LU dips 2 spots in Maclean's rankings

For some people, the number 13 conjurs up superstition.

For Laurentian University, the number 13 is an indication of progress.

Despite dipping two spots in the annual Maclean's magazine's annual ranking of Canadian universities, Dominic Giroux said he isn't really sweating it.

“We're pleased with the long-term trends of the Maclean's ranking, especially considering we were ranking No. 19 in the category a few years ago,” he said. “Being No. 13 is a very good position.”

The university is tied with the University of Winnipeg for 13th spot in the list of 19 primarily undergraduate universities.

Last year, the university tied with its northern neighbour, Lakehead University, along with the University of Ontario Institute of Technology for 11th spot.

In 2010, Maclean's ranked Laurentian 14th among primarily undergraduate universities, and the year before, it ranked 18th.

The magazine ranks institutions in six broad areas based on performance indicators, allocating a weight to each indicator. These performance indicators are students and classes, faculty, resources, student support, library and reputation.

One of the bad news areas is student/faculty ratio. Last year, Laurentian ranked third amongst universities in its category in this area. This year, it dipped to eighth place, with 16.7 students per faculty member.

“We've reduced a little bit the faculty complement while seeing enrolment growth,” Giroux said. “Mathematically, you end up with an increase in student-faculty ratio. We still have the best student-faculty ratio in the province.”

The university has also seen a slight worsening in its ranking the number of library books per student, where Laurentian ranked 12th, as opposed to 11th last year. It also dropped in the proportion of the budget allocated to the library, where it ranked 17th, as opposed to 16th last year.

On the bright side, the university ranked third when it comes to the percentage of total operating expenditures devoted to scholarships and bursaries, as opposed to fifth last year.

Laurentian's average entry grade also increased slightly from 80 to 81 per cent over the past year.

These two indicators are related, Giroux said. The university gives automatic scholarships to those with average entry grades greater than 80 per cent, so the more students in this category it enrols, the more scholarships it hands out.

Giroux said he's also not surprised Laurentian's ranking for student services ranked 14th this year, as opposed to 17th last year.

“Over the past year we launched a new centre for academic excellence to provide additional targeted learning supports to students,” he said.

“So again, because we've been making those additional investments, this is being reflected in the ranking.”

Giroux said the data from Maclean's is useful, but the university uses information from several surveys to make decisions.

“There are essentially four that we track,” he said. “Each of them brings a different perspective.”

Survey data was used as Laurentian developed its 2012-2017 strategic plan, Giroux said. For example, the university decided it needed to focus on improving the student experience after examining the data.

“That means modernizing the facilities, improving the food services options, providing one-stop student services, increasing learning supports outside the classroom and encouraging more study abroad opportunities.”

For more on Maclean's university rankings, pick up a copy of the magazine at a local newsstand, or visit oncampus.macleans.ca/education/rankings.