Maclean’s annual rank of Canadian universities saw Waterloo move up to second spot in the magazine’s Best Overall category within the national reputational rankings as well as second in the Leaders of Tomorrow category. Waterloo stood at number three in both categories last year.
“For nearly a quarter of a century, this university has been recognized as Canada’s leading institution for innovation. We consistently rank amongst this country’s best universities,” said Feridun Hamdullahpur, president and vice chancellor at Waterloo. “We have charted a course for the University of Waterloo to build on this foundation — as well as our distinctive experiential education and transformative research — to become one of the world’s top innovation universities.”
Strong support for entrepreneurs
Waterloo supports
student
innovators
with
programs
such
as
VeloCity,
the
university’s
startup
program,
and Waterloo
Engineering's Conrad
School
of
Entrepreneurship
and
Business
Over
45
companies
have
been
established
through
VeloCity
including
Thalmic
Labs,
whose
MYO
armband
allows
users
to
control
computers,
smartphones
and
other
digital
devices
with
simple
hand
gestures.
Thalmic
Labs
was
founded
by
three
graduates
of
Waterloo's
mechatronics
engineering
program.
Maclean’s
also
places
universities
into
one
of
three
categories
to
recognize
differences
in
the
levels
of
research
funding
and
the
type
of
graduate
and
professional
programs
offered
by
universities.
University
of
Waterloo
ranked
highly
in
the
comprehensive
category,
ranking
first
for
reputation
again
this
year.
It
also
took
the
top
spot
among
comprehensive
universities
for
awards
for
full-time
faculty
and
for
students.
The
results
also
show
that
Waterloo
invests
the
most
of
any
Canadian
university
in
student
scholarships
and
bursaries.
Waterloo
moved
up
to
second
spot
from
third
among
comprehensive
schools
for
medical
and
science
research
grants
awarded
to
faculty
and
first
for
grants
from
the
Social
Sciences
and
Humanities
Research
Council.
The
University
had
a
third-place
finish
among
comprehensive
universities
for
total
research
funding
for
full-time
faculty.
Comprehensive
universities
have
a
significant
degree
of
research
activity
and
a
wide
range
of
undergraduate
and
graduate
programs.
Maclean’s
reputational
rankings
result
from
a
national
survey
of
high
school
guidance
counselors,
university
officials,
heads
of
national
organizations,
recruiters,
and
CEOs
of
companies
across
Canada.
[University
of
Waterloo
news
release]