Our annual university survey, now the Canadian University Report, was born seven years ago out of the belief that undergraduates needed to be given an opportunity to voice their student experiences. The report also enabled prospective undergrads to gain insight about the experience they could expect from different universities. As the single largest, publicly-available, undergraduate student-satisfaction survey in Canada, the report asks students to rate their own campuses on about 100 distinct elements of university life.

The University Report Card, as it was then called, was a more humble undertaking, with about 21,000 undergraduates rating less than thirty universities. In its first two years, it ranked universities numerically. In 2004, after considerable consultation with stakeholders, the report was overhauled in two fundamental ways: In lieu of the rankings system, we began rating universities with letter grades, and grouped them into separate size categories based on enrolment. This year, about 43,400 undergraduates participated in the report and 55 universities were rated.

From the start, it has been clear that undergraduate students are relatively satisfied with their university experience. Only 7% of Canadian undergraduates are dissatisfied. More than eight out of ten (83%) Canadian undergraduates would recommend their own university to a friend or family member. More than half (55%) say they would definitely recommend their university while almost three out of ten (28%) say they probably would.

Undergrads at Canada's smallest universities (enrolment under 4,000) generally give higher ratings for overall satisfaction with their university than do students from larger institutions. Students from Canada's smallest universities also give the highest ratings for satisfaction with the quality of education.

You can take a look at the 2009 survey's results in the top categories.

Full results for every category in the survey can be found by using the Campus Navigator tool at www.globecampus.ca.

Tim Woolstencroft is managing partner with The Strategic Counsel and has been involved with the Canadian University Report since its inception in 2002.