Top Ten
September 12, 2011
8 people arrested following stabbing incident at UBCO
7 men and one youth have been arrested in connection to a stabbing incident early Saturday morning at the University of British Columbia's Okanagan campus. Having already been on campus, Kelowna RCMP responded to a report of the stabbing and found 3 male victims -- 2 suffering from knife wounds and a third who had been assaulted. According to media reports Sunday, charges have not yet been laid as the RCMP continues to investigate. Postmedia News | Global BC
SIAST academic, professional services staff sign mediation agreements
Classes resumed for most Saskatchewan Institute of Applied Science and Technology students Monday after the union representing academic and professional services staff at the institution signed mediation agreements on Saturday, ending a deadlock that saw union members on picket lines for 4 days following failed mediation talks during the Labour Day long weekend. A clause in the mediation agreements requires all parties to suspend job action for the duration of mediation. The agreements are in effect until this coming Friday. SIAST News Release | Saskatoon Star-Phoenix
uWindsor faculty approve strike mandate
Last Thursday members of the Windsor University Faculty Association (WUFA) voted 90% in favour of a strike mandate after 3-and-a-half months of bargaining. A conciliator met with the faculty association and uWindsor Monday in hopes of bringing both parties closer to an agreement. WUFA members are not yet in a legal strike position; the soonest they could be in such a position would be early October. WUFA's president hopes to avoid a repeat of the 2008 faculty strike, which lasted 18 days. WUFA website | Windsor Star | CBC
Canadian colleges experience surge in Indian student enrolment
Last week Canadian colleges opened their doors to accommodate a significant increase in new students coming from India. The Association of Canadian Community Colleges is projecting approximately 12,000 Indian students. According to data from the Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) office in India, there was a 511% increase in the number of students coming to study in Canada between 2007 and 2010 -- from 1,503 students in 2007 to 9,176 in 2010. ACCC's manager of international marketing attributes much of the college-level growth to the Student Partners Program, a joint initiative of ACCC and CIC. Since its launch in 2009 with 20 participating colleges, the program has grown to include 43 colleges in 6 provinces. Academica Group has recently published the results of a survey of more than 5,000 private high school students in India. University World News
Enrolment rises at uManitoba
First-day figures reveal that enrolment at the University of Manitoba for the 2011-12 school year is 27,992, a 1.5% increase from last year's fall semester. This fall's first-day enrolment is just 21 students shy of an all-time record of 28,013 students, set in 2005. Undergraduate enrolment rose by 1.2%, and graduate enrolment grew by 4.2%. Full-time enrolment rose from 22,847 to 23,257 students, while part-time enrolment is unchanged. Total enrolment at uManitoba this fall represents 70% of Manitoba's full-time-equivalent university students, and approximately 50% of the province's PSE students overall. uManitoba News
Saskatchewan NDP pledges to fund uRegina residence, childcare space project
With a provincial election set for November, Saskatchewan's New Democrats have announced a commitment to fund a student housing and childcare project at the University of Regina. This past spring the institution submitted a proposal to the province for the development of a new 608-bed residence and 180 new childcare spaces. The NDP notes that the governing Saskatchewan Party has refused to commit to provide the $25 million in provincial funding needed for the project. NDP Leader Dwain Lingenfelter pledges that an NDP government would provide this funding and work with uRegina to complete the project. Saskatchewan NDP News
CBU business school receives $2-million donation
Yesterday Cape Breton University announced a $2-million gift from the Shannon family to the Shannon School of Business' $12-million Cornerstone Campaign. The donation is the single largest gift CBU has ever received. So far the campaign has raised $9.6 million through private and government sector commitments. The funds raised are going toward a facility for the business school and a chair in Aboriginal business studies. CBU News
Campuses integrate mental wellness into orientation events
With campus counselling services seeing more students seeking help for severe stress, loneliness, and depression, orientation organizers across Canada are taking the opportunity to emphasize mental wellness. The University of Alberta operates a tour of its mental-health services and mandatory sessions such an orientation panel, where older students talk about their common struggles and point the way to on-campus supports. Last Wednesday over 2,000 first-year University of Western Ontario students and their frosh leaders gathered around an outdoor stage for the One Love Rally, a show focused on diversity, mental wellness, and sexual health. The rally was tied to a new initiative that trained UWO's orientation leaders to watch students for signs of distress. Expanding its mental-health services, Queen's University held an opening-night orientation rally that advised students to expect more stress, and for the first time added its Peer Support Centre to its popular Tour the Town event. Globe and Mail
Alberta's Columbia College receives top marks in CCSSE
Last week Calgary-based Columbia College announced it has performed above average on all 5 measures of student engagement (academic challenge, active and collaborative learning, student-faculty interaction, student effort, and support for learners) in the Community College Survey of Student Engagement, an annual survey that includes most 2-year public and private US colleges and a number of Canadian colleges. Columbia scored in the top 10% of North American colleges in the areas of academic challenge and active collaborative learning. Columbia president J.T. (Tom) Snell encourages Canadian PSE institutions to make CCSSE results available to the public. Columbia College News
UNBSJ opens Hans W. Klohn Commons
Last Thursday the University of New Brunswick's Saint John campus officially opened its $25-million Hans W. Klohn Commons, named after a prominent New Brunswick businessman in whose honour the families of Arthur Irving and Jack Irving donated $3 million to the commons. The facility integrates information services, information technology, the computing centre, and library in a single meeting place. The commons' key components are a student technology centre; writing, math, and statistics tutoring centres; and classrooms and conference rooms. NB News Release
