UPEI Ranks Eighth Among 21 Undergraduate Universities in Canada

Once again the University of Prince Edward Island has placed in the top ten of the country's 21 primarily undergraduate universities. UPEI was eighth overall in the annual Maclean’s rankings which were released today, November 8. This is the fifth year in a row that UPEI has been in the top ten.

Maclean’s magazine introduced a new method of collecting data this year causing some universities to drop significantly in the rankings while others have remained within one or two places of their 2006 results.

In the undergraduate category, UPEI placed fourth in Canada for its student-faculty ratio, fifth for student awards, and fifth for awards per full-time faculty. Among the nine Maritime undergraduate universities that were ranked, UPEI was in fourth position overall.

“We are very pleased to rank once again among the top ten in Canada,” says Dr. Vianne Timmons, Vice-President of Academic Development. “The Maclean’s report also included the results from the National Study of Student Engagement and they are even more encouraging because they are based on what university students really think about their educational experiences.”

The Maclean’s report drew attention to the level of satisfaction recorded by UPEI’s senior students in the National Study of Student Engagement (NSSE). UPEI was recognized as one of three notable exceptions to a national trend for students to become less supportive of their universities after completing their studies.

At UPEI, 87 per cent of students stated that they would select the same university again if they had the opportunity to start their degrees over. These figures are significantly above the North American benchmarks for student satisfaction. Ninety-one per cent of senior year students evaluated their experience as either good or excellent and they gave UPEI top marks in the country for student-faculty interaction.

The Maclean’s report also provided information about the composition of the student body at each university. The statistics reflected the increasingly diverse nature of the UPEI student community. 17.3 per cent of students came from out of province in 2006 and 8.7 per cent came from other countries.