December 2, 1997

The Cadre

UPEI number one!?

1997 Maclean's survey once again causes controversy around campus

By Suzanne Williams

The seventh annual uni- versity ranking issue of Maclean’s magazine has swept up space in newsstands, as well as the attentions of educational institutions nation- wide. UPEI took a dip in the standings, moving from last year’s ranking of twelfth place in the primarily undergraduate division to a placement at number thirteen this year.

Since last year’s rank- ing of Canadian universities, four post-secondary institu- tions have been added to the survey: Moncton, Hull, Rimouski, and Chicoutimi -- the Francophone institutions. If these schools had not been added, UPEI would be in the same place as last year.

There is conflict brew- ing between the editors of Maclean’s and the adminis- tration of UPEI over the evalu- ation of the school’s operating

budget. UPEI has once more taken the number one slot in this category.

According to the sur- vey, UPEI has an operating budget of $10,170 per full-time student, yet in terms of student services, the school received a twentieth-percentile rating, and atwenty-first percentile rating was given in terms of library expenses. This may lead stu- dents to believe that they are not receiving all they should.

The magazine conducts their research by adding to- gether the budget of the Atlan- tic Veterinary Collegeand that of the main campus.

Since the AVC has about one-tenth of the student

body and almost one-third of

the budget of main campus, this makes the total budget seem high. Also, the budget for the AVC is provided through all four Atlantic prov- inces, while the budget for UPEI’smain campus is funded

solely through this province

John Crossley, V.P. of Academic Support, wrote to Maclean’s editors last Decem- ber, describing the incorrect data and how “he believes that the university's image is being distorted.” Unfortunately, nothing has been done to cor- rect the situation forthis year’s survey

“Ifthe survey were done with only the main campus,” explained President Elizabeth Epperly, “ we would be right in with all the other universities. It seems as if this has started to become a joke among the presidents of other universi- ties.”

Ifthe university were to be judged on the main campus only, it would be in eighth place in terms of operating budget..

Epperly further com- mented, “we are working on truly being number one for the future.”

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