September 17, 2009
In the first article in a series on unlicensed career colleges, the
Toronto Star reported yesterday on the Ontario Academy of Science and Technology, an unaccredited school for personal support workers. According to the
Star investigation, admission to the academy does not require identification or passing an English proficiency test. Aside from mandatory 2-hour lectures on Sundays, the course consists of watching 12 instructional DVDs and a series of multiple-choice tests. After requesting a discount on the program, a reporter posing as a student was rushed through the course, which the school's owner and sole instructor initially said would take 6 to 8 months. In 2 weeks, the reporter learned how to fake a resume, fabricate references, and lie her way through a job interview. When the academy's owner was contacted by the
Star about its investigation, he said he has applied to the Ontario government to register the school. The province says no such application has been received.
Toronto Star The Canadian Association of University Teachers has appointed 2 professors -- one from Mount Allison University, the other from the University of New Brunswick -- to investigate whether Crandall University,
formerly known as Atlantic Baptist University, is denying academic freedom to its faculty. Crandall U requires a statement of faith as a condition of employment. A university administrator says the school stands by its practices, and it is co-operating with the investigation. CAUT recently released a report on its investigation into
Trinity Western University's faith policy.
CBCSome 60 faculty members at Carleton University have signed a petition stating that a campus group that
launched a human rights case against the university should not have pay the school nearly $5,000 to get documents listed in a Freedom of Information request. A member of Students Against Israeli Apartheid -- who claim Carleton violated their freedom of expression during this year's Israeli Apartheid Week -- was told that the fees for assembling and copying the documents requested would cost $4,910, and half of that amount would have to be paid up front before staff could proceed with the request. SAIA is calling on Carleton president Roseann Runte to waive the fees because it is in the public interest to release the information, and because the cost is too onerous.
Ottawa Citizen |
Ottawa Sun The University of Western Ontario's Student Health Services has confirmed 4 mild cases of H1N1 at the school. 3 students and one faculty member have been given a 2-page hand-out outlining how to relieve symptoms and avoid further spread of the virus. This includes taking an ibuprofen or acetaminophen every 4 to 6 hours, staying at home for a week, and keeping distance between themselves and others. The 4 cases -- 2 reported last week and 2 this week -- were told to report back to Student Health Services if their symptoms worsen. The cases from last week have not returned, which the health services director says is good news.
Western NewsRyerson University has been in talks with Loblaw Cos. Ltd about joint use of Maple Leaf Gardens, which has been sitting virtually idle since July 2004 when Loblaw bought the facility for an estimated $13 million.
In a referendum in March, Ryerson students supported fee increases to go towards the construction of a new athletic centre, and the university is considering Maple Leaf Gardens as a site for the centre.
Globe and Mail Fanshawe College began the 2009-10 academic year with a 7% increase in first-year enrolment, and a 22% jump in mature student enrolment. Fanshawe reports that this year it is has 979 students over the age of 35, nearly double the 501 students in the same age group last year. On September 5, the college opened its third residence, Merlin House, which will accommodate 428 students.
Fanshawe News Release The University of Toronto has placed first overall in
Maclean's third annual ranking of Canadian common law schools. uToronto ranked first in the categories of elite firm hiring and faculty hiring. McGill University, which tied for second place with York University's Osgoode Hall Law School, was the top school in the Supreme Court clerkships category. Osgoode Hall, tying for first place with Queen's University (sixth overall) in the national reach indicator, also ranked first in the category of faculty journal citations. The Université de Montréal placed first overall in
Maclean's ranking of civil law schools.
Maclean's Athabasca University announced Wednesday that it is revising its academic structure to better manage the school's growth and diversity of course offerings. The university has created 4 new faculties -- Business, Humanities and Social Sciences, Health Disciplines, and Science and Technology -- to streamline academic operations. An Athabasca U official says the new faculty structure will reduce administrative inefficiencies, as well as increase faculty involvement and sense of ownership.
Athabasca U News ReleaseAccording to the Canadian Association of Career Educators and Employers' annual campus recruitment and benchmark survey, the most active sector for graduate recruiting in 2008-09 was professional services, with job offers from firms in this sector constituting nearly 47% of all job offers reported by survey respondents. Graduate hiring appears to be concentrated in Ontario and Alberta, which accounted for 78% of all hires. The overall acceptance rate for jobs offered to new graduates was 83.3%, and 77% of reporting firms filled their available positions. Competition over a candidate was the most-cited reason for why a job offer was rejected. To obtain a copy of the survey, contact Anne Markey at
[email protected]Greg Selinger, a candidate for the leadership of Manitoba's governing NDP, says that if he were elected party leader, he would let post-secondary students collect rebates on tuition fees while they were still in school. Currently, those
rebates are paid to students who remain in Manitoba after they graduate. Selinger says the revisions would give students intent on living and working in the province more money in their pockets when they need it most. Steve Ashton, another leadership candidate, is
proposing to reinstate a tuition freeze.
Winnipeg Free Press
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