Top Ten
June 9, 2011
Former FNUC administrator admits to fraud
Wesley Robert Stevenson, a former vice-president and acting president of First Nations University of Canada, has pleaded guilty to defrauding the federal government of thousands of dollars. The Crown's case is that Stevenson used $15,000 earmarked for an FNUC trip to Scotland's Orkney Islands to pay for expenses that had nothing to do with the Orkney trip, the money for which came from the government. Stevenson was handed a 12-month, non-jail conditional sentence. In addition to restitution, he has agreed to perform 75 hours of community service. CBC
India offering Canadian universities role on international stage
Many Canadian universities are boosting efforts to play a bigger part in serving India's soaring demand for PSE. Most recently, the University of Regina signed an MOU with India's Karunya University to offer a joint Bachelor of Kinesiology degree to up to 30 Indian students annually. York University's Schulich School of Business is expected to break ground next month on a campus in Hyderabad, India. In February, Carleton University signed the 2 newest of its 15 partnerships with India, and will soon launch a Canada-India Centre for Excellence in Science, Technology, Trade and Policy. While Carleton has no plans to follow York U in opening a campus in India, president Roseann O'Reilly Runte describes her institution's efforts as "just the tip of the iceberg." Globe and Mail
Confederation College opens campus in Red Lake
Confederation College representatives visited Red Lake, Ontario Wednesday to officially open a new campus in the municipality. The campus is one of 8 regional sites throughout the institution's network. The Red Lake campus will offer a number of one-year certificate and two-year diploma programs this fall, including accounting, human resources, hospitality management, pre-health sciences, protective services and investigation, and mining techniques. Late last month Confederation opened a campus in Wawa. Confederation College News Release
UBC board approves hospice plans
On Wednesday the University of British Columbia's board of governors approved a 15-bed hospice on a campus location, even as a group of residents of a neighbouring high-rise condominium, consisting mostly of recent immigrants from China and Korea, continue to oppose the facility, stating their cultural beliefs make it unlucky and unhealthy to live next to a hospice. A joint venture of UBC's Faculty of Medicine and the Order of St. John, the $10-million facility would provide hospice care and also serve as a research and teaching facility. A recent UBC staff report recommending approval of the facility also recommended that the university plant trees to screen the hospice, continue to provide outreach to new Canadians living on campus, and work with UBC's property division to "identify other housing opportunities on campus for residents of the adjacent building who wish to move." Globe and Mail
Ottawa distributes $15 million under Collaborative Health Research Projects program
The federal government announced Thursday $15 million in funding being provided to 17 universities through the Collaborative Health Research Projects program. Among the funded research projects are developments for a bioengineered cell delivery system to help repair spinal cord injury, a new mobile device for the diagnosis and management of respiratory disease, and risk factors and an optimization model for breast cancer screening. NSERC News Release
UNBSJ receives $3-million gift for University Commons
In honour of their business associate and friend Hans W. Klohn, the families of Arthur Irving and Jack Irving have donated $3 million to the University of New Brunswick's Saint John campus in support of the institution's new University Commons, a major facility currently under construction. In recognition of the gift, UNBSJ has named the facility the Hans W. Klohn Commons. UNB News | Daily Gleaner
Ontario invests in "clean room" at uWindsor engineering facility
The Ontario government announced yesterday a $2-million investment in a "clean room" at the University of Windsor's new Centre for Engineering Innovation. A clean room is a specialized facility with an atmosphere-control system that regulates the temperature, humidity, and level of contaminants to the exact standards required for aerospace manufacturing and scientific research. Ontario News Release
Ontario teacher ed confirmations decline
New figures from the Ontario Universities' Application Centre show that as of June 1, there are 7,517 confirmed acceptances for teacher education at Ontario universities, down 7% from the 8,081 confirmations recorded in June 2010. An increase in confirmations was the highest at Queen's University, where the rate rose by 7.8%. Teacher Education Confirmation Statistics -- June 2011
SFU Beedie develops mobile app
Simon Fraser University's Beedie School of Business has launched a mobile application for the iPhone and iPad, one that caters to the school's growing social network of students, alumni, researchers, and industry partners. Developed in-class by undergraduate students from Beedie and SFU's Faculty of Applied Science, the app's content includes school news, research highlights, event information, and real-time interaction from Beedie's social media channels. The app also has wayfinding features such as campus maps and transit schedules. SFU Beddie News | SFU Beedie Mobile
NYU, UoPeople form partnership
New York University is partnering with the University of the People, a non-profit school that offers free classes to students around the world. This partnership could provide UoPeople students who show exceptional promise the opportunity to study at NYU’s highly selective campus in Abu Dhabi. With an admissions rate more competitive than Harvard and tuition fees among the highest in the US, NYU Abu Dhabi uses outside groups to scout for top students from all over the world, offering generous financial aid to those who need it. NYU's president expects that a few UoPeople students may be admitted to NYU Abu Dhabi in the entering class of 2012. New York Times
