On October 14th, 2025, Maclean’s, a prominent Canadian news outlet known for its authority on higher education content, released its national university rankings for 2026. These rankings encompass most Canadian undergraduate, comprehensive, and medical/doctorate universities. Every March, Maclean’s publishes their annual Maclean’s Guide to Canadian Universities, which has been released every year since 1999. Many of these institutions rely on Maclean’s to draw in prospective students as well as depict their institution in a favorable light.
In the category for Best Primarily Undergraduate University Nationally, StFX ranked at #4. For the category of Best Reputation among Primarily Undergraduate Universities Nationally, the university ranked #1. An article from the StFX website writes that this success can be attributed to the university’s “academic excellence, student experience, and community spirit.”
Research from the 2025 Canadian University Survey Consortium (CUSC) shows that 92% of first-year students report being satisfied or very satisfied with their education at StFX, and 89% of these students would recommend StFX education to others.
With the authority held by Maclean’s and the seemingly high student satisfaction rates, questions of how and why StFX has achieved this ranking arise, along with what main factors regarding both education and the community contribute to it. It should also be considered how entirely accurate both the Maclean’s rankings and CUSC statistics are in representing the student body’s true feelings and perspectives on their experience at StFX.
When one visits the StFX website homepage they are immediately met with these rankings and the CUSC statistics. Interestingly, the statistics shown by CUSC found 92% of first-year student satisfaction. However, CUSC 2025 also shows that within the first-year student population, only 191 students completed this survey, resulting in a 22.5% completion rate. Comparing this to the entire StFX student population, it can be found that only around 4.2% of the student body were represented in this survey.
Maclean’s offers information easily accessible on their website regarding the methodology in evaluating and ranking Canadian universities at a national level. In assessing the Best Primarily Undergraduate University in Canada, Maclean’s refers to several performance indicators, with an assigned weight to each indicator. These indicators are as follows: faculty awards, library acquisitions, library expenses, national reputation, operating budget, scholarships/bursaries, student services, student awards, student/faculty ratio, student research dollars and grants in both medical/science and social sciences/humanities.
In an interview with the Vice President of Students Elizabeth Yeo, who has a general oversight of the StFX student experience and advocates for students, she said “When I know that there’s something not working well, it’s really my job to see what we can do about that.” She went on to the state that “We gather a lot of data around the student experience. Maclean’s is one of the things we take a look at, because it helps us see where our investments are in the university, relative to what other universities are doing.”
When asked about what she thought regarding the recent rankings, she said “We were really happy to see that some of the scores have changed, we’ve been working really hard.” And that “I was really really struck by StFX having #1 on the reputational survey. I think that was really exciting for us. It really speaks to what our students are saying in the community, and what parents are saying about their students’ experience. I think it speaks to the kinds of things, the kinds of topics, and approaches that StFX has towards education that is seen by the community, as being really valuable for Canadians. I think that indicator was very very positive.”
Elizabeth also provided some other information on StFX student satisfaction. “In addition to the CUSC survey, we also do the Canadian Campus Wellness Survey, and that one also gave us an overall belonging indicator.” Elizabeth continues to state, “StFX also exceeded Atlantic as well as national counterparts in terms of the belonging survey, and I think that does speak to community.” She also explains that “The other survey that StFX scores really, really well on compared to other universities, is the National Survey of Student Engagement... we know from literature that the more engaged students are, the better they do academically, the higher their retention, the higher their opportunity and inclination to actually finish and graduate from a degree.”
In response to the possibility of lower satisfaction rates of unrepresented students, she stated, “I will say that we recognize it’s not everyone. Not everyone is going to feel that way. If we have 92% that are feeling that way, there’s still students who don’t, so we have to be responsive to those students. That’s why we put other programs and services in place...the Bloomfield Hub is a great example. We know that there are students that don’t really care to participate in more of the mainstream things that are happening.”
Elizabeth finished off the interview explaining the unique opportunities that StFX offers. “Our students are showing up in research in ways that most undergrads don't get to do. In universities with masters programs it's usually the masters students that engage in research with faculty. But because we don’t have a lot of grad programs, our undergrads get to start research in first year sometimes. They work as researchers in labs, so they’re out there presenting at conferences. They’re doing things as undergrads that most university students don’t get, so that gets noticed.” This insight into the novelty opportunities undergraduate students receive in attending StFX, gives some more understanding on how and why StFX’s reputation is so revered.
In an interview with Mack Murphy, the Vice President of Campus Affairs for the StFX student union, she explained, “I work with Student Life, Residence Life, oversee all the societies...all major events, X ring, grad, homecoming, that’s all me.” Given this, their knowledge on student satisfaction from an internal perspective is highly insightful regarding student perception.
When asked what she thinks granted StFX the title for best reputation, she said “I think, for a smaller school, we do have a very strong alumni network. I think the alumni network is a part of it, but honestly, I think the students make it. I’ll say it over and over and over again, I think our students’ resilience and ability to adapt is the reason we’ve been able to keep our reputation so high.” She goes on to say, “I’m on the board of Canadian Organization of Campus Activities, so when I compare us to other campuses in the way we have community, even when they just run programs in the Hub, or running stuff in residence, or the way students are speaking to each other, or our intramural program for example, like we do really really well on that side, and that is honestly just because of the students.”
Mack also provides an explanation as to why Maclean’s rankings are so important, “Schools really do depend on it to see how they’re doing. Maclean’s is like the representation of the outwards view of the school. That’s how we’re being perceived. If it’s good, we’re good.” She goes on to say “I think it is accurate, I think it makes a lot of sense but coming from my side of the internal work there’s always areas to improve. We got #1, that’s amazing, but I don’t think that means we don’t have things to work towards.”
In her position, Mack is heavily involved in the first-year experience. “I spend a lot of time with first year students, planning their orientation week, that’s all me. And kind of making sure that everyone’s okay. I think 92% is accurate, I just think again, there’s areas we can improve.”
Mack also said StFX is obligated to be open about student dissatisfaction rates. “Accountability and transparency should be number one. Even within my job, it is so so important. I work for the students, that’s my job. And being transparent, and being honest and being accountable, it not only builds trust, but it creates that culture of people knowing they’re able to speak their mind and be forward and know what they want. I would say I think transparency is key. I think in order for students to feel properly heard and feel they have a seat at the table, it’s really important that every perspective is heard” and that, “It’s really really important to listen to students and know that students are not just a checkbox. You don’t just get to check off a box that students have said something. I see it all the time and that’s not how it should be, especially since they’re the reason for the institution. “
Lauren Jamieson, a 3rd year Arts student, states that “Overall I’m pretty satisfied, more satisfied than I thought I’d be. All the profs are really nice, and I think smaller classes do help. I mean a lot of people I know that transfer from other places are happy to be here.” Regarding how she feels about the accuracy of StFX’s Maclean rankings, she said “I don’t think it is. I think the reputation of StFX among students is that it’s a party school, which doesn’t coincide with academics. Some people come here just to party.”
The idea that the party culture at StFX plays a role in creating a reputable narrative should be addressed – as StFX is a reputed party school, shifts the conversation of reputation from faculty members and communities around the country towards both current and prospective students of StFX. Interstingly, in 2017, Maclean’s themselves released a short YouTube video, titled Canada’s Top Party School: StFX, which currently has around 25,000 views. The video focuses on both the party culture, and the community fostered from it. Although an overall positive portrayal of the StFX community, it strongly enforces the party school narrative about StFX, one of the most common criticisms of the university.
In attempts to better understand how and why StFX received such high standing in this year's Maclean’s rankings, and if students feel the same way, there is no straightforward answer. There are several complex factors which contribute to answering these questions, but there appears to be both an underrepresentation and lack of transparency when it comes to student dissatisfaction. It should also be considered what factors contribute to this dissatisfaction, such as the personal and unique experiences and struggles they may face that are beyond the control of StFX themselves. Given this, it can be said StFX has an obligation to counteract the dissatisfaction in the ways they are able, while also maintaining accountability for the things they can control.
