WATERLOO, Ont. (Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2011) - Maclean's magazine has once again recognized the University of Waterloo as having the best reputation of any Canadian university.
Waterloo has again been recognized as the top university in the Reputation Survey of the Maclean's annual rankings of Canadian universities. Waterloo has also taken the top spot in two of the three reputation subcategories - Most Innovative and Leaders of Tomorrow - and finished third in the Highest Quality subcategory.
Waterloo has been ranked as having the best reputation of any Canadian university in 18 of the past 20 annual Maclean's university rankings, and this is the 20th consecutive time that Waterloo has been ranked Canada's top university for innovation.
"This is gratifying for me to see that corporate and academic leaders responding to the Maclean's survey have once again given the University of Waterloo top marks," said Feridun Hamdullahpur, president of the University of Waterloo. "A university's reputation and ability to provide innovative programs is critical to successfully attracting the best and brightest students nationally and internationally, so this is one of our measures of success. It's encouraging to see that Waterloo's students, scholarship and research are recognized by all and this makes us even more committed to continue to build on our tradition of academic excellence."
Other areas where the University of Waterloo excelled were within rankings pertaining to students, in the comprehensive universities group. Waterloo's students continued to win more national and international awards than their peers compared over the past five years and Waterloo invests more in scholarships and bursaries as a percentage of university operating budgets.
The university's faculty was also lauded given Waterloo finished at or near the top among comprehensive universities. This included placing first in attracting social science and humanities grants, and third in awards for full-time faculty and medical and science grants. Waterloo was in second place in total research dollars attracted.
"It's rewarding to see the people within the institution recognized for their contribution to the overall success of the university," said Geoff McBoyle, provost and vice-president academic at the University of Waterloo. "It's the students, faculty and staff that create the culture of innovation, connection and excellence that has been recognized today."
The University of Waterloo maintained its overall 3rd place ranking among "comprehensive universities" in the 2011 rankings.
Maclean's has been ranking Canadian universities for 21 years, and this year's rankings issue will be on newsstands tomorrow.
Image: University of Waterloo.
About the University of Waterloo
In just half a century, the University of Waterloo, located at the heart of Canada's Technology Triangle, has become one of Canada's leading comprehensive universities with close to 30,000 full- and part-time students in undergraduate and graduate programs. Waterloo, as home to the world's largest post-secondary co-operative education program, embraces its connections to the world and encourages enterprising partnerships in learning, research and discovery. In the next decade, the university is committed to building a better future for Canada and the world by championing innovation and collaboration to create solutions relevant to the needs of today and tomorrow. For more information about Waterloo, visit www.uwaterloo.ca.
