U of R Moves Up
U of R is ranked 8 out of 15 top schools
Article: Taylor Rattray – Contributor
In Maclean’s 2013 issue of the top Canadian universities, the University of Regina was named 8th in the top fifteen Canadian universities in the comprehensive category. These universities, according to Maclean’s, “have a significant degree of research activity and a wide range of undergraduate and graduate programs, including professional degrees.”
Universities are ranked by various factors, such as student and classes, faculty, resources, student support, library, and reputation by data garnered from Statistics Canada, financial figures for the fiscal year, The Canadian Association of Research Libraries, the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, and various smaller surveys.
Zengrun Zhang, a Business Administration student, believes there must be some reason for such a high ranking, and that it all depends on the students.
According to C. Gonsalves, also a business student, this ranking is accurate, and he claims, “It is not a university that does everything perfectly, but I feel that it is adequate, at least in the categories there are”.
Robin Keen, a second year social work student, says, “I’ve always thought [the University of Regina] was a good school, especially regarding certain programs. If Maclean’s ranks [it] out of 49 schools, I’d say I’m pretty happy with going to a school ranking eigth in the country. I won’t lie, I didn’t think it would be quite that high, but now that I think about it a little more, I think eigth sounds about right, and pretty good.”
Additionally, Keen states, “There’s always room for improvement, but overall I think [the University of Regina] is on the right track.”
As for development, Keen believes, “It seems as though money is being spent on things that are nice in theory, but that our school isn’t ready for, meaning more needs to be done to benefit the majority of our student body before introducing the things that, while nice, aren’t necessary to our education. More than anything, I think this is where there is room for improvement, a re-evaluation of where our money is going.”
Whether or not students agree with Maclean’s 2014 top Canadian schools, a ranking of eight for the University of Regina is definitely a reputation booster for a school that has always been undervalued.
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