To some, the exercise is as fraught with peril as trying to compare Gretzky to Howe, Kain to Hart, Picasso to Van Gogh, or the 1927 Yankees to the 1975 Cincinnati Reds to settle who's best. Whether debated with passion or ignored with disdain, they've created a best seller for Maclean's magazine. If there's been anything conclusive about the national newsmagazine's annual review of Canadian universities over the past six years, however, it's that Canadian universities as a whole continue to set a standard of excellence from coast to coast.
The 1996 rankings, released by Maclean's in a Nov. 25 special issue, are no exception. Once again, B.C.'s three established universities rank at or near the top of their categories. And as in the past, this year's rankings also confirm that there's little real difference between those ranked at the top according to the Maclean's formula and those slotted in below.
In this year's rankings, Simon Fraser University ended UVic's two-year reign as the magazine's favourite university in the comprehensive category and reoccupied the number one spot it last held in 1993. UVic is now ranked third by Maclean's, behind SFU and the University of Waterloo in the 11-member category. Comprehensive universities are defined as "those with a significant amount of research activity and a wide range of programs...at the graduate and undergraduate levels." UBC placed fourth in the medical/doctoral category for the fifth year in a row.
"As I've said each year, the Maclean's review is really a testament to the strength of the Canadian University system and particularly of the universities in B.C.," said UVic President Dr. David Strong. "Each year, the rankings demonstrate that there's little difference in the excellence exhibited by universities from one end of the country to the other. This is particularly true for UVic, SFU, and UBC. UVic and SFU have traded top spot for the last four years. It's SFU's turn this year. Congratulations to them.
"For universities, the real value of the Maclean's special issue is that there's a national focus on the importance of post-secondary education at least once each year. Not only is education important in its own right for the intellectual growth of the individual, but universities are key contributors to economic prosperity, international competitiveness, and quality of life in Canada. They represent an investment in the future. Maclean's universities issue underlines the importance of that fundamental fact," Strong said.
UVic finished number one across all three university categories in number of medical/science grants won by faculty, and placed second in the country to UBC in the average size of these grants. Within its own comprehensive category, UVic also finished first in the percentage of total operating expenditures devoted to scholarships and bursaries. It finished second in proportion of students who graduate and the percentage of full-time faculty with PhDs. Simon Fraser finished first in the social sciences and humanities grants, while fifth-ranked York was first in five of the variables. When compared individually to the 10 other universities in the comprehensive category, UVic outranked each of its competitors in anywhere from 11 to 13 of the 21 variables.
UVic's ranking slipped in several variables where the University's frozen provincial funding and a Canada-high 11 per cent increase in undergraduate enrolment combined to lower UVic's average expenditures per student and average entering grades for the year.
Maclean's university rankings apparently aren't just a 1990s phenomenon. While conducting an archaeological dig in the McPherson Library last summer, Dean of Science Dr. John Weaver unearthed a November 1967 Maclean's article entitled "The 20 best campuses: how they rate and what they offer". In what Weaver suggests is an "even less rigorous [survey] than the present ones, more a one-man's opinion than anything else" the four-year-old University of Victoria cracked the top 20 at number 19 with the following:
"Has made good progress developing its degree programs since it ended its affiliation with the University of British Columbia in 1963: a library of 273,000 volumes and four doctoral programs. Strong hippie element on campus. The students drink at The Snug in the Oak Bay Beach Hotel."
UBC, at number six, was termed "the second-best three-star university" in the country, although the magazine noted that its growth was "hampered by frosty relations with the provincial government". It had a "respectable library", "creditable faculties of law and medicine" and a "cocky, independent student body."
SFU was not mentioned in the article.