February 28, 2007
Consultants say that the proposed downtown Burlington McMaster campus would bring $30 million in new wages and student and visitor spending to the city. Last night was council's first look at the $35 million proposal, that would include the DeGroote School of Business and a family medical centre. McMaster is asking the city to contribute $10 million to help develop the campus on a city-owned parking lot, and build a new 500-vehicle parking garage.
The Hamilton Spectator |
McMaster News ReleaseuWaterloo has been charged with a $4 million mission by the J.W. McConnel Family Foundation, to set up a centre for the application of innovative research to solving pressing social problems in
Canada . Researchers will explore the isolation of people with disabilities, and ways to involve citizens in efforts to address climate change. The agreement between UW and Montreal-based J.W. McConnell will last 5 years.
570 News |
uWaterloo News ReleaseCarleton University placed second in a ranking of North American International Relations programs by the
College of
William and Mary in
Virginia . The scores were based on a survey of 110 foreign affairs scholars in
Canada .
Johns Hopkins University ranked tops, and Carleton tied for second place with
Georgetown University , ahead of both Harvard and
Columbia . uToronto placed 10th, and uOttawa came in at 17.
The Ottawa Citizen As mentioned last week, the recent CMSF study predicts a dramatic drop in the size of the Canadian PSE applicant pool in the next ten years. With many markets already showing a high participation rate, institutions will have to broaden the applicant demographic by actively recruiting from low-income families, if they want to counteract the drop of potential students: "the potential for recruiting kids from the upper-income brackets has been maxed out." 76% of students with a family income of $75,000 or more already go to either college or university.
The Winnipeg Free PressA Wilfrid Laurier University social work professor is launching community lessons in campus-style activism with the help of her grad students, via the school's downtown
Kitchener campus. At "political coffeehouse" meetings, which have been taking place since American's military entry into
Iraq , she gathers community members into a classroom to discuss the strategies and goals relating to a wide variety of different causes.
The RecordFormer PM Paul Martin has a soft spot for
Thunder Bay. He announced this week that he won't run in the next federal election, as he has several alternative projects in mind. Namely, a pilot project in Thunder Bay , Ontario, that aims to increase the number of aboriginal youth that complete high school by teaching them about business. In a discussion with Maclean's magazine, he explained "They get very excited. It's one of the things that keep them in school... Something like 41% of aboriginals between the ages of 25 to 34 have not completed high school...” Maclean's | Globe & Mail A survey of 25,000 current and prospective students shows that mature students in the
US are relying on personal savings and employer tuition assistance to fund their education. 50% either used or planned to use cash-on-hand. Nearly half intended to use company assistance for at least part of the costs. 28% would use federal loans, and 22% were using scholarships. Most students had at least two financial sources. The report suggests that government should consider tax-exempt savings accounts that would help learners save more effectively.
The Chronicle of Higher Education (Subscription Required)
16,475 students were considered, and the conclusion is that today's students are more narcissistic and self-centered than their predecessors -- possibly to a damaging degree. The five psychologists who conducted the study suggest that the trend could be destructive to personal relationships as well as to American society as a whole. Each of the students completed a "Narcissistic Personality Inventory" between 1982 and 2006, and the scores have been rising consistently across the period. In 2006, 2/3 of students had above average scores, a 30% increase over 1982. In students' defence, a
Vermont sophomore says "People want to look their best, have a good time, but it doesn't mean they're not concerned about the rest of the world."
Westfall Weekly News |
The Boston GlobeAlthough many colleges and universities depend upon telephone surveys to contact employers and even conduct KPI surveys, telephone surveying is clearly in decline against the upswing of online equivalents. Online survey research increased by 12% in 2006, according to Infosurv. According to the Council of American Survey Research Organizations (CASRO) 2006 financial report, revenue from online surveys exceeded telephone by close to $100 million. As a more established technology, telephone research is confronted with a more developed set of user-barriers such as Do Not Call lists, caller ID and voicemail.
Infosurv News ReleaseNot only was the break-up of 2 University of North Carolina students accompanied by live singers, an audience of hundreds and an impressive round of profanity, it also made its way to fame and fortune on YouTube. A week later, the former "couple" admitted that the event was staged -- the couple was not even dating. Ryan Burke advertised his intention to break up with his girlfriend on Facebook, and hundreds of students and photographers showed up to take part in the festivities.
The online video was watched 747,000 times on YouTube. USA Today | Watch the Video (9 minutes)
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