ÂÜÀòÉäÇø

November 9, 2003 For Immediate Release

ÂÜÀòÉäÇø has climbed from 8th to 7th place in the annual magazine ranking of Canadian universities. It is the highest ranking in ²Ñ²¹³¦±ô±ð²¹²ÔÂ’²õ that ÂÜÀòÉäÇø has ever achieved - finishing higher than any other small university in western Canada. The University is ranked in the “Primarily Undergraduate” category, which includes two-dozen Canadian universities.

Some ²Ñ²¹³¦±ô±ð²¹²ÔÂ’²õ highlights:
- ÂÜÀòÉäÇø attracts top quality students who enjoy small class sizes. The average entering grade of first-year students from high school is 80.3%. About 62% of first and second-year classes have fewer than 25 students; at the third and fourth-year, the number is 75%.

- The quality of faculty continues to be a distinguishing feature of ÂÜÀòÉäÇø with 90% having a PhD (good for 6th place). Faculty in the social sciences and humanities were ranked second-best in the country for their ability to attract federal research funding.

- The ÂÜÀòÉäÇø Library continues to grow after years of being ranked the best in the country for its commitment to funding new acquisitions. About $1.5 million is spent annually on growing the collection, which now numbers 605,000 volumes.

- The value of scholarships and bursaries has topped $1 million annually, and in the cateogry that measures the percentage of the operating budget dedicated to student services, ÂÜÀòÉäÇø rose to 7th.

“While itÂ’s pleasing to see us climb in the ranking, weÂ’ve always said that ÂÜÀòÉäÇø will never be - nor should it be - the number one university in this category,” says ÂÜÀòÉäÇø President Charles Jago. “WeÂ’ve always viewed ourselves as a comprehensive university, even though our size is more typical of the Primarily Undergraduate category. Our class sizes remain small, our research funding is rising, our library collection is growing, and we continue to attract top students: all important for any university in any category.”

The ²Ñ²¹³¦±ô±ð²¹²ÔÂ’²õ ranking is now one of a number of university surveys. In a recent research survey conducted by the National Post, for example, ÂÜÀòÉäÇø placed 42nd among all universities in Canada, though its per-faculty research activity illustrated a higher level of research intensity than is indicated by its overall placement.