Rankings don’t determine university priorities: STU

Annual university rankings are out and St. Thomas University is scoring well on class size and campus atmosphere and low on research opportunities, environmental commitment and course registration.

The Globe and Mail compiles the grades each year through results of a survey students are asked to fill out. STU’s grades this year aren’t much different than the ones the university received last year.

In the Maclean’s magazine rankings, which also came out last week, STU has jumped from the 16th best primarily undergraduate university to the 14th best. The magazine creates its rankings based on third-party data.

While the university puts stock in its performance in these rankings, Garry Hansen, director of institutional research at STU, said it doesn’t determine the university’s priorities.

“We have to take everything in context. Those lower scores will point to something that we want to take a look at,” he said.

In the past, STU has criticized the methodology Maclean’s uses to create its rankings. Hansen said it “hamstrings” STU because the information Maclean’s uses focuses on research dollars and resources – two things STU doesn’t have – instead of actual student experience.

“We are, if you like, disadvantaged in the Maclean’s rankings on a number of indicators because of our nature as an exclusively liberal arts institution.

“We have researchers, we have scholars, we have people that are doing world-class research, but generally it’s the social sciences or humanities and there’s simply not enough money in that area as in the sciences and engineering.”

Part of the reason why STU moved up two spots in this year’s Maclean’s rankings is because three larger schools, Ryerson University, Brock University and Wilfrid Laurier University, were moved out of the primarily undergraduate category.

“It’s ridiculous to compare us to another institution with a more comprehensive set of programs,” Hansen said.

The Globe and Mail rankings are a slightly better indication of STU’s performance because the survey focuses on student perceptions and student experience, he added.

“The Globe and Mail’s approach of not ranking and not providing one overall score is I think preferable in that it allows students to identify those indicators that are important to them in choosing an institution.”

Whether the rankings affect a high school student’s university choice depends on who you ask, Hansen said.

In Ontario, where these rankings may be all students know about STU, they could have a big impact.

“Our own sense of it is that it doesn’t have much of an impact in New Brunswick.”

The rankings coincide with the peak of the university’s recruiting season. Prospective students will visit campus this Saturday for the STU’s open house.

2012 Globe and Mail STU report card