September 30, 2009
The University of Regina has launched a new program called the UR Guarantee, which guarantees all students who complete the program requirements a job in their field within 6 months of graduation. Under the program, students will take advantage of academic success, campus engagement, service leadership, and career counselling opportunities to prepare them for the workforce in their chosen field. All 2009 undergraduate students with 30 or fewer credit hours are eligible for the program. Students who complete the UR Guarantee but do not find work in their field within 6 months after graduation may take up to 30 undergraduate credit hours during the following year, with the university covering the cost of tuition.
uRegina News ReleaseIn response to a
report from the Task Force on Student Life, Learning & Community, York University president Mamdouh Shoukri accepts recommendations to establish a Standing Committee on Campus Dialogue, create more and better study and social space on campus, and expand the existing student code of conduct to include certain fundamental student rights. Initiatives currently underway include improving communications with students, including the installation of 25 LCD message boards at the Keele campus by the end of the month, and the Respect and Inclusivity Awareness Tutorial, to be launched Monday.
York News ReleaseMcMaster and Brock Universities announced Tuesday a $4-million agreement to have the Niagara campus of McMaster's Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine move into the new
Niagara Health and Bioscience Research Complex, now under construction at Brock. The Niagara campus, currently housed at the St. Catharines General Site of the Niagara Health System, is expected to move into the new Brock building in 2011.
McMaster Daily News |
Hamilton Spectator His Holiness the Dalai Lama is back in
Calgary this week for the first time in 30 years to participate in a University of Calgary conference called NOW, which includes a public address at the Pengrowth Saddledome. The 2-day conference, inspired by the Dalai Lama's main commitments, draws on compassion, connectedness, and collaboration to examine the possibility of campus-community partnerships.
UToday |
NOW conference |
Calgary Herald |
CBCKwantlen Polytechnic University reports a 5% to 10% increase in enrolment across all program areas from last year. The highest increase is in the institution's university studies, which experienced nearly 11% enrolment growth. Based on figures released from other BC post-secondary schools, Kwantlen's enrolment increase is the highest of all institutions in the province. Factors contributing to the enrolment increase include Kwantlen's new
university status, the addition of new programs, and strategic changes to the school's registration system.
Kwantlen News ReleaseYouth from urban centres in Canada are significantly more likely to attend university than their rural counterparts, according to a new MESA Project report. When both college and university were considered, the gaps in accessibility were generally smaller, although, with the exception of the Prairie provinces, still statistically significant. When considering the characteristics of students and their families, the differences in overall PSE rates were no longer significant, whereas the university gap remained, except in Quebec. The report's author relates these findings to the different higher-education systems in place across Canada, such as the CÉGEP system in Quebec.
Read the full reportOn Tuesday, the University of British Columbia announced it has received a $2.17-million donation from HSBC Bank Canada to support the UBC Learning Exchange, which offers free educational classes, including computer training and ESL, to Downtown Eastside residents in Vancouver. The gift will also support the university's medical faculty, which is conducting addiction research in the Downtown Eastside in partnership with St. Paul's Hospital.
UBC News Release |
Vancouver SunThe University of Western Ontario is the second Canadian post-secondary institution to join the Scholars at Risk program, an international network of colleges and universities working together to promote academic freedom and defend the human rights of scholars around the world. Program members can help qualified scholars escape restrictive and dangerous conditions in their native countries and allow them to continue their scholarly work by offering temporary or short-term academic positions. The other Canadian member is Massey College at the University of Toronto.
Western NewsThe applied sciences faculty at Queen's University has created a new prospective student microsite. Visitors to the portal can follow the experiences of 3 first-year engineering students through their video blogs. The site includes videos outlining the top 10 reasons to attend Queen's Engineering. The portal also features a guide for parents.
Queen's Engineering prospective student siteA YouTube video featuring 172 students from the Université du Québec à Montréal's communications faculty lip-synching to the Black Eyed Peas' "I Gotta Feeling" has become a viral sensation, generating over 420,000 hits and drawing attention from national and US media. The video, produced on September 10, was filmed in 2 hours and 15 minutes in a seamless single shot. The video, inspired by "lipdubs" created by HEC Montréal students and meant to promote the communications faculty, has been covered by Canada AM, Global National, and CNN.
UQAM News Release (in French) |
Watch the video |
CTV |
Global National |
CNN
rtraction