November 7, 2004 for immediate release

The University of Northern British Columbia has matched its best-everranking in the annual Maclean's ranking of Canadian universities. UNBCis ranked seventh in the Primarily Undergraduate category, the sameposition it occupied last year.

In addition to its top-ten ranking, UNBC also placed fifth in thesection of the Maclean's national reputational survey that asks highschool guidance counsellors, university officials, and industry leadersto name the "leaders of tomorrow."

Some highlights:
- The average entering grade of students - Maclean's most heavilyweighted objective measure - has risen at UNBC. This year, studentsentering UNBC directly from high school had an average of 81.2%, upfrom 80.3% last year.

- The majority of first and second-year UNBC classes have fewer than 25students. In the 2003 Fall semester, for example, there were nearly 130classes of 1-25 students, compared to only 15 that had more than 100.

- UNBC's allocation to scholarships and bursaries continues to grow,surpassing $1.7 million in 2003-04, up from $1.3 million the yearbefore.

- Since first appearing in the Maclean's ranking in 1998, UNBC'scommitment to the Library has consistently earned top marks. This year,both the overall Library budget and the amount dedicated to newacquisitions ($1.7 million) have grown.

- This year's ranking confirms UNBC's position as the top smalluniversity in western Canada and best among those universities - suchas Lakehead University in Thunder Bay and Laurentian in Sudbury - thatare located in the North.

This year, for the first time, Maclean's has also conducted a survey ofmore than 12,000 university graduates across Canada. While the surveyhas shown the need for improvement among some aspects of the universityexperience, graduates generally gave, according to Maclean's, a"ringing endorsement to the benefits of going to university." Inprevious BC surveys of university graduates, UNBC grads typicallyreport higher-than-average levels of education satisfaction, coursequality, median income, and skill development.