Photograph by Derek Mortensen
When measuring the quality of education, Alexander McCormick is hardly swayed by a university’s reputation, nor its entrance exam scores.
“Neither of those really tells you anything about teaching and learning on the campus,” says the professor of educational leadership and policy studies at Indiana University Bloomington. Reputation is highly correlated with the wealth of an institution, while exam scores offer little indication of what happens after students are admitted.
“What ends up standing in for quality are not terribly good measures of what actually goes on in a university.”
As director of the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), a North American survey offered annually since 2000, McCormick is most interested in improving higher education by asking current undergraduates about specific measures for levels of engagement on and off campus.
RELATED:
Canadian University Survey Consortium: Surveying student satisfaction
With NSSE, approximately 100 questions are designed to evaluate best educational practices such as student-faculty interaction, collaborative learning and supportive campus environments, and give feedback to schools. How often have students attended an arts performance in the past year? How much of their course work emphasizes memorization? How often have they prepared two or more drafts of a paper before turning it in? How often do they ask another student for help with course material? How often have they had discussions with people of a different race? A different economic background? A different religious belief?
If it all sounds extremely specific, that’s the goal. “We ask about activities and experiences that previous research has shown to be positively related to learning outcome,” McCormick says. The higher the score, the better the odds that undergrads are getting the most from university.
When Quest University Canada was founded back in 2002 as a small, private, but non-profit liberal-arts school in Squamish, B.C., it was designed to provide many of the best practices found in this kind of survey. A sign of its success is that, in the five years it has participated in NSSE, Quest has come out at the top four times, and second once, when students rated their entire educational experience. Similarly, when students were asked if they would attend the same school all over again, Quest was in the upper echelon there, too.
While receiving high praise from students is always good, Quest president David Helfand believes the two overall-satisfaction questions Maclean’s publishes are the least important from NSSE, which had 114,511 surveys returned from first- and fourth-year students across all participating Canadian campuses last year, a response rate of 36 per cent. “These are the only two questions in the survey that represent student opinion,” he says. “The most important are those that measure what the students actually do.”
This year, 73 Canadian institutions took part in the survey, the largest number in its 15-year history. “We want to know that we’re actually having an impact on these students,” Helfand says, “that, when they come in, they’re in one state, and when they go out, they’re in a different state, presumably, better prepared for life.” The questions and answers on student engagement that Helfand refers to (six of which are published on Macleans.ca) are a measure of what Quest is accomplishing.
NSSE itself aggregrates the results and does not identify institutions. “We don’t give anyone the information that allows them to say: ‘We’re the best,’ ” says McCormick. Schools get their own scores, which they can compare to averages in different groups, including the top 50 per cent and the top 10 per cent. (Maclean’s asks all participating schools for their data on two student-satisfaction questions and six of 10 student-engagement measures; this year, 66 of 73 consented. Because most schools do not do the survey every year, we use data from the previous year’s results to fill in the blanks.)
Overall, compared to our American counterparts—622 U.S. institutions took part in last year’s NSSE—Canadian schools didn’t appear to perform as well, says McCormick. Another overarching trend was: The bigger the university, the lower it tended to perform on student-faculty interaction.
Last, Maclean’s includes the results from two questions posed to middle-year students by the Canadian University Survey Consortium. Of 28 universities that took part last year, 22,537 students filled out the survey—a response rate of 30 per cent—answering questions about participation in activities and the perception of the quality of the educational experience.
Robert Lapp, president of Canada’s Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, says, “The differences within universities can be greater than between universities.” The point is to make use of “formative feedback.”
In Lapp’s ideal scenario, university courses would be constructed collaboratively between a professor—the expert in content—and an educational developer, an expert in best teaching practices. “That would be utopia.”
Engagement indicator results from the 2014 National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE)
NSSE created 10 engagement indicators organized across 4 major themes: academic challenge; learning with peers; experience with faculty; and campus environment. Each indicator reflects students’ responses to a set of questions relating to these themes. Results are organized to compare performance across all participating schools—American and Canadian.
The following charts show results from the 2014 survey for six of the 10 NSSE engagement indicators. We have listed the universities in descending order of achievement, according to their senior-year scores.
Scores are on a scale of 60.
Scroll down to view the charts sequentially, or view them individually via the links below:
Higher-Order Learning
Quantitative Reasoning
Collaborative Learning
Student-Faculty Interaction
Effective Teaching Practices
Supportive Environment
Student questions:
How would you evaluate your entire educational experience at this institution?
If you could start over, would you go to the institution you are now attending?
Higher-Order Learning
This engagement indicator assesses how often coursework emphasizes such skills as applying facts, analyzing ideas in depth, evaluating points of view, and forming new ideas from various pieces of information.
First-year results
Senior-year results
Quest
50.6
52.2
Trinity Western
39.7
43.9
Ambrose
37.2
43.4
Saint Paul (Ottawa)
39.3
42.9
St. Thomas
37.4
42.6
Huron (Western)
38
42.2
Mount Royal
39.6
42.2
Tyndale
36.2
42.2
Bishop's
36.6
42
Cape Breton
35.3
41.5
Kwantlen
35.4
41.5
Briercrest
38.8
41.4
MacEwan
37.6
41.4
Algoma
35.2
40.8
NSSE 2013 & 2014 average*
38.5
40.8
King's (Western)
38.2
40.7
Trent
37.6
40.7
King's (Edmonton)
37.5
40.6
Hearst (Laurentian)
37.9
40.3
UOIT
37.3
40.2
Thompson Rivers
36.4
40.2
Brock
36.6
40
Canadian University College
37
40
York
37.7
39.9
OCAD U
38
39.8
Redeemer
34.2
39.6
Mount Allison
34.4
39.4
Wilfrid Laurier
37.3
39.4
Carleton
36.8
39.3
Concordia (Edmonton)
38.4
39.3
UNBC
34.9
39.3
Queen's
38.6
39.2
Vancouver Island
36.9
39.2
Lethbridge
33.4
38.9
Laurentian
35
38.5
Nipissing
37.4
38.5
St. Francis Xavier
35.8
38.5
Saint Mary's
34.2
38.5
Sheridan
38.4
38.5
Acadia
35.5
38.4
Fraser Valley
37.5
38.4
Guelph
37.1
38.4
Brandon
33.9
38.3
Concordia
36
38.2
Athabasca
36.1
38.1
Toronto
37.9
38
Ryerson
36.1
37.8
McMaster
37.9
37.7
Western
38.2
37.6
Winnipeg
33.9
37.4
Sherbrooke
32.2
37.3
Brescia (Western)
36.2
37.2
Lakehead
35.5
37.2
UPEI
34.9
37.1
Calgary
34.8
37
Simon Fraser
34.3
37
Victoria
34.1
36.9
ACAD
36.7
36.8
Dalhousie
36.1
36.8
Saskatchewan
34.1
36.8
UBC (Vancouver)
37.4
36.7
Manitoba
34.4
36.6
Moncton
34
36.5
Alberta
35.2
36.4
Memorial
34.3
36.3
Regina
34.7
36.1
Trois-Rivières
32.6
35.7
Montréal
33.7
35.6
Ottawa
33.7
35.6
UQAM
34.9
35.6
Rimouski
35.1
35.6
Outaouais
33.7
35.4
UBC (Okanagan)
34.6
35.3
Laval
33.9
35.3
McGill
33.4
35.2
Waterloo
36.4
34.8
* NSSE average is the average score for all Canadian and U.S. universities and colleges that participated in the 2013 and 2014 surveys.
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Quantitative Reasoning
This engagement indicator assesses how often students use numerical information, such as numbers, graphs and statistics, to reach conclusions, examine real-word issues, and evaluate what others have concluded from numerical information.
First-year results
Senior-year results
Quest
36.8
42.4
Athabasca
34.1
35.9
Acadia
23.7
31.6
UOIT
27.9
30.5
Dalhousie
27.6
30.2
Kwantlen
22.2
29.8
Guelph
26.7
29.7
NSSE 2013 & 2014 average*
26.7
29.5
Saint Mary's
24.5
29.2
Algoma
23.3
28.9
Trent
25.9
28.7
Hearst (Laurentian)
21.3
28.6
Queen's
28.5
28.6
Waterloo
27.1
28.3
Western
25.4
28.1
UBC (Okanagan)
23.5
27.9
McMaster
26.6
27.9
Calgary
26.4
27.8
UNBC
24.4
27.7
Carleton
24.4
27.6
Huron (Western)
23
27.6
Cape Breton
22.3
27.5
Mount Allison
20.3
27.5
MacEwan
21.2
27.4
UBC (Vancouver)
26.3
27.2
Ryerson
22.4
27.2
Bishop's
23.5
26.8
Mount Royal
26
26.8
Saskatchewan
22.3
26.8
St. Francis Xavier
24.2
26.7
Concordia (Edmonton)
22.5
26.6
Brescia (Western)
23.1
26.5
Simon Fraser
21.5
26.4
Moncton
24.7
26.2
Wilfrid Laurier
26.8
26.2
Alberta
26.4
26
Canadian University College
20
26
Sherbrooke
21.2
26
Laurentian
24.1
25.9
Trinity Western
23
25.9
McGill
23.3
25.7
Lakehead
22.7
25.6
Manitoba
21.5
25.6
Ottawa
22.9
25.6
Thompson Rivers
25
25.6
Brock
24.5
25.5
Toronto
24.8
25.5
Saint Paul (Ottawa)
17.6
25.1
Fraser Valley
20.9
25
Memorial
19.8
25
Nipissing
23.2
24.9
King's (Edmonton)
25
24.8
Concordia
22.9
24.7
Lethbridge
20.3
24.6
Trois-Rivières
20.3
24.5
Victoria
23.1
24.5
York
23.4
24.5
Outaouais
19.7
24.3
UPEI
22.7
24.2
Vancouver Island
20.2
24.2
King's (Western)
23.8
24.1
Sheridan
19.7
23.8
Laval
21.9
23.6
UQAM
21.3
23.2
Rimouski
22.7
23.1
Montréal
20.6
22.9
Redeemer
20.2
22.8
Regina
20.3
22.1
Brandon
18.7
21.7
Ambrose
17.9
21.5
St. Thomas
18.5
21.5
Winnipeg
18.2
19.5
OCAD U
15.9
19.1
Tyndale
16
18.6
Briercrest
14
16
ACAD
11.6
15.7
* NSSE average is the average score for all Canadian and U.S. universities and colleges that participated in the 2013 and 2014 surveys.
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Collaborative Learning
This engagement indicator gauges how often students work with other students on course projects or to prepare for exams, as well as how often students explain course material to other students or ask other students for help.
First-year results
Senior-year results
Quest
46.5
51.8
Sherbrooke
37.8
37.8
Queen's
37.9
37.6
Moncton
35.8
37.1
UBC (Okanagan)
33.5
36.4
Kwantlen
29.3
36.3
Outaouais
33.8
36.2
Trinity Western
31.9
36.2
Canadian University College
32
36
UOIT
33.5
36
Bishop's
33.5
35.8
Brock
33.1
35.7
Nipissing
33.5
35.5
Thompson Rivers
30.5
35.4
Lakehead
32
35.2
UNBC
32
34.9
Trois-Rivières
32.8
34.9
Guelph
36.3
34.7
Acadia
33.3
34.6
McMaster
34.3
34.5
Ryerson
33.9
34.5
Sheridan
35.5
34.5
Calgary
35.2
34.4
Rimouski
31.2
34.4
Mount Royal
33.2
34.3
Laval
34.8
33.9
Algoma
32.6
33.8
Dalhousie
34.1
33.6
St. Francis Xavier
34.5
33.6
Waterloo
35.7
33.5
Montréal
32.3
33.4
Wilfrid Laurier
35.5
33.2
Briercrest
34.4
33.1
McGill
32.4
33.1
Western
34.9
33.1
Redeemer
35.3
33
Cape Breton
30.4
32.9
Fraser Valley
29.9
32.9
UPEI
31.5
32.9
Mount Allison
33.7
32.8
Brescia (Western)
30.6
32.5
UBC (Vancouver)
34.3
32.5
Trent
31.9
32.5
NSSE 2013 & 2014 average*
32
32.4
Vancouver Island
31.4
32.3
Carleton
30.1
32.1
UQAM
32.3
31.8
Laurentian
30.7
31.6
Lethbridge
28.9
31.5
Alberta
31.5
31.4
Simon Fraser
31.8
31.2
Ottawa
31.3
31
Brandon
25.5
30.9
Saint Mary's
30.4
30.9
Victoria
32.9
30.9
ACAD
24.7
30.8
Memorial
28.8
30.8
Concordia (Edmonton)
30.6
30.7
Saskatchewan
29.1
30.7
Winnipeg
23.6
30.5
King's (Edmonton)
30.1
30.4
Regina
29.6
30.3
Concordia
29.2
29.9
York
29.1
29.9
King's (Western)
30.8
29.8
OCAD U
29.4
29.3
Toronto
30.5
29.2
Ambrose
32.6
28.9
Huron (Western)
28.1
28.9
St. Thomas
27.7
28.8
Manitoba
26.6
28.1
MacEwan
26.8
27.6
Tyndale
31.6
26.6
Hearst (Laurentian)
25.6
25.6
Saint Paul (Ottawa)
23.4
25
* NSSE average is the average score for all Canadian and U.S. universities and colleges that participated in the 2013 and 2014 surveys.
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Student-Faculty Interaction
This engagement indicator assesses such things as how often students discuss topics with a faculty member outside class, work with faculty on activities other than coursework, or discuss their academic performance and career plans with faculty.
First-year results
Senior-year results
Quest
27.9
37.7
Ambrose
17.3
29.5
Canadian University College
19
28
Bishop's
16.8
27.7
Trinity Western
16.8
27.7
Cape Breton
16.5
27.2
King's (Edmonton)
18.5
27.2
Huron (Western)
14.4
26.2
Acadia
15.5
26.1
Mount Allison
11.5
25.7
Thompson Rivers
16.2
25.4
Brescia (Western)
17.5
25.2
ACAD
16.9
25.1
Algoma
18.2
25.1
Sheridan
18.8
25
St. Francis Xavier
17
24.5
Vancouver Island
15.5
24.3
Briercrest
16.9
24.1
St. Thomas
14
24
Kwantlen
13.7
23.5
Redeemer
13.7
23.3
NSSE 2013 & 2014 average*
19
23.1
Brandon
13.9
23
Hearst (Laurentian)
16.6
22.9
Trent
13.8
22.8
Mount Royal
14.7
22.7
Saint Mary's
14
22
MacEwan
12.3
21.9
Moncton
15
21.9
King's (Western)
15.1
21.8
UNBC
11.9
21.8
Brock
14.1
21.5
Laurentian
13.8
21.3
Saint Paul (Ottawa)
11.1
21.3
OCAD U
14.2
21
Nipissing
14.2
20.9
Tyndale
16.6
20.9
Queen's
11.7
20.7
Western
15.8
20.6
UPEI
15.1
20.5
Lethbridge
12.4
20.1
Fraser Valley
14.1
20
Wilfrid Laurier
15.4
19.7
Guelph
11.2
19.6
Dalhousie
15.2
19.5
UOIT
14.7
19.5
UBC (Okanagan)
12.6
19.4
Concordia (Edmonton)
14.4
19.3
Regina
13.8
19.3
Winnipeg
10.9
19.1
York
13.2
18.9
Carleton
12.3
18.6
McMaster
14.1
18.6
Saskatchewan
11.1
18.2
Manitoba
12.5
18
Memorial
12.7
17.8
Victoria
11.5
17.8
Alberta
13.9
17.7
Lakehead
13.6
17.6
Ryerson
12.5
17.6
Toronto
13.7
17.5
McGill
11.5
17.4
Calgary
13.6
17.3
Concordia
12.6
17.1
Waterloo
15.7
16.7
Simon Fraser
11.5
16.6
UBC (Vancouver)
12.4
16.4
Sherbrooke
11.6
16
Ottawa
10.3
15.8
Trois-Rivières
8.5
15.6
Rimouski
10.2
15.5
Outaouais
8.8
12.8
Laval
7.9
12.6
Montréal
7.3
12.5
UQAM
8.5
12.5
* NSSE average is the average score for all Canadian and U.S. universities and colleges that participated in the 2013 and 2014 surveys.
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Effective Teaching Practices
This engagement indicator assesses how well instructors teach in an organized way, clearly explain course requirements, use examples or illustrations to explain difficult points, and provide prompt and detailed feedback on tests and assignments.
First-year results
Senior-year results
Quest
49.4
51.5
MacEwan
38.6
44.2
Cape Breton
36
43.6
Trinity Western
40.6
43
Ambrose
39.4
42.9
Briercrest
45.1
42.8
Concordia (Edmonton)
40.7
42.8
Huron (Western)
37.8
42.7
Bishop's
40.3
42.1
Mount Allison
35.7
40.9
Mount Royal
39.8
40.7
Nipissing
38.4
40.6
Hearst (Laurentian)
39.3
40.5
Acadia
37
40.4
St. Thomas
38.7
40.3
NSSE 2013 & 2014 average*
39.3
40.3
Canadian University College
36
40
Sheridan
40.2
39.9
Fraser Valley
39.8
39.8
Tyndale
37.3
39.8
Saint Mary's
36.5
39.7
King's (Western)
38
39.6
Algoma
37.9
39.5
St. Francis Xavier
38.3
39.5
Vancouver Island
39.8
39.4
King's (Edmonton)
41.5
39.3
Redeemer
37.4
39.2
Trent
35.8
39.1
Brandon
37.3
39
Brescia (Western)
36.9
38.8
Thompson Rivers
39.2
38.7
Saint Paul (Ottawa)
40.7
38.6
Carleton
36.7
38.3
Kwantlen
36.8
38.1
Concordia
35.8
37.7
Brock
35.3
37.6
Guelph
34.9
37.6
Lethbridge
36.6
37.6
Wilfrid Laurier
36
37.5
UNBC
37.7
37.2
Queen's
33.8
36.7
Alberta
36.5
36.6
UOIT
35
36.6
York
34.4
36.6
Memorial
35.9
36.5
UPEI
36.1
36.5
Regina
36.1
36.5
Moncton
37
36.4
Western
35
36.4
Winnipeg
35.4
36.4
Manitoba
35.9
36.3
Simon Fraser
33.8
36.3
McMaster
34.2
36.2
Rimouski
38.1
35.9
Saskatchewan
34
35.9
ACAD
40
35.8
UBC (Okanagan)
34.7
35.8
OCAD U
35.2
35.8
Trois-Rivières
35.8
35.6
Victoria
34.6
35.5
Toronto
35.5
35.3
Laurentian
34.5
35.2
UBC (Vancouver)
34.2
34.9
Dalhousie
36.8
34.9
Laval
35
34.6
Sherbrooke
35.3
34.5
Calgary
33.9
34.3
Waterloo
35.1
34.2
Ryerson
34
34.1
Lakehead
34.5
34
UQAM
34.3
34
Outaouais
32.4
33.4
McGill
33.1
33
Ottawa
33.3
33
Montréal
33.4
31.9
Athabasca
29.5
29.2
* NSSE average is the average score for all Canadian and U.S. universities and colleges that participated in the 2013 and 2014 surveys.
[Back to top]
Supportive Environment
This engagement indicator assesses how well universities provide support for academic and non-academic endeavours, ranging from tutoring services and writing centres to recreation, health care and counselling. This measure also examines social interaction, including contact with students from different background.
First-year results
Senior-year results
Quest
47.1
46.5
Trois-Rivières
42.3
45
St. Francis Xavier
44.4
43.9
Trinity Western
38.5
41.9
Bishop's
39.9
39.2
King's (Edmonton)
38.5
37.8
Redeemer
38.5
37.8
Hearst (Laurentian)
33.1
37.3
Canadian University College
37
36
Ambrose
34.2
35.8
Huron (Western)
35.6
35.8
Tyndale
38.2
35.8
Acadia
34.8
35
Queen's
38.4
34.7
Mount Allison
36.4
34.4
Briercrest
41.3
34.3
Trent
34.9
34.2
Brescia (Western)
35.2
33.9
Concordia (Edmonton)
33.5
33.7
Guelph
36.8
33.7
St. Thomas
33.9
33.2
MacEwan
31.1
32.9
UNBC
35.2
32.9
NSSE 2013 & 2014 average*
36.3
32.6
Cape Breton
29.1
32.3
Saint Mary's
31.3
32.3
King's (Western)
34.2
32.2
Mount Royal
33.6
31.9
Western
35.8
31.7
Moncton
34.1
30.7
Sherbrooke
31.9
30.7
Wilfrid Laurier
34.8
30.7
Carleton
33
30.3
Concordia
31.8
30.2
Laval
32.6
30.1
Brock
32.8
29.8
Algoma
29.6
29.4
McMaster
32.8
29.4
Thompson Rivers
30.9
29.4
Brandon
30.6
28.7
UOIT
32
28.5
Ryerson
31.4
28.3
York
31.5
28.3
UBC (Vancouver)
31.5
28
Kwantlen
29.2
28
Nipissing
34.5
28
Alberta
31.2
27.7
ACAD
32.8
27.7
Vancouver Island
30
27.7
Lethbridge
29.7
27.6
Saskatchewan
29.4
27.2
UBC (Okanagan)
29.9
27.1
Dalhousie
31
27
Fraser Valley
30.7
27
Memorial
30.6
27
Regina
29.6
26.9
Saint Paul (Ottawa)
29.7
26.8
Rimouski
31
26.7
Lakehead
29.1
26.5
Victoria
29.9
26.5
Calgary
30.5
26.4
UQAM
29.7
26.4
Ottawa
29.6
26.3
Simon Fraser
27.8
26.3
Winnipeg
26.8
26.3
Toronto
31.2
26.2
Montréal
29.4
26.1
UPEI
29.6
26.1
Manitoba
29.1
25.9
Waterloo
32
25.5
McGill
32
25.3
Sheridan
30.4
25.2
Laurentian
27.4
24.7
Outaouais
25.4
24.3
OCAD U
26.9
22.8
* NSSE average is the average score for all Canadian and U.S. universities and colleges that participated in the 2013 and 2014 surveys.
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How satisfied are students?
NSSE asks students dozens of specific questions about how they spend their time in and out of the classroom. Below are two questions that are the broadest and most representative of the student experience. Responses are ordered according to the percentage who chose the highest level of satisfaction, e.g., “Excellent.”
How would you evaluate your entire educational experience at this institution?
FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS
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