.

The Cadre -

30 March 1999

UPEI News .

UPEI rankings und

er scrutiny

Students dissatisfied with UPEI results in MacLean’s Survey

By SARAH MURPHY

Once again, UPEI was delivered a blow by the MacLean’s Survey on Cana- dian Universities, and stu- dents and administrators are questioning the tactics used to evaluate the institution.

Senator Crystal Doyle, a fourth year biology student, recently asked for clarifica- tion concerning figures quot- ing the university’s operation budget, which appeared in the Nov. 98 issue of MacLean’s featuring the Sur- vey on Canadian Universi- ties.

UPEI was reported to have the highest operating expenditures per student of the 21 institutions surveyed. These expenditure amounted to $9577 per student.

After researching the matter, Senate reported that Maclean's figures included all expenditures related to the ordinary day-to day opera- tions of the university. This includes salaries, utilities, supplies, insurance premi- ums, equipment mainte- nance, telephone, postage, printing, travel, and finall interest payments on debt, if applicable.

“The money needed to cover these operation e. - ditures come mainly from government grants and tui- tion revenues,” explained Vice President Academic John Crossley in a memo to Senate. “Earnings on ancil- lary operation, earnings on service and research con- tracts, along with a few mis- cellaneous sources also con- tribute to the equation.”

Senator Doyle ques- tioned the role of the Atlan- tic Veterinary College in con- tributing to an increase of the

expenditures.

“If the AVC was not included in the calculations, expenditures per student at UPEI would be 29.4 per cent lower then those of AVC plus UPEI, lowering the figure from $9577 per student to $6761 per student,” ex- plained Crossley.

This drop in expendi- tures would place UPEI eighth out of the twenty-one “primarily undergraduate” universities, behind Mount Allison, Lethbridge, North- ern British Columbia, Win- nipeg, and Laurentian.

The methodology used by the magazine for their popular survey has been criticized and the reliability has been questioned.

“Different universities may report differently on their operations. This would likely result in variations in calculations and discrepan- cies in results,” Crossley noted. “For example certain universities will include the amount of money spent on scholarship and bursaries in their calculation, unlike sev- eral institutions which will choose to exclude them.”

Doyle feels that the survey is doing a disservice to UPEI by misrepresenting the facts.

“I think MacLean’s should make efforts to have a straight line drawn between all universities so that misin- terpretations are not made in the future,” she says. “This small error on behalf of MacLean’s may be replicated in all university stats and could be the cause of many students taking their business elsewhere.”

The programs offered by a university will also in- fluence the results. Univer- sities such as St. Thomas or the University College of

Cape Breton which offer very few science or fine arts/mu- Sic programs — or none at all - have lower operating ex- penditures.

Senator Patrick Young, a third year political studies student, says that the survey misses a number of UPEI's benefits in focussing on the sketchy financial as- pects,

“We are ranked four- teenth,” he says. “[But] | think most students here re- alize the benefits of going to a smaller university rather than somewhere like U of T. [Here] class sizes are small, and programs limited, but nonetheless adequately pre-

students to on at w school, or grad l, or whatever.”

Young added his dis- satisfaction regarding MacLean’s figures.

“Unfortunately, the MacLean’s special issue on universities. . . is quite popu- lar with the toda. people outside the university circle, and be grade 12 students researching - institutions” be continues.

“Although MacLean’s would like people to think that their survey is well-rounded and based on some common norms, it does ly to as- sess the value he Sioeeean received, because this is dif- ferent for each student.”

As problematic as the results of such studies may be, certain students applying to university often have very few sources on which to base their decisions.

“Sometimes, surv such as this one [MacLean’s} are the only thing students can base themselves on,” said Jessica Mayville, a first year CEGEP student.

Young also questions the tactics used by many Ca- nadian universities in order to lure students.

“These students prob- ably make some tough deci- sions based on this survey, which worries me consider- ably,” he says. “I thought this way, and it wasn't until I ar- eae here that I realized 3 I'll be just as prepared intel- lectually — both in terms of the acquisition of profes- sional knowledg dl in aca-

eu Sin

demic maturity for law school — as | would be if I went to a school with a pa- thetically augmented ta- tion because of some Cana- dian news magazine,” stated Young. “My point is that this survey is mostly hype, and has weight simply because of that, not because it’s a schol- arly study or credible.”

Doyle agrees that the survey is influential for many students, but not rw where they ae decline acceptance into the only uni- versity which accepted them. She adds that the survey would better represent uni- versities with a few minor change to its format.

“I think that the MacLean’s survey should be more complete and should delineate exactly what is in- cluded in each university,” she says.

Crossley maintains that operating expenditures per student reveals little about the quality or quantity of activities at any particular university, or the relative merits of the universities themselves.

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