Canada’s undergraduate university students have given the country’s smallest universities higher ratings than the large institutions for overall satisfaction and quality of education.   This is one of the findings of The Globe and Mail’s Canadian University Report available in today’s newspaper and online at www.globecampus.ca. The Report is presented in association with The Strategic Counsel and the Educational Policy Institute 

Now in its seventh year, the annual survey of undergrads captures their opinions on different aspects of their university experience from quality of teaching, course availability, and academic reputation to campus pubs and bars, food services, and facilities. This year’s Report reflects ratings on 19 different topics, provided by 43,000 students from 55 Canadian universities

The Canadian University
Report also includes articles and interviews on topics related to the current university experience including:

• the pressure from students to improve universities’ environmental policies and practices and examples of how universities have responded;
  
• the impact and potential of iPod technologies for teaching; and,
  
• the push for commercialization of university research and the resulting creeping influence of the private sector on campus.
  

The 2008 Canadian University Report reflects the opinion of more than 43,000 current undergraduate students.   The results are derived from the answers to more than 100 questions. In total, students considered more than 77 different factors in the survey. All ratings are available at www.globecampus.ca with the Campus Navigator tool. A mean score for each university is calculated based on the responses of students who attend that school.  Universities are assigned a letter grade that matches their mean scores.  For full details on the methodology and scoring, see the Canadian University Report (pg. 52) or visit www.globecampus.ca.