I have had several productive visits to the Faculty of Medicine, Dalhousie University and to Mount Allison University in 2016 and 2017. The Maclean’s university rankings for 2018 were announced during my recent visit in October and I could fully appreciate why Dalhousie and Mount Alison were ranked so highly –

University Rankings 2018: Canada’s top Primarily Undergraduate schools

 

University Rankings 2018: Canada’s top Medical/Doctoral schools

 

By chance, also in October, the Times Higher Education announced their “Table of Tables” university rankings for 2018 and I could understand the prominence of St Andrews and Glasgow universities –

 

https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/table-tables-2018-glasgow-makes-biggest-gains

 

It was not surprising to see that Memorial’s Faculty of Medicine and Dundee’s School of Medicine did not appear prominently in these rankings. Drawing on my experiences in the past five years, it is my opinion that they have a lot to do to improve their reputation for education governance, student engagement/satisfaction, and social accountability.

 

I have some scepticism about university rankings but they seem to influence applications; both gross numbers and the quality of applicants – learners and faculty!

 

It seems reasonable to speculate about the university rankings and their relationship to the quality of the learning environments. I have identified my concerns about the learning environments in Memorial’s Faculty of Medicine in previous postings on this website –

 

Student Engagement: Oxymoron and Patronage

 

The Rise of Cosmopolitanism in the Faculty of Medicine, Memorial University?

 

The recent publicity about Memorial’s Faculty of Medicine gives me further cause for concern about the learning environments there –

 

https://www.med.mun.ca/Medicine/Communications/News-at-Medicine/November-2017/Dean-Steele-s-notes-Nov-28,-2016.aspx

 

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/mun-med-school-sexual-harassment-1.4419791

 

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/education/memorial-university-hires-outside-investigator-to-tackle-harassment-bullying-concerns/article37084332/?cmpid=rss1

 

I can only hope that the results of the unit assessment of the Faculty will lead to decisions that take a progressive route to improve the society and the learning environments for undergraduates and postgraduates.