How Western stays on top

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When Nadine Ramrattan went looking for a university, she quickly narrowed down her choices to a handful of Canadian schools with top business programs. Then she picked the University of Western Ontario for one reason: student life.

"That was the difference, the community," says Ms. Ramrattan, 21, a native of Trinidad who did most of her scouting for a university online. She liked what she read about the school's mentorship programs and its residence life.

Three years later she is co-president of the university's day traders club and works as a residence adviser and as a team leader for the peer mentoring initiative for first-year students.

"I don't regret it," she says, even if it took her some time to adjust to the climate. "I have had a different experience than my sisters [at university] in the States and Britain."

That student experience-the chance to be involved in activities on and off campus-is a major selling card for the London, Ont., university and one that it puts front and centre in its recruiting material and website.

"The best student experience among the research-intensive universities in Canada"-it's a phase president Paul Davenport has made his mantra and that staff and student leaders have heard more than a few times.

So does it work? Students say yes.

For the sixth year, The Globe and Mail asked university students across the country to rate their schools on everything from the food in the dining hall to the quality of teaching, class sizes and the ability to get face time with their professors. The survey, conducted in partnership with The Strategic Counsel and the Educational Policy Institute, included more than 43,000 students at 53 schools the largest sample group yet.

Western, with 28,000 undergraduates, stands out among the country's largest universities for its ability to foster a sense of community and spirit on campus, its students say. It makes big seem small.

The university gets top marks for overall student satisfaction, atmosphere and school spirit. It also pulls As for its academic reputation-an honour it shares with other large schools including heavyweights University of Toronto, McGill and Waterloo as well as mid-sized schools such as Queen's University.

"Western is the one large school that is managing to balance both student engagement and research," says Sean Junor of EPI. "That's tough to do."

Several other large, research-intensive universities are working to improve life for undergraduates and encourage participation outside the classroom-a challenge for big-city schools with sizable populations of students who head home after class. Their efforts include special small classes for first year students, campus job fairs, even changes to physical space to encourage students to hang around instead of hopping on the bus or in the car as soon as class gets out.

In the case of Elizabeth Sisam, University of Toronto's assistant vice-president of campus and facilities and planning, the task involves transforming bits and pieces of the campus that are derelict or under-used-her "found spaces." The transformations can be dramatic. A small, concrete-covered nook has become a garden with a fountain, a barren plaza at one of the busiest buildings on campus is now a favourite place for students to eat lunch.

The University of British Columbia has embarked on a similar task at both its campuses, rolling out a series of programs to increase what people in the sector call "student engagement." "This is about helping people break patterns," says Brian Sullivan, UBC's vice-president of students.

With roughly 44 per cent of new students living at home, Mr. Sullivan said the university believes it must work on a number of fronts to encourage students to mingle and make new connections. That includes changes in the classroom, such as mid-term instructor evaluations, that send a signal to students that faculty are responding to their concerns. It also includes changes in course delivery designed to help learning. The university is working to support students with new learning and work opportunities and, like U of T, it is also intent on creating a more welcoming campus with flexible space that students can use between classes.

Such efforts have potential, Mr. Junor says, but he predicts it will take time and commitment to change attitudes at large schools.

Western's current success is the result of its own turnaround effort. Dr. Davenport likes to remind people that not so long ago Western's reputation was for providing its students with a good time, rather than a top education. In the early 1990s, admission grades took a tumble, falling below the provincial average.

"There were a number of factors, but one of them was the party-school image," says Dr. Davenport, who arrived in 1994 with a mandate to change that. "It was being associated with alcohol and activities that had nothing to do with learning."

In response, the school focused on improving undergraduate education and put a new emphasis on student leadership and the on-campus residential experience.

Orientation is now a dry event and for the last two years booze has been banned from residences for that week, in an effort to tone down the party atmosphere, although that hasn't stopped shenanigans off-campus, such as one back-to-school party by university and college students that erupted into a street brawl.

Staff and student advisers work to make students feel a sense of responsibility for their actions. A prank fire alarm is now likely to lead to a meeting with firefighters and inconvenienced fellow students rather than the traditional slap on the wrist.

The university strives to channel student energy into positive actions such as community volunteer days, special spring break programs that focus on philanthropy and peer support programs. The uptake has been strong. Even before classes began this year, close to 2,300 first-year students had signed up for the university's Leadership and Mentoring Program that will link them with second-and third-year students in their area of study. The senior students check in regularly with their small groups, introducing them to the university's resources and encouraging them to take part in campus events. The university also has worked with faculty to improve and recognize the role of educating undergraduates. It is home to several professors who have been recognized for their skill in the classroom.

In response, the entering grades of Western students have risen and are now the second- highest in the province. "The students that come to us come with the right expectation that it takes a very high standard to get into Western and they are going to have to work hard and they are going to be in an environment that encourages that social experience," Dr. Davenport says.

To further its commitment to on-campus life, Western has added 1,768 new residence spaces since 1997 and guarantees a spot on campus for every one of its 4,350 first-year students, an offer that is accepted by about 85 per cent of the class. Such a captive audience makes it a lot easier to turn up the dial on school spirit than it is for other big schools where more than half of the first-year students go home at night to mom and dad.

On a bright morning in late summer, hundreds of senior students gather in the area outside the student centre, affectionately known as the concrete beach, to whip up some of that enthusiasm for the incoming class. "We plan for this for a year," says Sabrina Sdao, a history graduate who co-ordinates events for the student council, before running off to respond to a message on her BlackBerry.

From the moment frosh pull up at their dorms, this army of students will take over, carrying luggage, giving directions, and making sure they learn the ropes about their new campus life.

"We call it the Western Bubble," says David Simmonds, a vice-president in Western's student government. "When you come here, it is like you are in a different world."

That isolation can be good or bad, depending on what you are looking for in a university. The location of the campus, slightly removed from downtown London, means it takes a special effort to venture out. And while Western draws about 40 per cent of its students from the Greater Toronto Area, its student body is less diverse than many big-city universities.

Mr. Simmonds, from Snelgrove, Ont., a hamlet northwest of Toronto, says both his mother and high-school principal were concerned when he picked Western and worried about how he would be treated as a visible minority. His mom would have preferred that he follow the lead of his two older sisters and twin and go to the University of Toronto, he says.

"The first question my dad asked was, 'Where are you going to get your hair cut?'" he remembers.

Mr. Simmonds said he has felt accepted by faculty and other students and was confident enough to enter student government. And a barber catering to the black community did eventually open in London after his first year, so he could get his weekly cut.

Dr. Davenport says during his 13 years at Western, the questions from parents about its party image have become less frequent, but they are still around. Indeed, tales of former floor parties at the massive Saugeen-Maitland Hall, home to 1,252 students, still circulate among parents even if university staff say they are history.

"The stickiness of an image like that is astounding," Dr. Davenport concedes.

Some students such as Mr. Simmonds embrace the image as a reflection of how great the experience at Western can be. "I love that Western is a party school," he says. "I've had a great four years and I also have a first-rate degree."

MOST SATISFIED STUDENTS

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QUALITY OF EDUCATION

LARGE (Enrolment over 22,000)

MEDIUM (Enrolment: 12,000 to 22,000)

SMALL (Enrolment: 4,000 to 12,000)

VERY SMALL (Enrolment under 4,000)