Laurentian University has placed 12th out of 19 primarily undergraduate universities in Maclean's Magazine's annual university rankings.
That's slightly lower than the university has ranked for the past five years. Laurentian ranked 11th in both 2018 and 2017, 10th in 2016, 11th in 2015 and 10th in 2014.
Going back a decade, Laurentian was toward the end of the list of universities in its category, if not dead last.
As was also the case last year, the highest-ranked university in this category in this year's edition of the magazine is Mount Allison University in New Brunswick, while Cape Breton University in Nova Scotia is the lowest-ranked.
Nipissing University in North Bay ranked 16th year, as it also did in 2018.
Maclean's ranks Canadian universities according to 14 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, citations, total research dollars, operating budget, library expenses, library acquisitions, scholarships and bursaries, student services and reputational survey.
“The Maclean's rankings are always an ongoing process,” said Laurentian University's new president, Robert Haché.
“We have been in a range between 10th and 12th for the past seven or eight years, but that's a considerable improvement over where we had been previously.
“What we need to do is to have another look and re-find some momentum going forward so that we can continue back on that trajectory that we were on previously on progressing up through the rankings.”
Haché said Laurentian and other Ontario universities have had some recent challenges due to financial constraints that universities in other parts of the country have not necessarily experienced.
“I think that's an important context as well,” he said.
Like it did last year, Laurentian ranked first in its category when it comes to total research dollars.
“There's been some really good things that have been happening in the research and scholarly activities of the university over the past years,” Haché said.
“You may be familiar with Metal Earth, which is a Canada First Research Excellence Fund program — a $104-million research program — which is led by Laurentian,” he said.
“I think it says there is gravitas at this university. That's the scholarship that we do, that the education that we provide is being done by some of the best in their field.”
In the not-so-good news category, Laurentian's lowest ranking in 2019 was in student satisfaction, where it placed 19th — dead last. That's a drop of six spots from 2016 and two from last year's rankings.
Haché, who points out the ranking is based on the opinions of relatively few students, said “it's difficult to put your finger on exactly what the issue is” with student satisfaction.
He said his predecessor, interim Laurentian president Pierre Zundel, put a number initiatives in place when the Maclean's rankings for student satisfaction dropped to 17th last year.
That includes enhanced mental health and academic supports. Laurentian's brand-new student centre is also being officially opened next week.
“Those are just some of the initiatives that are being started,” Haché said. “It takes a little bit of time for the impact of those initiatives to be seen in rankings that are cutting across all four years of undergraduate experience.
“I've been looking very closely at what has been initiated. I think there's some very positive things, and I think there will be even more things as I understand completely what our opportunities are to raise the student experience.”
Haché points out that Laurentian is also ranked second in the province when it comes to the percentage of graduates finding employment within six months of graduation as well as second in Ontario in terms of starting salaries.
“It does say that there are things that I have to look at in terms of not only the outcome that we're providing for students, but the experience they have as they're going through the process,” he said.
Laurentian ranked 15th for social science and humanities grants, although that's a three-spot improvement over 2018. He said there's a “very vibrant” group of researchers in this area at Laurentian.
Haché said research in this area doesn't necessarily require huge amounts of money, so the dollar-value rankings are a bit misleading.
Even though Laurentian has improved in this metric, “you'd like to do as well as you can in all of the metrics.”
It also ranked 15th when it came to a national reputational survey, and that's a two-spot drop over last year.
Laurentian needs to “get the word out about the wonderful things that are happening at the university,” Haché said, adding LU's vast network of alumni could be put to work on this task.
The university president said the Maclean's rankings are “one of the many tools we have to gauge our progress.
“It's garnered quite a following over the years, and therefore it's important for us to be proactive in presenting ourselves in a positive way for them.”
To read Maclean's Magazine's annual university rankings, visit the magazine's website or pick up a copy at a local newsstand.
