Western vs. Eastern Canadian Universities

Today I read an article with the headline Western Canadian universities outshining Eastern counterparts. Here's an excerpt:

A recent study by the Higher Education Strategy Associates (HESA) reports that Western Canada is the new epicentre for post-secondary education. The past two decades have seen the University of British Columbia, the University of Victoria, the University of Alberta, and the University of Saskatchewan out-compete prestigious Ontario schools such as Queen's, McMaster, and the Universities of Waterloo and Western Ontario for academic talent, as well as funding.

This was shown when the Canadian government created 19 Excellence Research Chair awards, new $10-million prizes to go to leading researchers who had established programs at their home universities.

Two researchers at both the Universities of Waterloo and Toronto received recognition, while other Ontario schools struggled, with the University of Ottawa gaining one and Queen’s failing to qualify for any. Meanwhile, the University of Alberta won four and UBC won a total of $24 million.

As a high school student or parent of a soon-to-be a first year student, you shouldn’t assume that this means these universities are better because they received these awards. The reality is that typically knowledge from these prestigious chairs and research grants do not filter down to the undergraduates. Quite frankly, these recipients probably have never and will never teach an undergraduate class. Notice they have been referred to as researchers, so if you hope to do research with these academics then these awards should be very important to you.  Otherwise, choose a university that meets all of your individual criteria.

The bottom line is that your needs as an undergrad will be different from your criteria as a masters student or PhD candidate.  I believe undergraduate students need great teachers; great researchers who have ‘won’ prestigious chairs and research grants are more or most important to graduate students. This, of course, is not to say that these universities in western Canada don’t have great faculty teaching in their Bachelor degrees.

This report also highlights how difficult it is to evaluate universities. There are many variables that should be assessed when rating a university as better than another. Receiving prestigious chairs and research grants is just one of them. In summary, you really do have to do your own research with your list of what’s important to you. Go west young man/woman or use your own best judgement!

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When Great isn’t Good Enough

According to the 2011 QS World University Ranking released on Monday, McGill University is the best university in Canada.  So does this mean that you should include McGill as one of your choices? Maybe. There are far more variables to consider before McGill is great enough for you.

Perhaps, the first consideration is location. Montreal is a wonderful city, but how far or close is it to your current location? Are you looking for a large university in a busy, downtown environment? Does McGill offer the program you want? Does THAT program have a good reputation? Remember, while McGill may be great, some programs at other universities may have a better reputation. What about the faculty? Your program of choice at McGill may have great faculty, but not all are world renowned in their fields. Again, the best may teach and research somewhere else. Do you have the required average to get into McGill? It's one of the best in Canada, which also mean that you'll need a pretty good Grade 12 average to be admitted. Furthermore, look at facilities, support systems and other resources. Do they meet all of your needs? Finally, how were McGill and the other universities evaluated? If you were to rank universities would you use the same assessment? As you’ll see, there’s some question about QS’ methodology.

So many variables, so many questions, but do give yourself time to consider all of your options. Use the same analysis when you consider this ranking, the Macleans ranking and any other that you see in your research.

Here are the other Canadian universities on the QS World University Ranking and how they ranked in this top 300 global list:

17. McGill University

23. University of Toronto

51. University of British Columbia

100. University of Alberta

137. Universite de Montreal

144. Queen's University

157. University of Western Ontario

159. McMaster University

160. University of Waterloo

218. University of Calgary

234. Dalhousie University

256. University of Ottawa

260. Simon Fraser University

292. University of Victoria

What about the other Canadian universities not on the list? Do not automatically exclude them for all the reasons discussed above. The results of another world university ranking will be released on October 6^th. I can guarantee that the results will be different. Stay tuned.