Nouvelles

Statement on University Rankings

26 October, 2011

October 26, 2011, Sherbrooke QC – Two public rankings of Canadian universities were released this week – the Globe and Mail Canadian University Report and Maclean’s Magazine Annual University Ranking. Bishop’s did not appear in the Globe and Mail publication, and was ranked 8th in the primarily undergraduate category in Maclean’s for the second year in a row.

Bishop’s has been an active participant in the Globe and Mail Canadian University Report Card which is based on student responses to a lengthy survey. In fact Bishop’s takes this process seriously; in previous years the University has used feedback from this Report Card to address areas where students felt their Bishop’s experience could be improved.

In January 2011 Bishop’s participated in the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), another lengthy survey that the University administers to students that has become the premier measure of student engagement and satisfaction at North American universities. The University advised Higher Education Strategy Associates, the group that administers the survey for the Globe and Mail, that given our small survey size and concerns about student survey fatigue we wished to conduct the surveys (NSSE and the Report Card) on alternating years. Bishop’s also expressed our hope that, as in previous years, the Report Card would use data from the previous year for universities whose sample size was too small.

Unfortunately the Globe and Mail changed their policy this year, and Bishop’s did not appear in the Report Card which, year in year out, has demonstrated that Bishop’s students are among Canada’s most satisfied students. The University will participate as planned in the Report Card survey in early 2012.

Bishop’s overall rank in Maclean’s did not change this year. While the Globe and Mail Report Card is based on student experience, Maclean’s uses primarily third-party data to measure inputs and financial criteria, as well as a reputational survey (20% of the ranking) completed by 780 Canadians. The University is pleased that our ranking in reputation has risen, certainly reflecting the positive momentum and change the University has enjoyed over the last three years. Bishop’s continues to lobby Maclean’s to incorporate results from the NSSE survey as part of the rankings calculation as we believe students should be part of any university evaluation exercise.

These national ranking exercises continue to create controversy among universities in terms of their criteria for evaluation of performance and their results. However, it is evident that students and their families have difficult choices to make when confronted by the many options within the strong Canadian university system, so they rightly welcome attempts at an objective comparison of what is offered. Bishop’s University believes in transparency and will continue to participate, whenever possible, in these exercises.

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