The latest annual rankings of Canadian universities by Maclean's magazine were published on November 10. The University of Ottawa placed 12th (between McMaster and Dalhousie) in the category of medical and doctoral universities. This represents a drop of three places over last year's 9th-place ranking.
While this ranking is disappointing, there are important points to consider in the initial analysis. Preparation for the double-cohort definitively had an impact on the rankings of Ontario universities and will continue to do so next year.
Our ranking was also affected by choices we have made which we believe are in the best interest of students. For example, while we rank much higher than Toronto in terms of first- and second-year class size, we dropped from 3rd to 11th in classes taught by regular faculty. Why? Because we maintained class size by creating additional class sections, while other universities have increased class sizes.
Another of the reasons our ranking dropped was the surprising three-place jump of Saskatchewan and Laval. This indicates the competitiveness of our category, as well as the difficulty of ranking institutions that score in a very tight range.
On the positive side, we did rise in the “Faculty awards” section, climbing from 8th to 7th place in the “Awards per full-time faculty” and also in the “Social sciences and humanities grants” section.
“The rankings are admittedly an important source of information but they should never be considered as a final judgement on our or any other university,” said vice-president (University Relations), David Mitchell. “We are providing excellent education to our 30,000 students, and we will continue to bring ‘Canada’s university’ to life for them and for all Canadians. And as we do so, I believe we can and will rise in these and other ranking in the years ahead.”
To read more about the rankings, go to macleans.ca.
