Top Ten
May 3, 2011
UFV to open satellite campus in Abbotsford city centre
In order to address its space crunch and offer programming to students with potentially new and powerful learning opportunities, the University of the Fraser Valley will lease the empty basement of the Clearbrook Library in Abbotsford's city centre. UFV's facilities director says the new campus is ideal for students to secure new and valuable research or practicum positions within Abbotsford's civic institutions. The campus will replace the university's Marshall Road Annex, which is smaller and has limited transit service. UFV hopes to have the new space ready for classes in September, and has promised to complete renovations to the site no later than January 2012. Abbotsford Times
IBM invests nearly $8 million in uOttawa Business Analytics and Performance Centre
Last Wednesday, IBM and the University of Ottawa's Telfer School of Management announced a $7.9-million investment from IBM in the Ottawa-based Centre for Business Analytics and Performance Centre, which the 2 organizations created in April 2010. The funding in business analytics software will help accelerate research on situational, social media, healthcare operations, and ecological/environmental monitoring. It will also support the continued preparation of curriculum to help students gain relevant skills for careers in key industries such as clean energy and utilities, education, green infrastructure, health care, public service, and transportation. Telfer News
Student success, international recruitment priorities in Fanshawe strategic plan
Fanshawe College has released its 2011-12 strategic plan, to which the board of governors has provided direction through the following ends policies: vision and mission; student success; and meeting labour market needs. The college will add a number of 24/7 and online services to the range of supports available to help students succeed. Over the course of the next year, and in the years to come, several units will work closely to link and analyze internal and external data to assess the viability of new and emerging markets, student segments, and predictive models for student success. Some of Fanshawe's new international market strategies include increased advertising in traditional and new media, aimed at specific populations such as new Canadians from China, India, Colombia, and other nations. These efforts are intended to support a 5% increase in international student enrolment. Fanshawe News | Fanshawe Strategic Plan 2011-12
Applications to Northern College up 8%
Ontario's Northern College is reporting an 8% increase in applications over last year. As a result, the school has made more offers of admission, of which confirmations are up by 2%. The institution's Kirkland Lake campus is registering the strongest growth in applications (47%), offers of admission (64%), and confirmations (16%). Northern College president Fred Gibbons says the institution is tracking well to maintain growth for a third consecutive year. Northern College News Release
uWinnipeg rejects proposed tiering in CIS Canada West
The University of Winnipeg rejects a move spearheaded by the University of British Columbia to establish a two-tiered system of athletic competition in Canadian Interuniversity Sport's Canada West conference. The move would see student-athletes divided, with large institutions competing exclusively against each other, and smaller institutions regulated to a second tier within the conference. In a letter to the chairman of the Council of Western Canadian University Presidents, uWinnipeg president Lloyd Axworthy requests that UBC's idea be withdrawn, and that a proper and open process for discussion be put in place on the structure of interuniversity sport in Western Canada. Axworthy says uWinnipeg's Wesmen "are among the best in the country in terms of quality of play and deserve the same opportunities and challenges as other athletes across the university system." uWinnipeg News Release | Read the letter
Muslim students at Carleton seek bigger prayer space
Muslim students at Carleton University say they need a new place to pray as their numbers at the institution have increased so much that there is no longer enough space in the designated prayer room on campus. Set up by Carleton 15 years ago, the central prayer room was designed to accommodate 70 people, but some days more than double that number squeeze in, and more line up outside to wait their turn. A spokesperson for Carleton's equity service department says the institution might consider a multi-faith prayer space. Muslim students will present a petition calling for bigger prayer space to a Carleton committee later this month. CBC
Fleming computer engineering programs earn national accreditation
The Canadian Technology Accreditation Board has awarded accreditation to Fleming College's Computer Engineering Technician and Computer Engineering Technology programs. The accreditation ensures students receive an approved course of study and ensures graduates are certified by the Ontario Association of Certified Engineering Technicians and Technologists or an equivalent body in other provinces. The accreditation is also recognized outside the country through international agreements. Fleming News
Students whose families make up to $100,000 report similar college experiences
A new US report observes that students at large public research universities whose families earn up to $100,000 seem to experience college in much the same way, while family income makes more of a difference for students whose families make more than $200,000. Using data from a survey that included questions to capture information on student behaviours related to cost and affordability, the study found little variation in cost-cutting behaviour by income level for students whose families earned up to $100,000 annually, while the behaviours decreased for students from successively better-off families. Students' self-reported college experience varied little among those whose families made up to $100,000, while students from wealthier families were more satisfied, more likely to be involved in enriching activities, and less likely to be worried about personal or family debt. The Chronicle of Higher Education (subscription required)
Majority of arts grads finding satisfying work, survey finds
In a new US survey of over 13,000 alumni of 154 different arts programs, 92% of respondents who wish to work currently are, with most securing employment soon after graduating. Two-thirds reported that their first job was a close match for the kind of work they wanted, and nearly three-quarters of those who intended to work as a professional artist had done so at some point since graduating. The survey found a majority of fine artists (78%), dancers and choreographers (75%), craft artists (69%), musicians (68%), photographers (66%), and directors, producers, or managers of theatre and stage (64%) were very satisfied with the opportunity to do work in line with their personality, interests, and values. Of those respondents working outside of the arts, 54% reported that their arts training is relevant to the job in which they spend the majority of their time. SNAAP News Release | Inside Higher Ed | Read the report
Capital U. features mascot in online campaign to engage accepted students
This spring, Ohio-based Capital University developed an online campaign called Mascot Mayhem, starring Cappie the Crusader, to engage accepted students during the weeks leading up to May 1. Counting down to the enrolment-deposit deadline, the website invited visitors to "make some mayhem" by suggesting activities for Cappie to do on campus, all while being filmed. Since March, the mascot has thrown snowballs at unsuspecting students, played the ukulele, pedaled a unicycle, pumped iron, slam-dunked a basketball, performed a "Viking opera," and fought a light-saber duel with Capital U.'s president. Mascot Mayhem | The Chronicle of Higher Education (free access)
