Students' score

THUNDER BAY -- Lakehead University students continue to stand by their school, some stating it's one of the country's best, despite it slipping a spot in Maclean's annual rankings

Lakehead dropped to the 12th overall spot in the primarily undergraduate category of Maclean’s 22nd annual national university rankings, one below the 11th place ranking the school held the year before.

Zachary Kolasa, a second-year student in the outdoor recreation program, said the lower in score hasn’t changed his opinion.

“I think the school is a great place,” Kolasa said. “It’s very open and welcoming and I know a lot of the professors’ care about who you are and what you do.”

He added that he wanted to get as far away from his hometown of Windsor, Ont., without leaving the province. It just so happened that Lakehead University met that criteria.

But geography isn't the only Kolasa admires about the school. In his opinion, Lakehead also offers top-notch programs.

Madelaine Kennedy, a third-year forestry student, agreed and said in her opinion, having dropped one spot in the rankings was not because of a lack of quality in the university.

“I really like my professors because they are all really experienced and they have firsthand knowledge of their field,” Kennedy said. “I went to University of Guelph before I went here and Guelph was more fun but you can tell that Lakehead is safer.”

Stephanie Gerdevich, a third year nursing student, on the other hand said Lakehead was an OK school and could use some improvements. She mentioned that the buildings appeared outdated and her program’s curriculum could use a few changes.

“There are some courses that I don’t think really fit with it,” Gerdevich said.

“I think the curriculum needs to be tweaked, but I think the professors know that too. I feel that other people think that they enroll here because they aren’t accepted anywhere else.”

Rodney Hanley, provost and vice-president academic at Lakehead, said he doesn’t know why they moved one spot back nationally. He pointed out provincially the university fared much better.

Lakehead came in second in a number of categories including overall student to faculty ratio, student and faculty awards and operating budget.

The school took the top spot in library holdings per student.

“It shows a continued commitment to putting students first and the emphasis we put on high quality learning,” Hanley said.

“I think we came out of this looking pretty good. We do put some weight on these rankings but we’re not slaves to it. We do think they are important. As families and students look to what universities to attend they look at whatever information they can get their hands on.”