Rankings don’t concern Dingwall
Cape Breton University at bottom of Maclean’s evaluation
David Dingwall doesn’t appear to be losing any sleep over the most recent Maclean’s magazine ranking of universities, in which Cape Breton University once again brought up the rear.
CBU is positioned 19th of 19 universities listed in the primarily undergraduate category, the same result it saw last year and in most years of the annual ranking.
It was the first Maclean’s ranking to be released since Dingwall assumed the role as CBU’s president and vice-chancellor
in March.
“I don’t give much consideration or credence to it,” he said.
There have been a variety of approaches to the ranking among CBU presidents over the years, with former president John Harker once forming a task force comprised of faculty, students and administrators to review if it could improve how
it reports data to the magazine and areas of operations which could be improved. Later in his time at CBU, Harker indicated the feedback he was most concerned about was from students.
On Friday, the CBU board of governors unanimously approved a new five-year strategic plan that was developed following extensive consultation both within the university and the community. Dingwall said he directs his energy toward the strategic plan and working to deliver on the commitments
that the university made through that process in such areas as succession planning, professional development, teaching and research.
“That is what I will be judged upon and that’s what I think we should be judged upon,” he said.
“There are many post-secondary institutions, in fact, 105 in the country, not all of which subscribe to the details and the parameters that Maclean’s lays out.”