The 2004 Maclean’s Guide to Canadian Universities yet again ranked the University of Toronto as the number one university in the Medical/Doctoral category this year. In addition to its rankings of universities in three broad categories (Med/Doc, Comprehensive, and Primarily Undergraduate), the issue also introduced a survey of university graduates for the first time. In this section, however, U of T did very poorly, failing to even register in the top ten in most categories.
The Varsity spoke with Anne Dowsett Johnson, editor of the annual guide, about the rankings and U of T’s seemingly contradictory status in them: highly ranked by the magazine, poorly ranked by its graduates.
“It is difficult to attribute U of T’s success to any one factor,” said Dowsett Johnson. “Our rankings are based on over 20 indicators, so as to prevent any one factor becoming too important.”
Part of U of T’s success can be easily explained, though.
“One of the ways that [medical or doctoral] research universities are evaluated is how successful they are winning government money, or money from other sources to conduct research projects, and U of T has been one of the best at this,” said Dowsett Johnson. For example, there are 175 Canada Research Chair holders at U of T out of the 2,000 created by the federal government. The program gives professors $100,000 or more for a set term to aid them in their research; the awards are also overwhelmingly awarded to science, engineering, and medical researchers.
Dowsett Johnson contrasted Maclean’s methods against other rankings methods. The Globe & Mail’s University Report Card, which relies solely on student opinion, gave U of T a slightly above average grade.
“There’s no comparison between what we do and what they do,” said Johnson. “Doing internet-based research of students is quite dubious. Talking to current students is less valuable than talking to senior or graduating students, who will have more perspective on their experience.”
“The Maclean’s guide is also unique in educational reporting,” said Dowsett Johnson, “since it also includes advocacy for postsecondary education and profiles most of the institutions in the country. That’s something you certainly don’t find in US News and World Report’s rankings.
“The rankings also reflect social changes,” Johnson continued. “Most Ontario universities suffered as a result of the Mike Harris government in the 1990s. If news organizations simply produce rankings without any other information or context, then it becomes just another vehicle for selling magazines.”
Johnson conceded that the Maclean’s rankings aren’t perfect.
“Even though we’re one of the best guides out there, there are problems,” said Johnson. “Some schools, like the University of Manitoba, fair badly in part because they have to serve so many needs: they provide the only dental school in their province, for example.
“U of T and other research universities also face challenges in making their undergraduate experience meaningful,” said Johnson. “A million-dollar grant for a physics professor doesn’t do anything to make the experience of a history undergrad any better.”
