The Cadre 
     
    
   
   
    
     Maclean's university survey 
     
     comes under fire - again 
     
    
   
   
    
     BY ANDREW SUNSTRUM 
     
    
   
   
    
     TORONTO (CUP) - Amid a 
     
     magazine buying frenzy the 
     
     likes of which Canadians see 
     
     only once a year, the 
     
     Maclean's annual university 
     
     rankings hits news stands this 
     
     week. 
     
    

    
     At the top of the three cat- 
     
     egories into which Maclean's 
     
     separates Canada’s universi- 
     
     ties torank them were familiar 
     
     names. All top-ranked schools 
     
     came first in their respective 
     
     categories last year as well. 
     
    

    
     Topping the medical/doc- 
     
     toral category, which contains 
     
     schools with a broad range of 
     
     doctoral programs and re- 
     
     search and a medical school, 
     
     was the University of Toronto, 
     
     marking the fourth year in a 
     
     row U of T has copped top 
     
     honours in this category. 
     
    

    
     Simon Fraser University in 
     
     B.C. took first in the compre- 
     
     hensive category, which ranks 
     
     schools with substantial pro- 
     
     grams at both the graduate 
     
     and undergraduate level, and 
     
     have significant research. 
     
     Repeating in the primarily un- 
     
     dergraduate category was 
     
     Mount Allison University in 
     
     New Brunswick. 
     
    

    
     But despite the 20 criteria 
     
     used in determining the win- 
     
     ners and the losers, some stil! 
     
     feel that the ranking system 
     
     remains flawed. 
     
    

    
     Kerry-lee Clarke, director 
     
     of enrollment management and 
     
     institutional advancement at 
     
     Lakehead University, says the 
     
     specialized nature of some 
     
     universities are not reflected 
     
     in the final findings. 
     
    

    
     “It’s truly unfortunate that 
     
     the problems in Maclean’s will 
     
     continue to encourage them to 
     
     highlight schools that they 
     
     don’t adequately capture the 
     
     essence of,” she said. 
     
     Lakehead finished fifteenth in 
     
     the primarily undergraduate 
     
     category. 
     
    

    
     Alison Ogilvie, a second 
     
    
   
   
    
     year theatre major at 
     
     Concordia University "which 
     
     has come dead last in the com- 
     
     prehensive category the last 
     
     two years" agrees. 
     
    

    
     “Maclean's doesn’t reflect 
     
     Concordia adequately. My pro- 
     
     gram is really well rounded 
     
     and I don’t think I would have 
     
     found that anywhere else,” she 
     
     said, adding that Concordia has 
     
     excellent fine arts and com- 
     
     munications programs. 
     
    

    
     Similar complaints are be- 
     
     ing heard on the campus of 
     
     York University. The school 
     
     ranked fifth in the comprehen- 
     
     sive category. 
     
    

    
     “What I like about York isn’ 
     
     t found in Maclean's,” Joel 
     
     Harden, president of York's 
     
     graduate student union, said. 
     
     “Y ork chose not to raise gradu- 
     
     ate tuition last year, when every 
     
     other university in Ontario did, 
     
     which shows a certain amount 
     
     of commitment to graduate stu- 
     
     dents. But youdon’t see that in 
     
     Maclean's.” 
     
    

    
     But Victor Dwyer, educa- 
     
     tion editor for Maclean's 
     
     magazine, says people 
     
     shouldn't read too much into 
     
     the rankings. 
     
    

    
     “It looks broadly at univer- 
     
     sity campuses. We don’t do 
     
     anything more and don’t pre- 
     
     tend to,” he said, adding the 
     
     magazine is very open a 
     
     how its research is conducted. 
     
     “We show exactly how 
     
     we did it, we measured, 
     
     how much we weighted them 
     
     and you can read it anyway 
     
     you want.” 
     
    

    
     U of T’s continued survey 
     
     supremacy has led to celebra- 
     
     tory congratulations on cam- 
     
    
   
   
    
     pus. 
     
    

    
     “I am absolutely ae 
     
     to see the University of To- 
     
     ronto recognized as Canada’s 
     
     pre-eminent research univer- 
     
     sity,” U of T ident Robert 
     
     Prichard said, adding that the 
     
     rankings are a useful tool. 
     
    

    
     “T believe it is good. The 
     
    
   
   
    
     issue of Maclean’s, including 
     
     the rankings, greatly increase 
     
     the profile of higher education 
     
     in Canada and is very good for 
     
     all universities,” he said. 
     
    

    
     But other institutions aren’t 
     
     as convinced as to the positive 
     
     effects of the survey. 
     
    

    
     Bruce Hubley, director of 
     
     institutional advancementat the 
     
     University College of Cape 
     
     Breton, says UCCB has been 
     
     discriminated against in the 
     
     survey for not having the ac- 
     
     cess to the alumni and corpo- 
     
     rate dollars that Ivy League 
     
     schools like U of T does. 
     
    

    
     “We are a young institution 
     
     without large endowments so 
     
     the survey's not weighted in 
     
     our favour,” he said. UCCB 
     
     placed twenty-first in the pri- 
     
     marily undergraduate category 
     
     this year, 
     
    

    
     This year 42 English-lan- 
     
     guage and nine French-lan- 
     
     guage schools participated in 
     
     the survey, the magazine's 
     
     seventh. This year, eight 
     
     French-language schools 
     
     eaded aboyoot ofthe raskings 
     
     over what they said was inac- 
     
     curate information in the sur- 
     
     ibe A a mislead readers. 
     
    

    
     comprehensiveness of 
     
     the survey is what makes it 
     
     popular, says Dwyer. 
     
    

    
     “Given that we're the only 
     
    

    
     Se ee 
     
     it’s quite popular among 
     
     the blic.” he said. 
     
     ut because of this 
     
     larity, schools may be re 
     
     to participate in a in 
     
     which they don’t agree with, 
     
     Ross McMillan, a member of 
     
     the York student union, says. 
     
     “We can’t not cooperate 
     
     without looking very bad and 
     
     when we do we're 
     
    
   
   
    
     agienginen se 
     
    
   
   
    
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