The Globe and Mail newspaper released their Canadian University Report. Like all such surveys, the results need to be taken with a BIG grain of salt, in part because it was based on students judging their own university (so there is a lot of selection bias). Similarly, note that most Americans who have never been outside the USA think it's be best country to live in: what does that really tell us?
Still, it's nice that McGIll University did well. Also interesting is the fact that Canadian students everywhere are generally satisfied with just 7% saying otherwise. This is consistent with my longstanding belief that the Canadian education systems works really well from both a social and personal point of view.
McGIll is most naturally compared to the University of Toronto, University of Alberta, UBC and Waterloo based on the size, diversity, scope and impact of the schools. This is especially true in Computer Science.
McGill is top in this set of 5 in the important areas of:
academic reputation,
campus atmosphere,
career preparation,
campus technology,
libraries,
student residences,
most satisfied students,
quality of education,
quality of teaching.
course availability/variety,
student faculty interaction.
There were also some areas I personally deemed of minor significance like
buildings and facilities (where McGill still won), Food Services and ease of course registration (where it fared less well). Notably, the University of Western Ontario also fared very well in this survey.
In the area of "reputation", the entire set of "Large Schools" rank as follows:
McGill University
University of Toronto - St. George
University of Waterloo
University of Western Ontario
University of Alberta
McMaster University
University of British Columbia - Vancouver
Université Laval
Université de Montréal
University of Ottawa
Concordia University BUniversity
of Manitoba
Université du Québec
Ryerson University
York University
University of Calgary
Asking students about their own university becomes more questionable as the school becomes more culturally selective and/or smaller. For example, imagine asking people if their own rooms are well decorated, or if their church is the "best kind". For larger diverse universities this seems less problematic, since the students may have been exposed to a variety of alternatives.
