November 4, 2010

For the first time in its history, UNBC has ranked #1 in a national survey of Canada’s research universities. UNBC achieved the top ranking in a category of Primarily Undergraduate universities.

The annual compilation of “Canada’s University Innovation Leaders” is produced by Research InfoSource and measures both research funding and the success of faculty in having their research results appear in leading academic journals. The survey will be published in the National Post on Friday and the following day in the Ottawa Citizen.

Some highlights:

• The survey reports that UNBC received $17.7 million in total research income in the 2008-09 fiscal year, good for 35th place nationwide.
• Measured on a per-faculty basis, UNBC’s research income is virtually identical to Simon Fraser University and more similar to universities in the top 20.
• In analysis that factors the number of faculty and their achievement both in earning research income and publishing research, UNBC’s score is fourth-highest in Canada and tops outside of Ontario.

“This result is tremendous for a young and relatively small university. It points to the excellent faculty we have and their ability to work in the region to identify and conduct valuable research,” says UNBC President, George Iwama. “Congratulations to our researchers and thank you to those who both enable and fund their work.”

UNBC is one of BC’s four research-intensive universities with nine Canada Research Chairs, a BC Leadership Chair, two research forests, the I.K. Barber Enhanced Forestry Laboratory, and a wide range of research centres and institutes.