Top Universities With Less Than 5000 New Students [Infographic]

An important way we can pass along value is to help students discover the hidden, but outstanding, University options available to them. Most of us are familiar with the provincial University that a family member or friend attended. Beyond that, few of us know what options are available, or which schools may be a great fit. This is particularly true for those in the northern half of our country, often without local options, or international students considering Canada. 

Many of these lesser-known schools have outstanding student and alumni satisfaction ratings. Larger Universities cannot offer the small class sizes and one-on-one time with faculty. Yet, these Universities are rarely mentioned in the media and few are evaluated by the University ranking bodies. So we set out to shine a spotlight on the smaller Universities across Canada, that are too often overlooked. 

We looked at every 4-year University in Canada and this is how we select the best-in-class cohort:

• Must take fewer than 5000 new students per year 
• Must take more than 500 new students per year (to help avoid focused organizations on degree specialization, and religion)
• An average 1st year and 2nd year class size below 75 students or a student/faculty ration below 35 (incomplete data required multiple measures). 
• An average yearly tuition cost below $7,000 per year
• Graduate rates above 48% (low graduation rates may indicate a lack of institutional support or degrees taking longer than 4 years to complete) 
• Employment outcomes at 6 months above 85% or at 2 years above 90% respectively (the national average is ~87% and ~94%, two metrics are used due to inconsistent reporting metrics)
• A Top 15 Student Review ranking from McLean’s Students’ Favourite Universities in Canada. 

The result is a never-before-seen look at the 2017 Best-in-Class Universities with less than 5000 new students: 

Best In Class Details

University	Province	Yearly Enrolment (undergrad)	Average Tuition (undergrad)	Student/ Faculty Ratio	Graduation Rate	6-Month Employment Outcome ​(> 85%)	2-Year Employment Outcome ​(> 90%)	Student Review Ranking	Average 1st & 2nd Year Class Size
MacEwan University	Alberta	4724	$4620	15.6	Unreported but confirmed manually	-	Yes	1-11	Not reported
University of Lethbridge	Alberta	1983	$4974	16.0	74%	-	Yes	8	44
University of Victoria	British Columbia	4716	$5368	22.4	66%	-	Yes	1-7	65
University of Northern British Columbia	British Columbia	767	$5111	15.0	53%	-	Yes	4	38
University of Winnipeg	Manitoba	2349	$3405	23.9	45%	-	Yes	14	37
Brandon University	Manitoba	785	$3440	12.7	48%	-	Yes	19	30
University of New Brunswick	New Brunswick	2265	$6496	17.8	78%	-	Yes	1-10	39
Memorial University of Newfoundland	Newfoundland and Labrador	3855	$2550	16	61%	-	Yes	1-14	44
Saint Mary's University	Nova Scotia	1726	$6800	23.5	52%	-	Yes	12	49
St. Francis Xavier University	Nova Scotia	1204	$6985	19.7	70%	-	Yes	2	45
Cape Breton University	Nova Scotia	785	$6319	16.9	56%	-	Yes	17	30
Mount Saint Vincent University	Nova Scotia	731	$6204	18.3	72%	-	Yes	7	28
University of Guelph	Ontario	4950	$6276	33.6	72%	Yes	Yes	1-2	Not reported
Laurentian University	Ontario	2050	$6163	18.2	70%	Yes	Yes	13	30
Nipissing University	Ontario	1575	$6055	26.2	67%	Yes	Yes	5	26
University of Prince Edward Island	Prince Edward Island	1063	$5860	16.3	66%	-	Yes	11	36
Université de Sherbrooke	Quebec	3373	$4778	16	85%	-	Yes	1-9	31
Bishop's University	Quebec	611	$4770	21.9	73%	-	Yes	1	35
University of Regina	Saskatchewan	2673	$6570	19.7	57%	-	Yes	1-13	37

Data & Statistical Sources:

Statista.com​ was used as the main portal for data from the following organizations:

• Statistics Canada (http://www23.statcan.gc.ca/imdb/p2SV.pl?Function=getSurvey&SDDS=3121)
• Universities Canada (https://www.univcan.ca/universities/facts-and-stats/)
• Council of Ontario Universities (http://cou.on.ca)
• McLeans University Rankings (http://www.macleans.ca/education/unirankings/university-rankings-2017/)
• University Hub Canada Ranking (https://universityhub.ca/university-rankings/)
• The Times Higher Education World Ranking (https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/2017/reputation-ranking)
• Academic Ranking of World Universities (http://www.shanghairanking.com/ARWU2017.html)
• Public information from each Canadian Universities such as 6 month and 2 year employment data. 

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