U of S ranked 12th in Maclean's survey

Posted November 12, 2002


November 12, 2002 2002-11-08-OTHER

U of S ranked 12th in Maclean's survey

The University of Saskatchewan has maintained a strong hold on this year's
Maclean's rankings according to the university survey released placing the U
of S 12th out of 15.

The U of S was ranked higher than the universities of Laval, Calgary and
Manitoba in the medical-doctoral category. It lost out to Dalhousie
University which bumped the U of S from 11th place last year to its
current position.

"We have improved our performance in many of the categories in the Maclean's
rankings this year," said U of S President Peter MacKinnon, "so, it was
disappointing to drop a place."

"However, we are focussing efforts on achieving academic pre-eminence and
international standards in all our activities and are determined to take our
place among the most distinguished universities in Canada and in the world."

The university has already made significant advances over the past year
which have involved effort from all levels at the University of
Saskatchewan. They include the following:

- a systematic review of all academic programs to guarantee that the quality
of programs offered at the U of S met and exceeded national and
international standards is nearly complete;

- a 41.4 per cent increase in research funding for 2000-2001 -- nearly
double the national average of 22.7 per cent, according to Canada's Top 50
Research Universities List published in October by Toronto-based Research
Infosource Inc. U of S figures for 2001-2002 show that U of S funding for
research, scholarship and artistic work continues to grow dramatically.

- eleven Canada Research Chairs are now well-established on campus, and have
given the U of S a tremendous boost in academic creativity. The U of S is
building on its deployment of Canada Research Chairs to recruit tenure-track
faculty and attract top graduate students and additional research resources;


- teaching and research facilities - some completed, and others still under
construction - are improving research opportunities and the delivery of
education to students. These include: the U of S VIDO laboratory, the
Western College of Veterinary Medicine MRI/Oncology facility, the chemical
engineering building addition, the Kinesiology physical activity complex,
the Saskatchewan Structural Sciences Centre, the Geology Library expansion
and the Computer Science laboratory renovation in the Spinks addition.

"Our goal is to attract even more top-flight students, researchers and
industrial partners from across the nation and around the world. We have
made a great deal of progress so far and will continue building on our
strengths," concluded MacKinnon.

The Maclean's survey ranks universities according to specific indicators
such size of the operating grant, numbers of out-of-province students and
the proportion of alumni who contribute to the university. The differences
between the top and bottom scores in these indicators are very small (i.e.
the average entering grade required of students at the top three ranked
universities is 87.9%, 87.7% and 87.5% respectively. The U of S admission
average is 85.3% and ranks 6th in this category).

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For more information, please contact:

Peter MacKinnon (from Tuesday, November 12th)
President
University of Saskatchewan
(306) 966-6612