Back Issues

Union files grievance over uToronto closure during G20 summit

News Date: 
Jun 24, 2010
The United Steelworkers, which represents about 2,240 casual employees at the University of Toronto, is condemning what it calls the "high-handed" treatment of casual employees by the university. With uToronto's St. George campus to be closed during the G20 summit, the union says it is "unconscionable" that the university is imposing unpaid leave on the casual workers, while higher-income, permanent employees will receive their pay as scheduled. The USW has filed grievances demanding the casual employees be paid their wages. USW News Release

Another uWaterloo football player arrested in drug case

News Date: 
Jun 24, 2010
Police have arrested another University of Waterloo football player in connection to a drug investigation that led to the one-year suspension of the team. Brandon Krukowski, a linebacker for the Warriors, was charged Monday with several counts of possessing and trafficking drugs, and the charges relate to suspected anabolic steroids and performance enhancing drugs. Earlier this year, Nathan Zettler, a Warriors receiver, and a former teammate were charged in connection to the case. After the initial arrests, uWaterloo had its football players tested for drugs, and announced last week the team would be suspended for the 2010 season after 9 players received problematic results. Waterloo Region Record

NSERC distributes $15 million in research grants

News Date: 
Jun 24, 2010
Appearing at the University of New Brunswick Tuesday, Science and Technology Minister Gary Goodyear announced a federal investment designed to give Canada's top researchers in science and engineering the opportunity to become international leaders in their respective areas of study. 125 researchers will each receive $120,000 over 3 years, for a total investment of $15 million through the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council's Discovery Accelerator Supplements Program. The awards are allocated to researchers who received funding through NSERC's annual Discovery Grants competition. NSERC News Release

NBCC Miramichi considers multimillion-dollar expansion

News Date: 
Jun 24, 2010
New Brunswick's PSE minister recently met with officials at the Miramichi campus of New Brunswick Community College to discuss a proposal from the college that would see an expansion valued between $12 million and $14 million. In its proposal, the campus is seeking to build space to allow its carpentry and welding programs to operate out of the main campus, while also expanding kitchen and cafeteria space to accommodate the school's growing student body. A local MLA who joined the minister at the meeting says another focus the province was looking into regarding NBCC Miramichi was exploring ways of attracting more international students. Times and Transcript

Ontario institutions make significant progress with Aboriginal student support programs

News Date: 
Jun 24, 2010
A new report published by the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario finds that, relative to only 5 years ago, colleges and universities in Ontario have made significant progress in developing support programs for Aboriginal students, with virtually all provincial institutions now having some form of support program. The study notes that outcome measurement is lacking for all the programs reviewed. A long-term strategy for developing an Ontario-wide capacity to collect rudimentary program data would not only help the government, the study states, but also institutions and Aboriginal communities to identify where and how resources should be allocated. Read the report

Majority of Maritime university graduates further education within 5 years

News Date: 
Jun 24, 2010
According to a new report from the Maritime Provinces Higher Education Commission, 70% of Maritime university graduates who earned their first degree in 2003 opted to enrol in a second educational program within 5 years. Graduates who went for further study usually did so for employment reasons or, to a lesser extent, for self-improvement, the report observes. Maritime provinces are retaining about the same, or slightly more, graduates. Net retention of graduates 5 years after completing their first degree was 61% for PEI, 79% for Nova Scotia, and 83% for New Brunswick. Compared to the Class of 1999, net retention is unchanged for PEI, up 5 percentage points for NS, and up 10 percentage points for NB. MPHEC News Release | Read the report

ACC appoints new president

News Date: 
Jun 24, 2010

Assiniboine Community College's board of governors announced yesterday that Mark Frison has accepted the position of president of the Manitoba-based institution. A graduate of Queen's University, Frison will join ACC from Saskatchewan's Great Plains College, where he is currently president and CEO. Frison will assume his new position on August 30. The presidential search began last August following Joel Ward's announcement that he was leaving ACC to become the president of Red Deer College. ACC News Release

UOIT expected to generate over $1 billion in local economic activity in 5 years

News Date: 
Jun 24, 2010
According to a recent study, the University of Ontario Institute of Technology is poised to generate over $1.1 billion in economic activity in Durham Region over the next 5 years. The report estimates the total average economic impact of UOIT through 2010-15 in the region to be between $227 million and $272 million annually. The calculation is based on several factors, including enrolment projections for UOIT's north Oshawa and downtown Oshawa campuses, population data, faculty and staff expenditures, capital expenditures, student non-university spending, and visitors to the university. UOIT News Release | Read the report

These reports are junk

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 2010-06-24 11:02.
I think these reports get interpreted as the University doing something unique for the area. All it says is that its important to Oshawa. But is the money best spent at a university, or on the local auto industry, something else? None of the above? a) these students would have went to school someplace, and spent the same (more or less) money in anyplace b) the government funding provided would have been allocated someplace else with more or less the same effect. c) these multiplier numbers are questionable at best Maybe a better question is what is the value added? I would love to see someone do a study of what happens when a college/university campus closes. I see that Laurier has a report on the impact of the brantford campus. I wonder if it looks at actual changes in municipal revenues, employment data etc before and after it opened.

Many US institutions expected higher-than-usual "summer melt"

News Date: 
Jun 24, 2010
According to a new online poll of accredited 4-year institutions in the US, May 1 deposits/confirmations from first-year, first-time-in-college students increased for two-thirds of institutions, yet two-thirds of respondents expected higher-than-usual "summer melt," which happens when students who made deposits do not show up on campus. Yield rates (from admitted to deposited/confirmed) increased for about half of colleges. Yield rates for public institutions were consistently higher than they were for their private counterparts, though more private institutions than public reported increases. The Chronicle of Higher Education (free access) | Read the survey

What the world thinks of Canada

News Date: 
Jun 24, 2010
Leading up to the G8 and G20 summits, the Historica-Dominion Institute has released a 3-part survey on how the global community perceives Canada and its citizens. Canadians (87%) and global citizens (85%) have similar impressions of how well educated Canadians are. 88% of global citizens would like to visit Canada, and 95% of Canadians would like to discover more of their nation. 79% of global respondents believe Canada is welcoming to immigrants, while nearly all (94%) Canadians think so. 79% of global citizens and 81% of Canadians would describe Canada as being tolerant of people from different racial and cultural backgrounds. 53% of the world's citizens characterize Canadians as sexy, while Canadians are more (64%) likely to consider themselves sexy. Historica-Dominion Institute News Release (part 1) | Historica-Dominion Institute News Release (part 2) | Historica-Domini on Institute News Release (part 3) | Read the survey (part 1) | Read the survey (part 2) | Read the survey (part 3)