July 3, 2009
University of Guelph administrators and CUPE Local 3913 members are scheduled to meet Tuesday morning to discuss the institution's plans to cut over 100 sessional instructor and 30 teaching assistant positions. Under CUPE's collective agreement, UoGuelph cannot finalize plans for job cuts until it meets with the union. The chair of Local 3913 says the cuts will have an adverse impact on the academic experience at the university, resulting in larger class sizes and less time allotted for individual students.
CUPE Local 3913 News Release |
Guelph MercuryDr. Ron Harris, who with his wife offered affordable housing to foreign students for over 35 years, is donating his home to Wilfrid Laurier University for use as a residence in which domestic and international students will live together and promote cultural awareness. The gift, awarded in memory of Harris' wife, will be recognized at an event this Thursday at Harris' home.
WLU News ReleaseThe Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges, and Universities has suspended registration of Bond College of Business & Technology, a Toronto-based private career college, for failing to comply with the province's Corporations Tax Act. The school did not maintain its registration as a corporation with the government. No students were enrolled at the college at the time of its closure.
Ontario MTCU NewsLast Tuesday, the Canadian Education Centre Network, a private, non-profit company dedicated to promoting Canada as an education destination for international students, and producer of StudyCanada.ca, closed its doors due to a "serious financial situation." According to
Overseas, Overwhelmed, 2 national funding agencies stopped providing money to CEC Network a few years ago, and the company "accrued many debts." Future CEC Network events, including the annual conference in Canada in November, have been cancelled.
Overseas, OverwhelmedThe Liquor Control Board of Ontario is reviewing its participation in the Spirit of Education scholarship program, created by the Association of Canadian Distillers and restricted to PSE students whose parents work at the LCBO, over concerns the award may be violating tighter conflict-of-interest rules imposed on the agency last summer by the Ontario government. An ethics consultant says the matter should be reviewed by the LCBO's board of governors, noting that the investigation "would lack credibility" if the agency's president, whose daughter received the scholarship in 2004, participated in it.
Canadian PressPresenting law graduates with a Juris Doctor rather than a bachelor of laws is gaining favour among Canadian universities. In the past 2 years, UBC,
Queen's, UWO,
Dal, and York's Osgoode Hall Law School have either completed or are reviewing adopting the JD designation. Fuelling the desire for a name change is the connotation of "bachelor" in LLB, and the JD designation may benefit students interested in pursuing careers outside of Canada. In a letter sent to uCalgary law alumni about a motion passed to confer on graduates a JD, the university's law dean writes that "we want a level playing field for our graduates."
Lawyers WeeklyOn Friday, McGill University announced that it has forged a partnership with the University of Oxford to broaden understanding of the human brain. The neuroscience alliance is expected to foster student and faculty exchanges, joint research grant bids, and philanthropic support. Increasing the number of partnerships with international higher education institutions is a component of a new initiative called
[email protected], designed to reach out to the public and raise awareness about the most significant discoveries in neuroscience at the university.
McGill News Release |
Toward a better understanding of the brain |
Globe and Mail |
Montreal Gazette Late last month, the University of the Fraser Valley signed an agreement with the Mennonite Faith and Learning Society with the intent of creating a Centre for Mennonite Studies, along with a research chair, a certificate, and possibly a minor in Mennonite Studies. The university's president says that with approximately a quarter of the population in the Abbotsford area identified as Mennonite, the partnership is long overdue.
UFV News Release |
Abbotsford TimesAccording to an Edmonton municipal report, the federal and Alberta governments have agreed that the $140 million in economic stimulus funding originally designated for a new Gorman LRT station will be used to fund the line to the
Northern Alberta Institute of Technology instead. The grants will go toward the first stage of the project, which links Churchill station with Grant MacEwan College. The MacEwan station could open in spring 2013, pending the approval of a source for the remaining $70 million required for this segment.
Edmonton Journal The Toronto Transit Commission and York Region Transit are proposing an integrated service plan in which York University students and staff travelling between the campus and Downsview subway station can ride either a Viva Orange bus or TTC bus using the same ticket. The move would allow Viva buses, running virtually empty to Downsview during peak hours, to share the load of TTC vehicles operating over capacity at those times. The only shortcoming in the proposal is that riders departing from York without a TTC pass or transfer must pay additional fare on Viva buses as the fare dispensers do not accept TTC tokens or tickets.
Toronto Star
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