accommodation quality and social activity.
U of G was first overall for learning environment, and first in such areas as laboratories, learning spaces, language support and course content.
“These high grades reflect the commitment and hard work of the staff in the Office of Intercultural Affairs and the Centre for International Programs,” said Brenda Whiteside, associate vice-president (student affairs).
For media questions, contact Communications and Public Affairs: Lori Bona Hunt, 519-824-4120, Ext. 53338, lhunt@uoguelph.ca, or Kevin Gonsalves, Ext. 56982, kgonsalves@uoguelph.ca
