Top Ten
December 15, 2015
Carleton begins construction on $52 M health sciences building
Carleton University has begun construction on a $52 M health sciences building, which will feature open-concept research labs, providing greater access to students and encouraging interdisciplinary collaboration. The seven-storey building, which will house the neuroscience department and the newly created health sciences department, is set to open in August 2017. “The new Health Sciences Building will be a great addition to our campus as we continue to provide the best research facilities possible for our researchers and our students,’’ said Carleton President Roseann O’Reilly Runte. Carleton
Cambrian receives $2M donation from The Joyce Foundation
The Joyce Foundation has donated $2 M to Cambrian College to fund a new bursary that will help approximately two dozen students in financial need pay for tuition and textbooks. This is the largest single gift to Cambrian’s awards and bursary program in the college's history. “Access to affordable education is critical to student success,” said Cambrian President Bill Best. “Thanks to the generosity of The Joyce Foundation, many students whose financial situations would have prevented them from attending postsecondary will be able to pursue their education at Cambrian.” Preference for the bursary will be given to students from Northern Ontario. Cambrian | Sudbury Star | Northern Life
McMaster's $24 M nuclear research lab set to be commissioned by mid-2016
McMaster University has announced that its new testing lab will make it a “world leader in nuclear safety research.” The $24 M Centre for Advanced Nuclear Systems, which is expected to be fully commissioned by the middle of 2016, will help scientists develop better knowledge of the behaviours exhibited by various materials when they are exposed to radiation and extremely high temperatures over long periods. “We will get a better understanding at the level of individual atoms of just how this process works,” said Facility Director John Luxat. “We'll be able to pull samples apart and see what their stresses are and how long it takes for cracks to develop.” Hamilton Spectator | EurekAlert!
Boréal, YorkU ink bilateral articulation agreement
Collège Boréal and York University’s bilingual Glendon Campus have signed a bilateral articulation agreement. Under the terms of the partnership, graduates of Glendon’s Drama Studies Program can be admitted to Boréal’s second-year Stage Management Technician diploma program. Likewise, graduates of Boréal’s Stage Management Technician program can enrol in Glendon’s Dramatic Arts Program, applying 42 credits toward a Specialized Honours BA. “We are happy to work with Collège Boréal to expand the postsecondary program offerings in French,” said Glendon Principal Donald Ipperciel. “The development of such institutional partnerships … allows Glendon to continue supporting student mobility.” Boréal
AB Legislative Assembly approves King’s name change
Last week, the Legislative Assembly of Alberta granted “The King’s University College” in Alberta the right to change its name to “The King’s University.” King’s initially registered “The King’s University” as a legal trademark in 2014, but needed to wait for a decision from the Legislative Assembly to make the change official. King’s Board of Governors Chair Bill Diepeveen said, “we are thankful that the Legislative Assembly has passed this new Act and changed our name. As I said when this process began, it recognizes us for what we are, a full-fledged university with all that entails.” King’s
Look to Germany for improvements to apprenticeship, says Conference Board report
Canada might wish to emulate Germany if it wants to improve its apprenticeship system, according to a new report from the Conference Board of Canada. The report highlights Germany’s “nimble reform process” and its collaboration between governments, businesses, and other stakeholders as two of the primary factors behind its creation of highly employable apprentices. The study concludes that “Canada should look to the ongoing improvement process in Germany to inform its own efforts to enhance apprenticeship opportunities and systems.” Report
CFS responds to ON funding model report with hope, concern
The recommendations outlined in Ontario’s recent “Focus on Outcomes, Centre on Students” report offers reasons for both hope and concerns, according to a press release from the Canadian Federation of Students. “While some of these recommendations are aligned with student concerns and priorities,” the response says, “some of them open doors towards policies that could sacrifice quality, access and affordability for political expediency.” The response highlights the “performance-based funding” model mentioned in the ON report as one potential site of conflict with student needs, citing studies that have allegedly “shown it to produce the opposite: encouraging poor behaviour such as arbitrarily raising admissions standards and increasing short-term certificate programs to inflate graduation rates.” CFS
US PhDs in engineering, math earn twice as much as arts PhDs
A new study published by the academic journal Science has examined the economic impact of doctoral study by tracking more than 3,000 graduates from eight Midwestern research universities. The study found that graduates in engineering, math, and computer science earned around $65 K annually within one year of graduation, more than double the roughly $25 K earned by arts and humanities doctorates. It also found that more than 40% of PhD recipients from the former group were employed by private industry. The study is “one of the first to use hard data to provide direct evidence of some of the benefits” of research universities, according to Association of American Universities (AAU) President Hunter Rawlings. Times Higher Education | TheScientist | Vox | Full Study
Interest in studying abroad “reaches back into your social origins,” says new study
Students from underprivileged backgrounds are less likely to consider studying abroad because they have had fewer “cultural opportunities” while growing up, according to a new German study. The survey of 5,800 prospective PSE students was not the first to determine that “underprivileged” students were less likely to study abroad, but according to author Nicolai Netz of the German Centre for Higher Education Research and Science Studies, it was one of the first to examine why this is the case. He added that “our study shows, and I think this is the new thing, that the decision to study abroad reaches back to your social origins, to very early in your youth and your time at school.” Times Higher Education
