The University of Victoria has again received high marks across the board from two major Canadian reporting agencies.
Maclean's magazine and the Globe and Mail newspaper, two major institutions of Canadian media, recently released their annual reports on the pros and cons of Canadian universities. Both features pitted the major Canadian post-secondary schools against each other in a range of categories including student/faculty interaction, physical attractiveness of campus and career preparation, among others.
The overall results were quite positive for UVic, which ranked the highest in BC in terms of overall student satisfaction and consistently came out above both the University of British Columbia and Simon Fraser University (SFU) across categories. The campus earned "A" grades in quality of education, library facilities, campus atmosphere and sense of personal security.
Nationally, UVic scored somewhat in the middle compared to other institutions with the exception of the comprehensive rankings - which saw UVic tie with SFU for first place in the Maclean's report.
"I'm grateful that we really did well in all areas, but I also know that we need to continually look for ways to do things better," said Justin Kohlman, associate registrar and director of marketing at UVic.
"For instance, last year we were the top-rated comprehensive university but we still enhanced our scholarships so that one in four of our entering students this year were eligible for scholarships."
The Maclean's piece surveyed students across 13 performance measures including student support in scholarships and bursaries, student awards, student resources and research.
In the Globe and Mail report card, UVic received an "A-" in overall quality of education. And while Maclean's gave UVic an "A" in quality of teaching, the Globe and Mail gave UVic a "B+". The campus was also rated among the most innovative in the country.
Ultimately, both reports reflect the student experiences of their universities. Approximately 27,800 current Canadian undergraduates (including current full- or part-time students at UVic) participated in this year's survey. The ratings are based entirely on student responses to 100 questions ranging in topic from food options on campus to student services and access to professors.
"While the accolades in the media are nice, the single most important factor is what our students think of us," said Kohlman. "The fact that the latest surveys show 95 per cent of our graduating students had a good experience [at UVic] is extremely satisfying."
"Perhaps by trying even harder [this year] we can get the remaining 5 per cent satisfied next time around."