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A BC-based First Nations PSE program is shutting down due to the cancellation of its federal funding. The Northern Shuswap Tribal Council is closing its Cariboo Chilcotin Weekend University (CCWU) program after the India Studies Support Program of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada did not approve funding for the 2011-12 fiscal year. In partnership with Thompson Rivers University and the University of Northern British Columbia, CCWU entailed a stepped program ranging from certificates to baccalaureate degrees. The tribal council board is reviewing its options to support the educational needs of its communities. 100 Mile House Free Press

For the first time in over 2 decades -- at least according to current admissions records -- the 29 places in the first-year dentistry class at the University of Manitoba will be filled by students who all reside in the province. This is the third consecutive year the dentistry faculty has targeted local students to ensure a healthy supply of practitioners for all Manitoba residents over the long-term. In 2009 the faculty introduced a policy in which 25 of out of the 29 students in a first-year class will be from Manitoba. The faculty's experience has shown that Manitoba graduates tend to stay in the province. uManitoba News Release

New Brunswick Minister of Post-Secondary Education, Training and Labour Martine Coulombe say she does not think many students or families will be affected by the reintroduction of the parental contribution to the provincial student loan assessment. The New Brunswick Student Alliance (NBSA) and student governments across the province have been critical of the student-loan changes from the beginning. The president of NBSA, which will meet with Coulombe next week, says he is concerned by how quiet the minister has been on the issue. The Liberals' PSE critic says the fact it took 3 months for Coulombe to arrange a meeting with NBSA while concerns within the business community were quickly address suggests the minister is trying to avoid the students. Coulombe disagrees, stating that students have always been involved in the PSE decision-making process. While she acknowledges that not everyone is happy with the decision, the minister says the move was a step to address the province's financial trouble. Daily Gleaner | NBSA News Release

Late last month Athabasca University held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for its new 5,000-square-metre, $30-million Academic and Research Centre. Providing badly needed space and services for the institution's academic and research centres, the facility will strengthen Athabasca U's leadership role in addressing global distance education challenges and opportunities. Athabasca U News

At the Greater Sudbury policy committee meeting last week, Laurentian University president Dominic Giroux and the architecture school steering committee's chair said Market Square, located downtown, is the committee's preferred location for the school. In a letter to Northern Life, Giroux and the chair write that the site is preferred as it is large enough to accommodate the space required for the school, and the existing building would be used so "there will be no waste of already invested money." If the architecture school is to be located at Market Square, Sudbury's farmer's market would have to move elsewhere -- at least during construction of the school, which would begin in fall 2012. Some Market Square vendors oppose the plan. Northern Life

On Wednesday the federal government announced a $1.25-million investment in Actua, a national science, engineering, and technology outreach network, to enhance its customized programming aimed at engaging youth who are typically under-represented and underserved in STEM fields -- Aboriginal youth, girls, underprivileged youth, at-risk youth, and youth living in remote areas or inner-city neighourhoods. Actua will use the funding to create more spaces in southern Ontario for children to partake in summer camps, classroom workshops, clubs, and community outreach activities. The funding is provided through the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario's Youth STEM Initiative, designed to encourage K-12 students to pursue an education or career in the STEM fields. FedDev Ontario News Release

Since August 8, an upper-year international relations student at Mount Allison University has been sharing a tip and video every weekday aimed at incoming students. The tips released so far cover orientation, clubs, theatre, inside information, athletics, adjustment to academics, adjustment from abroad, transition to life at the university, and study spaces. With the goal to reduce summer melt and aid in retention, the tips and accompanying videos are available on the student's blog, as well as on Mount Allison's YouTube channel, Twitter feed, and Facebook page. The last tip will be released on September 2, the first full day of orientation at the university. Mount Allison News | Geoff at Mount Allison | Mount Allison YouTube channel

As the Ontario election approaches, a George Brown College student has designed a Nintendo-style video game in which the player must dodge obstacles such as tuition fees, debt, and apathy in order to catch a ballot box. The game, part of the Canadian Federation of Students-Ontario "Take It Over" campaign, will be available as a mobile application in the coming weeks. The CFS chapter has released a series of videos, held actions across the province, and talked to hundreds of students about the importance of voting and political parties' pledges to reduce the costs of higher education. CFS-O News Release | Take It Over -- The Game

Contemplating this question in a column in yesterday's National Post, Simon Fraser University education professor Patrick Keeney writes about an undeniable shift away from the arts and humanities that is giving way to a new kind of "industrial utilitarianism," where the only learning considered worthwhile is one directly connected to a job or a career. While some university programs do lead students directly to specific career opportunities, Keeney says it is easy to overlook liberal education's practical side -- providing "students with a good, general intelligence, which individuals can then apply to any career they see fit to pursue." Administrators value vocational courses and programming because they attract students and bring in more money, writes Keeney, who argues that "to buy into this 'bottomline' view of the university is to deny that universities exist for any reason other than job preparation." Suggesting that governments have been successful in persuading individuals to adopt the view that universities should become more like vocational institutions, Keeney writes that "it is time to ask ourselves if this hollowing out of a crucial institution and enfeebling of a cherished educational ideal is worth the price." National Post

According to a Pew Research Center survey, women have a more positive view than men about the value higher education provides. Half of all women surveyed who have graduated from a 4-year college give the US higher education system excellent or good marks for the value it provides given the money students and their families spend, while just 37% of male graduates agree. The survey found that women seem to see more benefit in their education than do men. College-educated women are more likely than their male peers to say college was "very useful" in increasing their knowledge and helping them grow intellectually (81% vs. 67%), and helping them grow and mature as a person (73% vs. 64%). Pew Research Center