For the second year in a row, the University of Victoria has been rated the second-best comprehensive school in Canada by Maclean's magazine.

The comprehensive category is measured by an institution's range of programs on the graduate and undergraduate level, and the amount of research activity and funding available.

UVic scored particularly well for the number of faculty awards and medical and science grants available to students, earning first place for these two rankings.

It also scored second place across the nation for the areas of student awards, library expenses and library acquisitions, just behind Simon Fraser University, which scored the magazine's top comprehensive school overall for this year.

The rankings used to determine Canada's top comprehensive schools are:

Student awards

Student/ faculty ratio

Faculty awards

Social sciences and humanities grants

Medical/ science grants

Citations

Total research dollars

Operating budget

Library expenses

Library acquisitions

Scholarships and bursaries

Student services

Maclean’s top comprehensive universities in Canada are:

Simon Fraser University – B.C. Victoria – B.C. Waterloo – Ontario Guelph – Ontario Carleton – Ontario Wilfrid Laurier – Ontario York – Ontario *Memorial – Newfoundland *New Brunswick – New Brunswick Concordia – Quebec *UQAM – Quebec *Ryerson – Ontario Windsor – Ontario *Brock – Ontario

* Indicates a tie

It's not the first time that Vancouver Island has cropped up on a recent Maclean's list.

In August, seven of the best places to live in Canada were located on Vancouver Island, according to Maclean's, and seven island communities were among the top 20 places to retire in the country.