by Barbara Black

Maclean’s annual survey of Canadian universities is expected to be on the newsstands Nov. 12. Here’s a preview of the information Concordia supplied this year.

Categories in which we improved

Newly admitted out-of-province students went up from 15.1 per cent last year to 17.3 per cent this year. International graduate students went up from 16.8 per cent to 20.5 per cent.

The proportion of students who complete their studies to graduation went up from 70.02 to 78.55 per cent.

Operating expenditures per weighted full-time-equivalent students increased from $6,037 to $6,205. (Note: Social science and humanities students are equivalent to one actual FTE; business and fine arts are 1.5 times actual FTE; sciences and engineering as two times actual FTE; master’s as three times FTE; and PhD as four times FTE.)

The proportion of operation expenditures dedicated to scholarships, bursaries and related items increased slightly, from 4.23 per cent to 4.27 per cent. The proportion of operating expenditures dedicated to student services rose from 4.62 per cent to 4.90 per cent.

The proportion of library budget expended on acquisitions increased, from 36.43 per cent to 37.50 per cent. The proportion of alumni who made gifts to the university rose from 15.50 per cent to 16.50 per cent.

Categories in which we slipped

The proportion of students entering in 2000/01 with an average of at least 75 per cent fell from 70.9 per cent to 60.1 per cent. Faculty members with PhDs dropped from 91 per cent to 90 per cent.

The dollar value of SSHRC and Canada Council grants per eligible faculty decreased from $4,891 last year to $4,132 this year. This indicator also considers the success rate of obtaining grants. Our success rate, 27 grants per 100 eligible faculty, compared to 24 last year, may be sufficient to maintain our standing in this category.

The dollar value of NSERC/CIHR grants per eligible faculty decreased from $33,408 last year to $30,182 this year. The success rate also decreased, from 124 per 100 eligible faculty to 113. The number of library volumes available per FTE dropped from 160 to 152.
The proportion of operating expenditures dedicated to library services decreased slightly from 5.96 per cent last year to 5.78 per cent.

Unchanged statistics

The entering average of new students: 76.00 per cent. Average class sizes at the first, second, third and fourth-year levels were unchanged.