Maclean's 17th annual (and biggest ever) University Rankings issue arriving on newsstands today

    TORONTO, Nov. 8 /CNW/ - What the hard data reveals, what the experts say,
and what students think about 47 Canadian universities - it's all unveiled in
the 17th annual (and for the second year in a row, biggest ever) Maclean's
University Rankings issue, arriving on newsstands across the country starting
today.

    How Maclean's evaluates excellence

    With this year's information-packed ranking, Maclean's continues the
mandate it established 16 years ago: to provide basic, essential information
in a comprehensive package to help students choose the university that best
suits their undergraduate needs. The annual rankings have always assessed
universities on performance in six broad areas: student quality, faculty
quality, research, resources, library and reputation.
    This year, Maclean's revised some aspects of its methodology, and the
rankings are now based entirely on publicly available data. Sources include
Statistics Canada, the three major federal granting agencies, and the Canadian
Association of Research Libraries.

    The three categories we rank

    Maclean's places universities in one of three categories, recognizing the
differences in types of institutions, levels of research funding, the
diversity of offerings, and the range of graduate and undergraduate programs.
Primarily Undergraduate universities are largely focused on undergraduate
education, with relatively few graduate programs. Those in the Comprehensive
category have a significant amount of research activity and a wide range of
programs at the undergraduate and graduate levels, including professional
degrees. Medical-Doctoral universities offer a broad range of Ph. D. programs
and research, as well as medical schools.

    This year's top-ranking universities:

    Medical Doctoral category

    Once again, McGill University took the number one spot. UBC and Queen's
tied in second place (after placing fourth and second respectively last year).
The University of Toronto placed fourth, slipping from the third spot last
year (Toronto held the top spot in this category from 1994 to 2005).

    Comprehensive category

    Victoria moved up to first place this year from third place in 2006.
Simon Fraser moved up two spots to place second in the category. Waterloo fell
one spot to third. Last year's top-ranked university, the University of
Guelph, fell to fourth.

    Primarily Undergraduate category

    Acadia and Mount Allison tied for the number one spot (placing third and
second respectively last year). St. Francis Xavier fell from first to third
and UNBC and Trent tied in fourth place.
    The Maclean's University Rankings '07 issue will be on newsstands until
January 31, 2008.

    Customized rankings

    Maclean's ranks universities on 13 or 14 performance measures (including
students/classes, faculty, resources, student support, library and
reputation.) At www.macleans.ca/oncampus, users can create a university
assessment tailored to their specifications, by simply choosing the measures
of university quality that matter to them most and weighting them accordingly.

    Show me the money! Our new Scholarship Finder

    What schools are offering to prospective students, and the new
scholarship tool can now be found online at www.macleans.ca. Helping students
find the resources they need to pay for their higher education,
www.macleans.ca features a new, FREE database of thousands of Canadian
scholarships, bursaries and awards.

    Other highlights from this year's rankings:

    -   What the experts think: How Canadian universities rank in the
        community at large in our reputational survey. Maclean's solicited
        the opinion of 11,826 individuals across the country. Participants
        tell Maclean's the schools that suggest prestige and make them sit up
        and take notice. From CEO's to high-school principals - which schools
        did the community see as leaders in education: the results may
        surprise.

    -   Who's got the best profs? Maclean's takes a look at which
        universities are collecting the biggest grants and highest awards for
        their professors.

    -   Students grade their universities: 70,000 students took part in three
        national surveys. Their responses suggest Canada's universities still
        have some homework to do.

    -   Marks and more: Grades are a strong indication of student quality and
        potential. Maclean's presents two measures of entering grades - the
        overall grade averages of incoming first-year students, and a
        breakdown by ranges - as well as graduation and retention rates, and
        more.

    -   The best and worst in off-campus housing: When residence isn't an
        option - what to look for before signing that lease.

    -   Where do the grades from your high school get you? An 'A' from one
        high school isn't the same as an 'A' from another. That's why some
        admissions offices are 'adjusting' grades accordingly.

    -   March Madness - in Vancouver? Canadian universities are being offered
        entry into the NCAA, the elite league of U.S. college sports. Should
        they jump at the opportunity?

    About Maclean's:

    Maclean's is Canada's only national weekly current affairs magazine.
Maclean's enlightens, engages and entertains 2.8 million readers with strong
investigative reporting and exclusive stories from leading journalists in the
fields of international affairs, social issues, national politics, business
and culture. Visit www.macleans.ca

For further information: To arrange an interview, please contact:
Jacqueline Segal, (416) 764-4125, jacqueline.segal@rci.rogers.com