Already entrenched as one of the top-rated undergraduate universities in Canada, the University of Northern B.C. has reaffirmed that status in the 21st annual Maclean's magazine rankings, released Wednesday.
The Prince George school ranks No. 3 in the nation in the primarily undergraduate category, behind Mount Alison University of Sackville, N.B., and Acadia University of Wolfville, N.S., first and second respectively on the list.
"I'm delighted to know that we have distinguished ourselves and our region by our strong standing in the national ranking of universities by Maclean's magazine," said UNBC president George Iwama. "We are third in the country overall, surpassed only by two much older universities in the Maritimes. We are justified in claiming we are Canada's top small university west of Atlantic Canada."
Mount Alison and Acadia have each been in operation for more than 150 years. UNBC opened in 1994. The top-three rankings remained unchanged from 2010. UNBC has been ranked as the best undergraduate university in Western Canada for the last seven years.
"Prince George should be pretty proud of that, it's great for the city to get national exposure," said Rob Van Adrichem, vice-president external relations at UNBC.
"It's one thing that contributes to people's sense of pride. It's another thing that validates that this is a good university that produces good students and provides a great learning experience. To be able to say that, year after year, is important when you're still a relatively young university that's not in one of the major population centres. It's not a fluke."
Two B.C. schools -- Simon Fraser University of Burnaby and the University of Victoria -- ranked 1-2 in the Maclean's comprehensive category, followed in order by the Waterloo, Guelph and Memorial University of Newfoundland. McGill University in Montreal topped the Maclean's poll in the medical/doctoral category, followed by the University of Toronto, UBC, Queen's and Alberta.
When ranking Canada's 49 universities, Maclean's considers 14 categories that indicate the quality of students, faculty, libraries and finances. Schools are placed in one of the three broad categories, based on different levels of research funding, program offerings, and range of graduate programs available.
"Despite our continuing success, we can't rest on our laurels -- and we aren't," added Iwama. "UNBC is ranked first in the country in total research funding per faculty member, and [on Tuesday], students ranked UNBC Number 1 for commitment to the environment in the Globe and Mail's Canadian University Report. We are maintaining our focus and priorities in service to our communities in northern British Columbia, Canada, and beyond."
The magazine will go on sale in newsstands today.
MACLEAN'S RANKING BREAKDOWN
UNBC ranked first among undergraduate schools for its research budget, with $98,700 in research dollars allocated per full-time faculty staff member. The overall operating budget at UNBC of $13,841 per full-time equivalent student ranks sixth.
UNBC also earned high rankings for national student awards (third, 3.8 per thousand students over five years); faculty awards (third, 4.3 per thousand faculty members over five years); medical/science grants (fourth, $32,233 average amount per full-time faculty member); student expenditures (eighth, 5.6 per cent of total operating budget); library acquisitions (third, 45.8 per cent of library budget), library expenses (third, 4.9 per cent of university budget); library holdings per student (17th, average of 99 volumes per student), and scholarships and bursaries (17th, 3.7 per cent of operating expenditures).
UNBC is listed 12th in average final-year high school grades for full-time first-year students (85.2 per cent); 15th in average class size for first- and second-year students (39.6 students); 16th for third- and fourth-year average class sizes (19.9 students), 44th in student retention (72.5 per cent of first-year students returned for a second year); 44th in the proportion of first-year students who graduate (45.9 per cent); 41st in percentage of students from outside Canada (2.4); 27th in the leaders of tomorrow category; and ranked 40th in the highest overall quality poll.
