December 8, 2025

The University of Saskatchewan has received a $10M donation from alumni Xiaoping (Bob) Xu and Ling (Linda) Chen to honour outgoing USask President Peter Stoicheff’s decade of leadership. The gift will go to the School for the Arts, bolstering the David L Kaplan Chair in Music. It will also provide support for the strings program theatre expansion, student supports, and curriculum modernization. “I am inspired by Bob and Linda’s commitment to creating educational opportunities for everyone through their extraordinary philanthropy,” said Stoicheff. “I am truly humbled and honoured.”

The University of Toronto has established the Hinton Chair in Artificial Intelligence, named after U of T University Professor Emeritus and Nobel Prize laureate Geoffrey Hinton. The chair is supported by $10M in funding from Google, which has been matched by a further $10M in funding from U of T. The goal of the chair is to attract the world’s top minds in AI to ensure Canada’s future competitiveness on the world stage. “This new chair will enable us to build on Geoff Hinton’s historic contributions in artificial intelligence and to advance our record of transformational research in fields of crucial importance to the world,” said U of T President Melanie Woodin.

Several institutions in Canada took a moment to mark the anniversary of the December 6, 1989 shooting. Polytechnique Montréal announced the recipients of the 11th edition of the Order of the White Rose program, created to pay tribute to the 14 women killed at the institution. The program was also expanded this year to award $50K scholarships to 14 recipients pursuing a master’s or doctoral degree in engineering. The institution also created the Order of the White Rose Hall of Fame, with inaugural member Nathalie Provost. On other campuses across the country, members of the postsecondary community gathered to remember the victims and share their perspectives of the day.

Re$earch Infosource Inc has released its 2025 list of Canada’s top 50 research colleges. The ranking focused on funding and considered factors such as the government funding and non-government funding that each institution received, research income growth, and research intensity. The top three institutions were Cégep de Trois-Rivières (#1), Mohawk College (#2), and the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (#3). Others in the top 10 included Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (#4), Lambton College (#5), Humber Polytechnic (#6), Cégep de La Pocatière (#7), College of the North Atlantic (#8), Lethbridge Polytechnic (#9), and Cégep de Thetford (#10).

Keyano College and the University of New Brunswick have launched a 2+2 pathway that will provide Keyano students opportunities to further their education. Graduates from Keyano’s environmental technology program are now able to transfer to UNB to complete a bachelor of science in forestry or a bachelor of science in environmental management with two additional years of study. The pathway gives students a clear route to a four-year degree with specializations in areas including wildlife conservation, water resources management, and environmental stewardship.

Niagara College has officially opened its newest research facility: the $12M Horticultural and Environmental Sciences Innovation Centre (HESIC) Greenhouse. This greenhouse replicates a professional growing environment, providing researchers spaces to test practices and provide data that will inform growers. It includes five individually contained bays with separate control over growing conditions, advanced hydroponic setups, and a vertical grow room. The new facility expands HESIC’s ability to complete additional research projects, serve businesses, and hire students. It will also offer Niagara’s School of Environment and Horticulture students opportunities to work on projects with Research and Innovation.

Collège communautaire du Nouveau-Brunswick has announced that it is modernizing its admissions process with the introduction of a new admissions test for select learners. The new test will be given to applicants with more complex applications, such as mature learners, those who completed high school outside of Canada, or those missing certain prerequisites. It will assess the skills that students have acquired through their work, life, and previous studies, and then provide the candidate with a personalized learning plan and resources that will help them address any gaps in the skillset needed for success at college. The test will be implemented for the Fall 2026 admissions cycle.

Toronto Metropolitan University and Rocket Doctor have partnered to make clinical faculty participation in TMU’s clinical teaching ecosystem more accessible. Through the partnership, Rocket Doctor’s independent physicians will be able to apply for TMU clinical faculty roles. TMU will work with participating physicians to provide them with academic guidance, resources, and support, while TMU’s clinical teaching ecosystem will benefit from the diversity of Rocket Doctor’s network, which includes care settings in both urban and underserved regions. “This collaboration will help us prepare future physicians who are adaptable, community-minded, and ready to meet the evolving needs of Ontario’s health system,” said TMU School of Medicine Founding Dean Dr Teresa Chan.

While AI may save researchers time and money, Nature reporter Rachel Fieldhouse explores the potential costs of growing reliant on these tools. Fieldhouse writes that scientists are increasingly using AI to save them time and money in their research, with early career scientists and researchers in the physical sciences most likely to be early adopters of AI. While one preprint suggested that AI may be linked to a productivity increase, Fieldhouse referenced a Wiley survey that reportedly showed a growing concern about errors made by AI and about topics such as data security, ethics, and transparency. “We need to enthusiastically embrace it but treat results with the sort of scepticism that we should treat all scientific results when they’re presented,” said Swinburne University of Technology astrophysicist Matthew Bailes.

The Ontario Heritage Trust and York University have installed a provincial plaque at Glendon College, YorkU’s founding campus. The plaque recognizes the college’s work to advance bilingual education in Ontario and in Canada. It includes details of the college’s history, its role within YorkU, and how it has ensured access to French education. “This provincial plaque honours the visionaries who understood that learning in both of Canada’s official languages—alongside Indigenous languages—strengthens our civic life and fosters mutual understanding,” said YorkU President Rhonda Lenton.