Education

Where professors know your name plus the schools that make you job-ready

Results from Maclean’s 2016 student survey

Photograph by Simon Hayter

Photograph by Simon Hayter

Maclean’s surveyed over 10,000 students across Canada to find out what’s really going on at university campuses. The results for eight questions from the survey were used to make our first-ever student satisfaction rankings and folded into our overall university rankings. The survey also included a number of questions that aren’t included in the rankings, but nonetheless provide interesting about what students say is really happening on campus. To read how the survey was conducted click here. Below you will find the top 10, and the bottom 10, universities for professors knowing students’ names, helping students gain skills for employment and encouraging them to think critically.

 

Where professors know your name

Students were asked: ‘How many of your professors know your name?’ The response choices were ‘none, some, most, and all.’ The top ten schools are ordered best to worst, while the bottom ten schools are ordered worst to best.


Top Ten Bottom Ten
1 St. Francis Xavier Laval
2 Bishop's Montréal
3 Mount Allison York
4 St. Thomas Toronto
5 UNBC Ottawa
6 Cape Breton Waterloo
7 Acadia Guelph
8 Mount Saint Vincent UQAM
9 Brandon Calgary
10 Nipissing Brock
Schools that make you job-ready

Students were asked whether their university education is helping them gain skills and knowledge for employment. The top ten schools are ordered best to worst, while the bottom ten schools are ordered worst to best.


Top Ten Strongly Agree (%) Bottom Ten Strongly Agree (%)
1 St. Francis Xavier 61 Simon Fraser 22
2 Waterloo 58 Ottawa 27
3 Nipissing 55 Mount Allison 28
4 UOIT 50 Toronto 28
5 Bishop's 49 Victoria 29
6 Sherbrooke 49 York 29
7 UQAM 49 Winnipeg 30
8 Acadia 47 Calgary 31
9 Queen’s 47 Concordia 32
10 Mount Saint Vincent 46 UBC 33

Schools that teach you to think critically

Students were asked whether their university education is helping them think critically and solve problems. The top ten schools are ordered best to worst, while the bottom ten schools are ordered worst to best.


Top Ten Strongly Agree (%) Bottom Ten Strongly Agree (%)
1 St. Francis Xavier 76 York 43
2 St. Thomas 76 Ottawa 44
3 Nipissing 73 Concordia 49
4 Bishop's 72 Saskatchewan 49
5 Mount Allison 71 Dalhousie 51
6 Guelph 71 Simon Fraser 51
7 Acadia 69 Windsor 51
8 McMaster 69 UPEI 52
9 Queen’s 68 Montréal 53
10 UQAM 66 UBC 53
Schools that help you become a strong writer

Students were asked whether their university education is helping them to write clearly and concisely. Here are the top 20 schools.


Rank School Strongly agree Somewhat agree
1 St. Thomas 67 28
2 St. Francis Xavier 63 30
3 UNBC 59 37
4 UQAM 59 36
5 Sherbrooke 59 34
6 Bishop's 58 35
7 Mount Allison 57 36
8 Queen's 56 37
9 Guelph 56 33
10 Mount Saint Vincent 55 38
11 Nipissing 54 44
12 Acadia 54 42
13 Memorial 54 36
14 UOIT 54 35
15 Carleton 52 39
16 Laval 51 39
17 McMaster 51 40
18 Regina 51 40
19 Montréal 50 44
20 Wilfrid Laurier 50 40

Looking for more?

Get the Best of Maclean's sent straight to your inbox. Sign up for news, commentary and analysis.