For the fourth straight year, SFU was rated Canada’s best comprehensive university in the annual Maclean’s survey.

SFU, which has held the top spot a record nine times since the Maclean’s rankings began 21 years ago, was followed by Victoria, Waterloo, Guelph and Memorial whose positions are unchanged from 2010.

In the reputational survey, SFU came second to Waterloo among the country’s best comprehensive schools, with Guelph, Victoria and Ryerson rounding out the top five.

The magazine uses 14 indicators to rank 49 universities within six general themes: students and classes, faculty, finances, libraries, student support and reputation.

Each is placed in one of three categories:

• Medical-doctoral universities (15), which offer a broad range of Ph.D. programs and have medical schools.
• Comprehensive universities (15), which have a significant degree of research activity and a wide range of programs at the undergraduate and graduate levels, including professional degrees.
• Primarily undergraduate universities (19), which are mainly focused on undergraduate education with relatively fewer graduate programs and grad students.

Among the big medical-doctoral schools, UBC remains third behind McGill in first and Toronto in second, all unchanged from last year, while Queen's switched positions with Alberta, in fourth and fifth place respectively.

Mount Allison was rated the top primarily undergraduate school, followed by Acadia, UNBC, a tie between Lethbridge and UPEI, and St. Francis Xavier. Capilano U. did not participate in the survey.

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