The annual Times Higher Education World Universities Rankings for 2019 sees 27 Canadian universities on the list.
University of Toronto (U of T) ranks first out of all Canadian universities on the list, followed closely by University of British Columbia (UBC). Carleton University was ranked 20th out of the Canadian schools.
“We are very pleased to see the University of Toronto once again ranked among the world’s best universities,” U of T president Meric Gertler said in a news release.
“It’s a recognition of both the strength and impact of the research, as well as the exceptional quality of teaching, that takes place across U of T’s three campuses every day,” he added.
The Times Higher Education World Universities Rankings compares research-intensive universities based on their teaching, research, knowledge transfer, and international outlook, according to the organization’s website.
But, Carleton University president Benoit-Antoine Bacon said the rankings fail to consider student experience and quality of programs, both of which, he said, are areas in which Carleton excels.
“Most of the things that they measure have to do with the research intensity,” Bacon said. “Does the Times Higher Education care about quality of programs? They do not. Do they care about the student experience? They do not. Do they care about the sense of community on campus? They don’t. Right?”
“We’re always trying to enhance our research productivity and research impact, but there are other things that we care about that don’t count for these tables, including the student experience and the quality of the pedagogy,” Bacon added.
He also said that Carleton houses world-class programs which the rankings do not take into account.
“Every university of our size has some programs that are world-class, and we certainly have many on campus.”
“This is a research intensity and reputation measure, so that favours certain types of research—in particular, medical research,” he said.
Carleton University vice-president (students and enrolment) Suzanne Blanchard agreed that the student experience and quality of programs are important factors to consider when recruiting students.
“When I’m looking at recruitment, it’s about the relationships that we’re building and whether the students see Carleton as a place for them to grow both personally and professionally,” Blanchard said.
“When we recruit, that [student] experience comes out very well, and when we ask students to come to campus, they also see that difference,” she added. “And those are things that aren’t reflected in these rankings, which we think are very important for the students and the student experience and the quality of our programs.”
Stanley Chia, a graduate student at UBC who completed an undergraduate degree at U of T, said the rankings are likely true and that he chose to go to UBC because of their research facilities.
“I’m not so sure about the matrix that they use to calculate the rankings,” he said, “but if it’s in terms of research output, I guess it would be very much true because U of T has a lot of faculty that does excellent research and they get students involved and I think UBC is pretty close to that, so I think that’s why U of T is first and UBC is second.”
“I went to UBC because they had the faculty who could support my research,” he said, adding that his research focus is in Southeast Asian history.
When asked if student experience was an important factor to his decision to go to U of T and later UBC, Chia said that it was something he considered more going into his undergraduate studies, though ultimately the university’s reputation was always a bigger factor.
“Ultimately, I chose U of T because my mom was like, ‘Oh, U of T has a better reputation, so you should go there,’” he said. “Yeah, student experience does matter, but it’s probably more so for undergraduate students than graduate students.”
–With files from Temur Durrani
