{"id":121548,"date":"2022-10-14T13:58:57","date_gmt":"2022-10-14T17:58:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/?p=121548"},"modified":"2022-10-14T16:45:51","modified_gmt":"2022-10-14T20:45:51","slug":"mt-a-poised-to-keep-growing-as-it-retakes-top-spot-in-macleans-rankings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/mt-a-poised-to-keep-growing-as-it-retakes-top-spot-in-macleans-rankings\/","title":{"rendered":"Mt A poised to keep growing as it retakes top spot in Maclean\u2019s rankings"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mount Allison University is hosting an open house today for potential new students, just a week after getting another feather in its cap from Maclean\u2019s magazine\u2019s long-running ranking of Canadian universities. For the 23rd time in the 32 years that Maclean\u2019s has been publishing rankings of Canadian schools, the magazine gave Mount Allison the number one spot<\/a> in the primarily undergraduate category, made up mostly of smaller universities.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a nice number to have kind of in our back pocket,\u201d says Mount Allison Students\u2019 Union president Rohin Minocha-McKenney. \u201cIt is an area of pride, because at the end of the day, all of us in the Mount A community, whether [we feel] good or bad about Mount A, we do have some level of pride in what is here, and what we all contribute to the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we do deserve it,\u201d says Minocha-McKenney, referring to more than just the formal institution. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of great things that happen at Mount A and even Sackville in general, that makes this the best undergraduate university experience in Canada.\u201c<\/p>\n

Not that there\u2019s not still room for improvement, says the MASU president.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do have places to go. But I would say that people care in our whole community, and that care that goes in to our community and into Mount A, I think that\u2019s why we really deserve number one.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hear Rohin Minocha-McKenney in conversation on Tantramar Report:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\nhttps:\/\/canada-info.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/CHMA-Oct-14-Rohin-Mt-A-Macleans.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

Mount Allison came first in four of the twelve categories the magazine ranked<\/a>: operating budget, library expenses, scholarships and bursaries, and reputational survey. It came in second for student awards, and third for student\/faculty ratio and faculty awards.<\/p>\n

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A summary of Maclean\u2019s rankings for primarily undergraduate universities. Source: Macleans.ca.<\/p><\/div>

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\u201cWe appreciate these kinds of reports to give us insights into what we can do to better improve the institution,\u201d says university president Jean-Paul Boudreau. \u201cBut keep in mind that we also couple this kind of feedback with other kinds of feedback, such as internal feedback from students, student surveys.\u201d Boudreau says the school is currently conducting focus groups with first year student led by Provost Jeff Hennessy. Part of that work is focused on positioning the school to grow in enrollment in the near future.<\/p>\n

\u2018Thoughtful, careful growth\u2019<\/h2>\n

\u201cThe demographic trends in Atlantic Canada are not always friends of small institutions,\u201d says Boudreau. \u201cKeeping a close eye on enrollment is an area that we\u2019re very focused on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Boudreau says that\u2019s why the school is focused on growing new academic programs. \u201cWe have had some enrollment increases over the last few years, modest as they are,\u201d says Boudreau, \u201cbut we need to grow that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hear Mount Allison president Jean-Paul Boudreau on Tantramar Report:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\nhttps:\/\/canada-info.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/CHMA-Oct-14-Boudreau-Macleans.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not growth for the sake of growth,\u201d says Boudreau. \u201cIt\u2019s really thoughtful, careful growth. And we have some programs that are doing really well. We have others where we see a need, where there could be additional support and growth.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDo we want to do you want to grow exponentially? No, we want to grow in a way that is appropriate, that speaks to the long term sustainability of the university.\u201d says Boudreau. \u201cAnd that is where management and the Board of Regents are very focused on right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

First place in tuition rates, too<\/h2>\n

In addition to a first place ranking with Maclean\u2019s, Mount Allison also offers one of the most expensive undergraduate educations in the country. According to Statistics Canada data summarized by Universities Canada, Mount Allison had the highest undergraduate tuition for Canadian students in the country for 2021-2022.<\/p>\n

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Tuition fees by university, summarized by Universities Canada. Source: univcan.ca<\/p><\/div>

<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Boudreau disagrees. \u201cWe are in the middle of the key group,\u201d says Boudreau. \u201cIt is higher than others, but it\u2019s not the highest by any means.\u201d CHMA reached out to Mount Allison communications for clarification on that point, but have not heard back.<\/p>\n

Boudreau says that affordability has not been sacrificed at Mount A. \u201cWe do very well in the area of student aid, scholarships, and bursaries,\u201d he says. Indeed, Maclean\u2019s ranked Mount A first in its size category for scholarships and bursaries, noting the school spends 11.1 per cent of its budget on that form of student support. \u201cI think that speaks to the fact that we\u2019re here to support our students, and we invest significant amount of money into support for students,\u201d says Boudreau.<\/p>\n

Small liberal arts schools for the win<\/h2>\n

\u201cI think what\u2019s really important to highlight here is that Mount Allison is a community of people,\u201d says Boudreau. \u201cScholars, students, and exceptional staff. And I think these kinds of external validations support that and honour the direction, the trajectory of the university.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is also about the value of liberal arts education,\u201d says Boudreau, noting that Mount Allison\u2019s fellow Maple League schools<\/a> all ranked in the top seven for Maclean\u2019s. \u201cSo that speaks to today\u2019s students seeking innovative, 21st century liberal arts. That is exactly what Mount Allison is delivering, and we will continue to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mount Allison University is hosting an open house today for potential new students, just a week after getting another feather in its cap from Maclean\u2019s magazine\u2019s long-running ranking of Canadian universities. For the 23rd time in the 32 years that Maclean\u2019s has been publishing rankings of Canadian schools, the magazine gave Mount Allison the number…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":106,"featured_media":121554,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[221],"tags":[10845,7078,1221,16258],"radio":[227],"origine":[274,275,277],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121548"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/106"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=121548"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121548\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":121661,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121548\/revisions\/121661"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/121554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=121548"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=121548"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=121548"},{"taxonomy":"radio","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/radio?post=121548"},{"taxonomy":"origine","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/origine?post=121548"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}