The annual Maclean's Magazine ranking of Canadian Universities has placed the University of Lethbridge among the top 10 primarily undergraduate universities in Canada for the fourth consecutive year.

Reinforcing the U of L's core strengths of small class sizes and student engagement, the ranking results show an improvement in the 20th annual survey – from sixth to fourth place in the overall standings.

"We know our students and their families are making very mindful choices about the university they attend. We also know people are choosing the U of L as their education destination in ever-increasing numbers – especially from Calgary, out of province and international locations, which provides a significant boost to our local economy," said U of L President Mike Mahon.

"The acknowledgement through Maclean's is a helpful way for prospective undergraduate and graduate students across the country to learn about us – and also for people in our community to see how we rank on the national level," Mahon said.

The U of L also maintained or improved its standing in approximately half of the 22 categories, including library acquisitions, the faculty/student ratio, and the number of awards per full time faculty members.

Mahon pointed out additional rankings or surveys in which the U of L has scored favourably, including a recent second-place standing in a national Research InfoSource ranking of universities, and an extensive survey recently published in the Globe and Mail.

"The 2010 Globe and Mail Report Card gave the Faculties of Health Sciences and Management high marks from students for providing a quality education, and we received a number of "A" level grades for our small class sizes, the quality of student/professor interaction, and the institution's athletics and recreation services departments," Mahon said.

He added that growth in graduate studies and in significant increases in research funding are among the many factors making the University of Lethbridge a destination for more than 8400 students.

"We plan to build on the past decade of growth and position our programs to attract even more graduate and doctoral level candidates."