"The drop is considerable. Always to go more than one (spot) is huge," explained Maclean's editor-at-large Ann Dowsett Johnston. "It's kind of holding its own, but others are pulling ahead." The U of O hasn't received a lower ranking since 1999 when it was also positioned 12th, she said, adding that it generally hovers between ninth and 11th place.
This year's ranking comes as a big blow to the school, which for the past six months has been trying to boost its public image and brand itself "Canada's university" in an effort to attract the best students and more donors. As part of the campaign, administrators are hoping to attract more out-of-province students who want to study in French and English, and take advantage of the school's proximity to federal agencies.
"We're not pleased with this," said David Mitchell, vice-president of university relations at the U of O. "We're disappointed that we slipped this year and we're looking forward to going through the data in some detail."
The detailed data released today will allow Mr. Mitchell to understand and dissect where the school has dropped and areas where it has improved. The ranking is based on 24 performance measures, including average entering grade, library resources, class size, reputation, and percentage of first-year students who will return the following year.
"We actually feel we're making great process in the last little while in a number of areas. We think our reputation is starting to move up, but it takes some time for that to filter through," he said.
Ms. Dowsett Johnson confirmed the U of O has lost points in a couple of categories which contribute to the overall ranking, and these coupled together allowed other schools to pull ahead.
"Really in many ways you've got to blame what happened on Laval and Saskatchewan doing better, and McMaster falling, but not as much as they (Ottawa) did," she said, explaining the ranking.
On a positive note, Ms. Dowsett Johnston applauded the U of O's rebranding efforts and says "they're on the right track."
Whereas the U of O is ranked in the medical-doctoral category and competes against leading schools such as the University of Toronto, Queen's University and the University of Western Ontario, which all have medical schools and a broad range of PhD programs.
