MONTREAL/August 29, 2006—
Concordia University has notified Maclean's Magazine that it will not participate in the magazine's university ranking survey this year. This decision comes after much evaluation and discussion by the university. The decision does not mean that in the future Concordia will refuse to participate in credible Canadian higher education rankings.
ìOver the past sixteen years, and in spite of consistent concerns raised by the measurement specialists on our staff, Concordia has participated in the Maclean's university rankings exercise,î said Concordia University President, Claude Lajeunesse. ìDespite the costs borne by our institution in the collection, analysis and reporting of the data requested, we consider Concordia's strengths and mission to be misrepresented in the manner in which the rankings are both presented and reported by the magazine.î
In 2004, the UNESCO European Centre founded the International Ranking Expert Group (IREG) for Higher Education and the Institute for Higher Education Policy in Washington. In May 2006, IREG published the ìBerlin Principles on Ranking of Higher Education Institutionsî as a guideline to creating university ranking systems that ensure quality in their own data collection and solid methodology and dissemination.
In the Berlin Principles, it is understood that any legitimate ranking system will recognize the diversity of institutions and take the different missions and goals of institutions into account; that the linguistic, cultural, economic and historical contexts of the educational systems being ranked is specified; and that outcomes are measured in preference to inputs whenever possible. These are important factors that are not taken into consideration in the Maclean's survey, and as a result, we believe our institution, as well as others, are misrepresented in the ranking.
Concordia University welcomes public assessment of our work, and we already publish a great deal of information about our student body, faculty, class sizes and reputation on our website and in our ongoing reports to reporting to various government, funding and research bodies. If Maclean's, or any other news outlet, chooses to create a university ranking that incorporates the Berlin Principles, Concordia would be open to collaborating with them on their project.
Read the Letter to Maclean's Magazine
The Berlin Principles on Ranking of Higher Education Institutions
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Source :
Tanya Churchmuch
Senior Media Relations Advisor
Concordia University
