Maclean's Magazine released the results of its annual ranking today and UNBC tied its highest ranking ever, placing second among 19 small, “primarily undergraduate” Canadian universities. Mt. Allison—more than 150 years older than UNBC—placed first. This is the eighth straight year UNBC has been ranked the best university west of Atlantic Canada in its category.

“We have terrific faculty, fantastic students, great relationships with communities throughout the North, and a wonderful environment for teaching and research. It’s no wonder UNBC continues to perform well in Maclean’s,” says UNBC President George Iwama. “All those associated with UNBC should take pride in this accomplishment.”

In their selection of UNBC, Maclean’s cited UNBC’s favorable student-teacher ratio and research funding. “UNBC, an 18-year-old school, debuted at ninth place 14 years ago. This year it has the highest total research dollars, and the second best student-faculty ratio—impressive for such a young school.”

Maclean’s considers 13 indicators of the quality of students, faculty, libraries and finances to assess 49 universities. Each is placed in one of three categories—Medical/Doctoral, Comprehensive, or Primarily Undergraduate—to recognize differences in size, programming, and research activity.