UBC Ranks Sixth in The Scientist’s Best Places to Work Survey

Readers of The Scientist have ranked the University of British Columbia as one of the top ten places to work in academia–the sixth-place finish in the magazine's international survey makes UBC the top-ranked Canadian institution.

The survey, published in the November issue of The Scientist, gave Hebrew University of Jerusalem, University of Liverpool and Murdoch Children's Research Institute in Australia top honours internationally. The analysis also showed fluctuation from 2007, with Dalhousie, a perpetually strong contender, dropping from first to seventh. Previous to this year, UBC has ranked as high as ninth.

Princeton University, the Trudeau Institute, Michigan State University and University of Alabama at Birmingham rounded out the top five in the U.S. portion of the survey.

Respondents were asked to assess their working environments by indicating their level of agreement with 41 criteria across eight domains. Categories included the quality of mentoring, infrastructure, environment, pay, research resources and tenure. The most important factor cited in this year's survey was the relationship with coworkers and mentors.

The survey garnered 2,300 qualified responses from 73 institutions—54 from the US and 19 internationally.