Top Ten
January 14, 2010
Ontario college faculty approve strike action
The Ontario Public Service Employees Union reports that faculty at 18 of 24 colleges in Ontario voted to give their bargaining team a mandate to call a strike should negotiations be unsuccessful. Overall, 57% of members who voted on Wednesday supported strike action. OPSEU and the College Compensation and Appointments Council have indicated they would like to resume talks in order to reach an agreement. Training, Colleges, and Universities Minister John Milloy is urging both parties to keep the best interests of students in mind and resume negotiations as soon as possible. OPSEU's bargaining chair says if a fair settlement is not reached, a walkout could take place as early as mid-February. OPSEU News Release | College Compensation and Appointments Council News Release | Ontario News Release | Canadian PressAlberta invests $8 million in uCalgary family medicine program
Yesterday the Alberta government pledged $8 million in new funding to the University of Calgary's department of family medicine. The funds will be used to train more medical students and physicians in family medicine, recruit more doctors as teaching faculty, and support research. The department's goal is that by 2013, 50% of graduates will choose family medicine as a career. Currently, about 18% of uCalgary students pursue the family medicine option. uCalgary News | AM 770NBCCD to become independent of NB community colleges
The New Brunswick government announced yesterday a new plan for the New Brunswick College of Craft and Design to expand and become a centre for artistic and creative excellence. Under the plan, the school will operate separately from NB's community colleges while remaining within the provincial government's PSE department. The new operating structure will help NBCCD improve its infrastructure and undertake applied research and international activities. A 5-year strategic plan is in the works to identify possible new program areas and improvements to existing programs. The province is also investing $500,000 for the college to upgrade its facility and acquire the adjacent Soldiers' Barracks. NB News Release | Daily GleanerSauder completes first phase of $85-million renewal project
The University of British Columbia's Sauder School of Business unveiled yesterday the completed first phase of an $85-million renewal and expansion at the institution's Vancouver campus. The project has added 50,000 square feet to the existing 216,000 square feet of the Henry Angus Building. Phase 1 of the project includes a new facility for the Robert H. Lee Graduate School, a dedicated undergraduate centre, and a new café and store. Sauder aims to complete the second phase of the project by September 2011. UBC News ReleaseResidence plan for Georgian College Orillia campus terminated
Georgian College's plans to build a 200-bed residence for students at its Orillia campus in co-operation with a private developer have fallen through. The campus's dean says the project "wasn't going to be financially viable for either party." Building a residence remains a top priority for the campus, which is actively exploring other options. Orillia Packet & TimesHumber boosts recruitment efforts in China with marketing competition
As part of efforts to raise its awareness in China and to broaden the number of its Chinese educational partners, Humber College, in collaboration with Research in Motion and lululemon athletica, organized and sponsored the first-ever international Humber 2010 China Marketing Plan Competition. Open to second- and third-year Chinese business students, the competition challenged 2- to 3-person teams to create marketing plans and video clips to introduce either a BlackBerry product or lululemon gear into the Chinese market. A pair of students from the China Canada Higher Applied Technology College at the Shandong Institute of Business and Technology won the competition for their marketing plan for lululemon, and will receive a scholarship to study in a bachelor degree program at Humber. Humber News ReleaseBMO donates $2 million to Queen's business school
BMO Financial Group announced yesterday a $2-million gift to the Queen's School of Business in support of the expansion of Goodes Hall, the home of the business school. In recognition of the donation, the Goodes Hall Atrium has been named the BMO Financial Group Atrium. The 75,000-square-foot expansion will include 3 new high-tech classrooms, breakout rooms, and a student common area and multi-purpose room for conferences. BMO News ReleaseOshawa starts issuing student housing rental licences
The 2009-10 academic year began without a single licence issued to landlords renting homes near the Durham College/University of Ontario Institute of Technology campus. Now the City of Oshawa has approved 26 licences, and as many as 100 more applications have been denied and referred to a hearings process. The licences are part of a bylaw Oshawa introduced nearly 2 years ago to regulate student housing near the campus. Durham Region NewsMHC contest strives to find "face" of college
Medicine Hat College has launched a contest asking new and returning students to produce a short video explaining why they should be the Face of MHC. The contributor of the winning video will receive free tuition and residence accommodation for a year, as well as a laptop, video camera, and college merchandise. The student chosen to be the Face of MHC for the 2010-11 school year will document his or her college experience through a blog and self-produced videos posted on MHC's site. The contest runs until March 5. MHC News Release | Face of MHC contest
