For the second year in a row, Laurentian University has ranked 12th out of 19 primarily undergraduate universities in Maclean's Magazine's annual university rankings.
Its rankings have been slowly dipping since a peak around a half-decade ago. Before its 12th-place rank both this year and in 2019, Laurentian ranked 11th in both 2018 and 2017, 10th in 2016, 11th in 2015 and 10th in 2014.
Going back roughly a decade, Laurentian was toward the end of the list of universities in its category, if not dead last.
As was the case in both 2018 and 2019, Mount Allison University in New Brunswick was the highest-ranked university in the primarily undergraduate category, while Cape Breton University was last at 19th.
Nipissing University in North Bay ranked 15th this year, a one-spot improvement from 2019. Lakehead University in Thunder Bay ranked eighth, as it also did in 2019.
Maclean's ranks Canadian universities according to 13 metrics, grouping universities into the categories of medical, doctoral, comprehensive and primarily undergraduate (of which Laurentian is the latter).
The metrics used are student awards, student/faculty ratio, student satisfaction, faculty awards, social sciences and humanities grants, medical/science grants, total research dollars, operating budget, library expenses, library acquisitions, scholarships and bursaries, student services and reputational survey.
Laurentian University president Robert Haché said the university does pay close attention to the Maclean’s rankings, although he could have a “long conversation from about the flaws in the survey from an academic perspective.”
But the Maclean’s rankings are important because they are one piece of information students and their parents look at in choosing a university, he said.
“It’s very important that we do as well as we can in those rankings,” Haché said.
This is still true even amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Students pay attention to it, and we are always interested in attracting the brightest young minds, the most enthusiastic students to the university,” he said. “So from that perspective, we absolutely do pay attention to it, even in the pandemic.”
In terms of this year’s ranking, he said being in the middle of the pack is never where you want to be, and the university is always looking to improve its Maclean’s rankings.
“We work diligently to try and improve, but of course one has to recognize as well all universities do the same, right?” he said.
“Everybody is trying to improve every year, so you can have improvement without necessarily changing your ranking because everybody is moving forward.”
With Laurentian’s ranking having dipped slightly in recent years after having reached as high as 10th place in the middle of the last decade, Haché, who has been LU’s president for a little over a year, said it would be great to reach a No. 1 ranking, if possible.
“There’s a lot of work to get there,” he said, and a lot of that work has already been done over the past year, but it just hasn’t been reflected in the rankings yet.
As was also the case for the last couple of years, Laurentian has ranked first when it comes to total research dollars.
This metric is calculated by total income from sponsored research divided by the number of full-time faculty. That number comes to $113,727. Interestingly, the second-place university in this category is another northern school, Lakehead.
“That’s a course that Laurentian has been on for the past 10 or 15 years,” said Haché, adding that although Laurentian is in Maclean’s primarily undergraduate category, about 12 per cent of its students are actually graduate students, who engage a lot more in research.
“We’ve been evolving and growing as a university in ways that are a little bit a square peg in a round hole when you look at the rankings as they’re subdivided,” said the university president.
Haché highlights Metal Earth, the $104-million, multi-year geoscience research program that is led by Laurentian.
Although Laurentian has plenty of scientific research, he also points to the university’s social sciences and humanities research.
The university has actually seen a five-spot improvement in the Maclean’s rankings in social sciences and humanities grants since 2018, now sitting at 13th.
“It’s a reflection of the quality of the scholarship they’re engaged in, and so I’m really pleased with that over the past several years,” said Haché.
Like in 2019, Laurentian’s worst Maclean’s ranking is in the area of student satisfaction, where it ranks dead last at 19th.
Last year, Haché said a number of remedies were in place, including the opening of Laurentian’s new student centre and enhanced mental health and academic student supports. Unfortunately, those services haven’t had an impact on the rankings yet.
“When they fully take root, they will have a positive impact for sure,” he said.
Of course, there are minimal student services (at least in-person services) available on Laurentian’s campus right now due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
But Haché points out that what typically matters most to students is the quality of the education they’re receiving.
“If you get the classroom experience right, that goes so far in terms of student satisfaction,” he said. “That’s the aspect we’re focusing on right now as much as we can.”
Laurentian also has a new vice-president, academic, Marie-Josée Berger. She comes to Sudbury from Bishop’s University, which has ranked first in student satisfaction. Haché said he hopes Laurentian’s rankings in student satisfaction will rise under her influence.
One of the metrics in the Maclean’s rankings is national reputational ranking, which is based on surveys of university faculties and senior administrators, as well as a variety of businesspeople across the country.
Laurentian has ranked 45th out of 49 universities this year, the same ranking it received in 2019.
Haché admits that when he was trying to figure out whether Laurentian was the best posting for him, he had to do some digging to learn more about the university.
“I think our challenge there it’s not what we do, it’s getting people to know about it more, and really talking about the wonderful things that we do,” he said.
To read Maclean's Magazine's annual university rankings, visit the magazine's website or pick up a copy at a local newsstand.
