October 27, 2020
The Government of Canada has launched a Task Force on Northern Post-Secondary Education, which will focus on improving postsecondary educational opportunities and outcomes in the North. The task force seeks to close gaps in education outcomes and provide ongoing opportunities for learning and skills development, including opportunities in Indigenous-based skills and knowledge. The Northerner-led task-force will also address barriers to postsecondary education. “When more Canadians are able to continue their education, practice new skills, or learn on the job, they are better prepared to find and keep good jobs now, and in the future,” said Daniel Vandal, Minister of Northern Affairs. “As we look beyond the COVID-19 pandemic, the recommendations of this task force will be critical in shaping that recovery.”
Canada |
Nation Talk (National)
Students at postsecondary institutions across Canada are expressing discomfort with e-proctoring software. Many institutions use e-proctoring software to avoid academic dishonesty, reports CBC, but concerned students say that e-proctoring increases exam anxiety and leads to new challenges that include forcing students to show their living space, requiring students to work in a brightly lit, interruption-free space, and requiring a stable internet connection throughout the exam. Some students with disabilities cannot use specific screen-reader software, and some students of colour have had e-proctoring software repeatedly not recognize their faces. “We [have a greater] workload for classes, we’re being monitored way more intently than ever before on our exams and our overall mental health is degrading,” said David Draper, vice-president academic of the University of Alberta Students’ Union.
CBC (National)
Eight Canadian universities have ranked within the top 200 of the 2021 US News & World Report Best Global Universities Rankings. The University of Toronto has climbed one spot in the rankings to 17th globally, while the University of British Columbia ranked 31st and McGill University was ranked 51st. McMaster University ranked 133rd, the University of Alberta ranked 138th, the University of Montreal ranked 140th, the University of Calgary ranked 174th, and the University of Ottawa ranked 192nd.
US News |
U of T (National)
Hundreds of McGill University employees have reportedly been working without pay due to issues with the new Workday payroll system, according to CTV News. The payroll system is used for hundreds of graduate students who work as teaching and research assistants and rely on this income to pay their tuition. A letter, signed by 132 professors, teaching assistants, and course lecturers, claims that “in Week 7 of the 2020 fall term, approximately 300 course lecturers across the university have still not been paid, despite fulfilling their responsibilities as instructors.” The
Montreal Gazette reports that some faculty members have paid students out of their own pockets to ensure that students can pay their rent and buy food, and signatories to the letter have called McGill’s response to the situation “inadequate.” CTV News | Montreal Gazette (QC)Hundreds of McGill University employees have reportedly been working without pay due to issues with the new Workday payroll system, according to CTV News. The payroll system is used for hundreds of graduate students who work as teaching and research assistants and rely on this income to pay their tuition. A letter, signed by 132 professors, teaching assistants, and course lecturers, claims that “in Week 7 of the 2020 fall term, approximately 300 course lecturers across the university have still not been paid, despite fulfilling their responsibilities as instructors.” The
Montreal Gazette reports that some faculty members have paid students out of their own pockets to ensure that students can pay their rent and buy food, and signatories to the letter have called McGill’s response to the situation “inadequate.” CTV News | Montreal Gazette (QC)Postsecondary education needs to be reimagined as Canadians switch to working and learning online, writes Rick Huijbregts, George Brown College’s VP Strategy & Innovation. The author writes that many questions arise about how institutions can continue to effectively train students in a digital space and says that the answer is “a multi-faceted, multi-stakeholder approach that includes support from industry, government and the tech sector.” Huijbregts says that working together is vital in the reimagination and redefinition of postsecondary education, and that this partnership mindset is also relevant to teaching and learning. Institutions must learn from evaluations to ensure students’ needs are met, and provide students with personalized and accessible learning experiences. “Education can, and must, evolve, just as the labour market has evolved,” said Huijbregts.
iPolitics (National)
The University of Calgary has received an $11.8M investment from the Government of Alberta that is intended to promote new jobs in the quantum-technologies field. Funding will be allocated across the university to support research capacity in various projects. The province stated that the investment will lead to “research that will help establish Alberta as a national and international hub for quantum computing and related spinoff industries.” UCalgary President Ed McCauley also commented on the funding’s impact on job creation and the economy, noting that the university will be able to “translate new research findings into lasting and measurable benefits to society as quickly as possible.”
Calgary Herald (AB)
The University of Winnipeg has developed a special topics course called 231 Calls to Social Justice: Developing Community Based Responses to Systems Impacting Missing & Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA Persons. The course will be led by Sandra Delaronde, a member of UWinnipeg’s Indigenous Advisory Circle. “The university is quite ahead of the curve taking this as a current issue and creating a chance for students to learn something that is going to support them and allow them to apply their learning in the real world,” said Delaronde. The course will explore the history behind the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, with required readings such as the Final Report of the National Inquiry, Aboriginal Justice Inquiry, the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
Winnipeg Sun |
UWinnipeg (MB)
The University of British Columbia, in partnership with UBC Library’s Irving K Barber Learning Centre, has launched a Downtown Eastside Research Access Portal (DTES RAP). The DTES RAP uses UBC’s open access digital repository, cIRcle, to provide resources that support work by librarians, researchers, and students. Community members who live in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside can access research about the community for use in evaluating the effectiveness of programs and services and for grant writing. “This project takes a nuanced approach to open access that recognizes that providing public links to academic articles is not enough,” said Angela Towle, Academic Director of the UBC Learning Exchange. “We are exploring different ways to address these barriers.”
UBC (BC)
Following a recent announcement by the Supreme Court of Canada to hear appeals in the copyright litigation between
York University and Access Copyright , the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) has announced it will seek to intervene. The case ruling by the Federal Court of Appeals is now being brought to the Supreme Court by both York University and the collective licencing agency, Access Copyright, as language around “what constitutes fair dealing” was unclear. “CAUT will urge the Supreme Court to decisively rule on what constitutes fair dealing for education purposes, and preserve the balance resulting from its previous decisions that enables public access to works, while balancing the rights of authors and creators to reasonable compensation,” said CAUT Executive Director David Robinson.
CAUT (National)
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