The University of Alberta delivers the top nursing education in Canada and has the third best education program, according to Maclean’s 2022 Canadian University Rankings.

Bill Flanagan

Bill Flanagan

“I’m so pleased to see our nursing and education programs receive this recognition,” said U of A president Bill Flanagan. “Nurses and teachers are playing a vital role in the battle against COVID-19, and our graduates are on the front lines, well prepared to meet the challenge, in part because of the steadfast commitment to program excellence and innovation in our faculties of nursing and education.”

Other sterling subject rankings included fifth-place showings in computer science and engineering and a ranking of sixth in business – which was helped by a third-place standing in research reputation.

Kyle Murray, dean of the Alberta School of Business, said the research reputation piece comes as part of a decades-long recruitment strategy.

Kyle Murray

Kyle Murray

“Our research groups in entrepreneurship, marketing and corporate finance are made up of some of the top people in the world in those areas, and that drives the overall ranking for the school,” said Murray. “Of course, that’s very important to our students as well.”

To continue improving that student experience, with a peripheral goal of further bolstering reputation, Murray said the Alberta School of Business has begun offering direct entry from high school. He explained some of the advantages to having more business training include strengthened interactions with researchers and an earlier introduction to a wider variety of business experiences, including leadership and entrepreneurship.

“We believe this will allow us to develop a better cohort system and create better learning and research environments for our students.”

For the subject rankings, Maclean’s contacted more than 1,200 professors, deans and chairs and asked them to list up to 10 universities they felt offered the best programs and conducted the best research in their discipline.

Overall, the U of A held steady in sixth spot in the Maclean’s reputation rank, which was based on the views of faculty and senior administrators at Canadian universities, as well as high-school guidance counsellors and a variety of business people across the country.

Other solid U of A Maclean’s rankings included a sixth in the “leaders of tomorrow” category, fifth in the percentage of international graduate students (44.4 per cent) and first in the percentage of faculty who have a PhD, a first professional degree or highest-level degree in their field (99.7 per cent).

The University of Toronto topped this year’s reputation ranking, followed by the universities of British Columbia and Waterloo.

Recently, the U of A landed at 99th globally, 35th in North America and fifth nationally in the 2021 QS Graduate Employability Rankings.

Other recent showings include a 91st-place showing in the 2021 NTU Ranking and a rank of 81st by the Center for World University Rankings (CWUR) – up 20 spots from the previous year. In both rankings, the U of A finished fourth in Canada.

| By Michael Brown


This article was submitted by the University of Alberta’s Folio online magazine. The University of Alberta is a Troy Media Editorial Content Provider Partner.

© Troy Media
Troy Media is an editorial content provider to media outlets and its own hosted community news outlets across Canada.