(Talbert Johnson)
Carleton undergraduate students gave their university an A- in overall student satisfaction, although they scored the university poorly on its environmental commitment and food services.
The Globe and Mail’s 2010 Canadian University Report, released Oct. 21, is based on a survey of 38,000 undergraduate students across Canada.
The report helps to create the Campus Navigator, an online tool created by the Globe to help senior high school students choose the right university based on a variety of criteria.
The rankings are based on the opinions of the students surveyed, and the results reflect student satisfaction.
One of Carleton’s lowest grades was a C- for environmental commitment, which comes shortly after the Sustainable Endowments College Sustainability Report Card, which gave Carleton a B- grade, based on the appointment of a sustainability officer, food and recycling policies, investment priorities, transportation, and green building.
“I am not surprised at the lower grade as we have made strides in sustainability in the last year, but the education and awareness program really only began in the last month or so. Carleton’s poor environmental commitment ranking is mostly due to a lack of student awareness about the recent changes made to the university,” said Murdo Murchison, Carleton’s sustainability officer
“As a result, I would like to see the work that Carleton has done reflected in next year’s survey as students become more aware.”
Carleton’s A- ranking for libraries was the second-highest among all medium-sized (enrolment of 12,000 to 22,000) universities involved in the study, and is attributed to the Maxwell MacOdrum library’s ability to look after Carleton students.
“Over the last few years we’ve been more deliberate in assessing our services. Each second year, [we] run a student survey called LibQUAL, and we look at the results at the beginning of every year to address student needs,” said Leslie Firth, associate university librarian.
“For instance, we’ve added more study space, including four additional group study rooms to the fourth floor of the library, since this is something that students have voiced an interest in having.”
Carleton’s high library ranking is also due to its holdings. In addition to the more than three million library holdings, Firth said the library also has connections with other libraries.
“The library has been — and is increasingly — involved with collaboration projects with other libraries in expanding our holdings, etc. so that we’re actually getting the best value out of our budget dollars,” Firth said.