While annual university rankings assess Canada’s best schools across the country in an effort to create a personalized guide for students, some are questioning how accurately these rankings assess the quality of these universities.
This year, Maclean’s magazine celebrated their 20th anniversary issue of university rankings.
The Maclean’s magazine rankings aim to simplify the decision making process when it comes to choosing a university for students.
“Our goal is not just to be the most valuable resource in the country — and we are that — but also to personalize the university decision by making it as easy as possible,” reads the Maclean’s On Campus website.
Prior to the release of this year’s issue of the Maclean’s rankings, U of M president David Barnard sent a message to U of M staff stating that the university has “long challenged the methodology of the Maclean’s ranking in particular.”
The president noted that although the rankings provide some “food for thought,” they do so from “the perspective of a very wide-angle lens.” He explained that the U of M does not allow its priorities to be set by those outside the institution and does not rely on the rankings to prove the university is achieving its goals.
John Danakas, director of Public Affairs at the U of M said that although the rankings may help sell magazines, they do not provide a beneficial way of looking at universities.
“You have no idea what separates the different universities,” he said. “The whole idea of ranking universities as some sort of popularity contest just isn’t helpful.”
Naomi Levine, director of the Centre for Higher Education Research and Development at the University of Manitoba, believes it’s difficult to make comparisons between universities using ranking systems.
“Each university is so different in regards to the focus and size and the geography of the students. [ . . . ] There are also many different standards for entries into universities and different professional faculties,” she said.
However, Levine recognized that many students find university rankings valuable.
“If people didn’t read it they wouldn’t do it. I think any competition engages people and that’s really what it is; it’s a competition between universities,” she said.
Maclean’s places the 49 Canadian universities in one of three categories: undergraduate, comprehensive or medical doctoral. In each category the universities are then ranked on performance indicators in six areas.
Data for Maclean’s rankings comes from a range of sources including publicly available data, federal granting agencies, university officials, and heads of a wide range of national and regional organizations.
“It’s the best possible information to help you make your big choice,” says the website.
Alternatively, the Globe and Mail’s Canadian University Report is based on student surveys and grants each institution a letter grade. The Times Higher Education also ranks universities on a global scale each year.
Executive director of the Canadian Association of University Teachers, James Turk, agreed that such rankings provide a simple basis to compare universities; however, he recognizes the danger in reducing the complexity of universities.
Furthermore, Turk said this kind of “one-stop shopping” for universities can often be extremely misleading.
“The problem is that people think they have a useful tool and think that these rankings mean something. [ . . . ] They usually don’t mean anything at all,” he said.
Another danger Turk sees is the possibility of universities “teaching to the test,” once they realize what the reports are evaluating.
“There’s a lot of evidence of universities flushing out the information used and trying to steer the university in that direction,” he said.
Turk gave the example of capping classes in order to meet the requirement of what is considered a small class size by the Maclean’s rankings.
Levine said she believes rankings usually do not affect university administration decisions.
“Just because they may get inappropriate press that doesn’t give them credit doesn’t necessarily mean they’re going to start commercializing themselves for Maclean’s,” she said.
Ernie Keenes, a political science professor at the U of M, said that based on his wide experience with universities across Canada, felt that rankings can provide valuable comparative information for prospective students.
However, Keenes noted that the information conveyed by the rankings cannot determine a student’s experience on an individual basis.
“A good experience [ . . . ] can be found even in a poorly-ranked university. [ . . . ] Equally, a bad experience can be had in a university with a good rank,” he said.
Amanda Cairns, a second-year U of M student, would agree that there is a responsibility on the part of the students to feel confident with the choices they’ve made, no matter what the rankings conclude.
“I know some schools are supposed to be higher class than others, but I just figure that the university I’m at is best [ . . . ] for me,” she said.
“I feel that U of M should be fairly high ranked, but rankings in magazines are all so subjective anyways. I would just be adding to the biased ratings with my opinion,” she continued.
Alberta Johnson, a science student in her fourth year at the U of M, thinks it can be helpful to have all the options laid out for students; however, she believes it would be more useful to create program-focused comparisons.
“University of Winnipeg is a fantastic arts school, but the science program isn’t great. I think the science program here is much better. [ . . . ] It would be more productive to have a review of programs,” she said.
This year, the University of Manitoba once again ranked last in the medical doctoral category.
Among the 22 primarily undergraduate universities, the U of W came in 10th, while Brandon University ended up in 17th place.
