TORONTO –Maclean’s magazine released its annual ranking of top Canadian universities on Thursday, ranking schools in three categories including primarily undergraduate, medical doctoral and comprehensive rankings.
Toronto schools such as York University, University of Toronto and Ryerson University were included in the ranking, but were absent from all but one of the top three schools in each category.
The University of Toronto, which once dominated the rankings, placed third in the medical doctoral ranking, falling one place from its 2012 second place finish.
“University of Toronto still ranks very well – UBC slipped by them this year but they still do very well in most categories,” senior editor of university rankings for Maclean’s magazine Mary Dwyer told Global News.
“They placed first on things like spending in libraries, but they are slightly down on the reputation survey – they fell two spots this year from 2nd to 4th.”
Both York and Ryerson universities moved ahead one place in the comprehensive ranking – York moving from 9th to 8th and Ryerson moving to 13th to 12th. But, institutions based in Toronto were absent from the primarily undergraduate ranking category.
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“In terms of Ryerson University, they are doing quite well. Last year we moved them into the comprehensive category because of the graduation offerings. They do very well on the reputation survey – they placed third on student spending services. Overall I think Ryerson did a very solid showing,” said Dwyer.
According to Dwyer, York University placed first in many categories such as spending on student services; however, they fell on the reputation form from 10th place to 12th.
“We don’t do any follow up on the reputation survey, so I can’t say what is behind that, but despite the falling on reputation they are still doing very well,” said Dwyer.
Maclean’s ranks institutions in six areas based on performance indicators. Primarily undergraduate and comprehensive schools are ranked on 13 performance measures; medical doctoral schools are ranked on 14.
Forty-nine schools were assessed in the 2013 ranking. The only institutions that are not included in the ranking are schools with fewer than 1,000 full-time students, schools that are restrictive due to religion or specialized mission and newly designated universities.
However, the rankings system has been denounced by critics in previous years.
In an article titled “The trouble with university rankings” published on the University Affairs website in 2010, Paul Axelrod criticized the ranking schemes saying they are “hardly objective.”
The article read, “Their values and priorities (i.e. what the authors think matters most) are embedded in the questions they ask. Like Maclean’s, they often rely heavily on “reputational” surveys, which are simply a way of quantifying impressionistic and often ill-informed opinions about an institution’s performance or status.”
Dwyer said the universities don’t have a choice in terms of what Maclean’s ranks on, but that the information they gather is all from third part sources, such as Statistics Canada.
“What we rank on is all third party and doesn’t matter whether a college wants to participate or not,” said Dwyer. “There is sometimes information that I can’t get from third party sources because it comes directly from the universities. Most of them fill out a sort of questionnaire that I send out, but some don’t participate.”
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