UPEI Designated as a Research University of the Year

UPEI continues to establish itself as one of the top undergraduate research universities in Canada. Research Infosource Inc., a consulting firm which monitors Canadian universities' success in research development, has released the figures from its Top 50 Research Universities List 2005. The report designates UPEI as one of three "Research Universities of the Year."

"These full-service universities demonstrated superior achievement both in earning research income and in publishing research in leading Canadian and international journals," says the report. UPEI scored third in the primarily undergraduate category, behind only Trent University in Peterborough, and Royal Military College in Kingston. This is the third year in a row that UPEI has enjoyed such success.

"This says we have excellence throughout the institution, excellence that works very hard to create new knowledge, brings new ideas forward, and shares these ideas with the rest of the world," said Katherine Schultz, Vice-President of Research Development at UPEI. "It's not just about money. It's about how many faculty and students are involved in research. It's also about getting our research out, across the world, to the journals that count, the ones that people read."

Dr. Schultz stressed that research growth and excellence are important contributors to provincial and national prosperity. "This excellence translates into our teaching, our training of the next generation, the next set of leaders who will play a key role in all of the industries, all of the sectors across Prince Edward Island and across the country."

The rankings were based on indicators such as total sponsored research income, research income per full-time faculty position, research income per full-time graduate student, and the number of publications per full-time faculty.