August 6, 2026

The Canadian Space Agency has announced $2.4M for the CubeSats Initiative in Canada for STEM 2026 (CUBICS 2026). Through this initiative, Canadian universities and postsecondary institutions will be able to access funding to engage students in a space science mission that involves designing, building, testing, launching, and operating CubeSats. Students will gain hands-on experience in STEM and develop skillsets that can be transferred to the Canadian workforce. The initiative includes a new stream for more experienced teams, giving them the possibility of building a larger CubeSat and collaborating with new schools.

The results of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research’s Project Grant: Spring 2026 competition have been released. CIHR has made a $412M investment into 439 research applications from 431 individual nominated principal investigators. Of the 439 grants, 112 went to early career researchers and 18 went to Indigenous health research projects. Additionally, 19 priority announcement grants received a total of $1.9M, and nine supplemental prizes totaling $304K were awarded.

In a recent piece for the Chronicle of Higher Ed, Méadhbh McIvor (Arizona State University at Tempe) describes the experience of having “ghost students” in her class. In McIvor’s asynchronous online class, several “students” were plagiarizing in a way that indicated that they were bots rather than real people. In the process of having them removed from her course, she found that they were “ghost” students: people whose identities had been stolen and who had been enrolled in courses so that scammers could collect loans or financial aid after the semester had begun. The author writes that these kinds of scammers necessitate a different kind of course design, and concludes that instructors must become familiar with the signs of bot activity to support the victims of identity theft.

Farleigh Dickinson University is set to open its new campus in Vancouver’s Oakridge Park development next month. The 70,000-square-foot campus replaces FDU’s two previous campuses in downtown Vancouver. It features classrooms, computer labs, semi-wet science labs, and communal areas. “This campus will deepen our engagement with local BC businesses, expand experiential learning opportunities, and create a space where innovation, culture, and academic excellence converge for the benefit of students and the broader community,” explained FDU President Michael Avaltroni.

In a recent Globe and Mailarticle, Barbara Balfour explores shifts happening on campuses as institutions reexamine their campus real estate. Balfour cites Colliers Director of Research for Canada Susan Thompson, who explained that institutions are increasingly adopting an “ecosystem” model, where students learn, socialize, network, and access services all on campus. The author discusses projects at the University of Alberta, the University of Calgary, and the University of British Columbia that illustrate how institutions are changing to meet student needs. “This speaks to broader trends in development that revolve around building cities and communities for the future,” said Thompson, who explained that not only do these new facilities provide an aesthetic boost to campuses, but they also serve as a method to attract and retain students.

In a recent piece for University Business, Burt Caylor deconstructs an apparent “paradox” applicable to admissions outreach: Students widely admit to using AI, but simultaneously discredit it, valuing answers from a human. Caylor solves the paradox by using a recent enrolment engagement report to show that while students use AI, they are highly skeptical of it. He says that when institutions treat AI as a voice, this skepticism is activated in key relational moments, leading to poor outcomes for institutions. To avoid this, Caylor suggests auditing front-facing AI to remove robotic responses; keeping humans as key players in high-trust moments; beginning earlier personalization of messaging towards potential students; and measuring trust through metrics such as opt-outs, chatbot dissatisfaction, and requests to speak with a person.

K–12 students across Canada are getting a chance to experience being on campus through camps and programs held at postsecondary institutions. Some camps focused on the trades: At Saskatchewan Polytechnic, grade 6–8 girls learned about carpentry, welding, and electrical work; while at Fleming College, Grade 7–9 students will explore areas such as construction, plumbing, and arboriculture. Others focused on medicine: Seven Generations Education Institute offered a camp where students learned about emergency response and related careers, and the University of Manitoba introduced grade 7–12 students to health and biomedical sciences careers. The University of Northern British Columbia’s Shad UNBC summer program offered hands-on STEAM learning for high schoolers, while Red Deer Polytechnic hosted Reading College to build literacy skills for Grade 2 students.

Future-proofing courses means designing them so they are easier to update and more inclusive, writes Gennadii Miroshnikov (King’s College London). Miroshnikov recommends beginning with a course structure that makes sense to others in case of a role change, and designing the course in blocks so that each component can be updated without a redesign of the whole module. The author emphasizes building the course so that accessibility is part of its design, there is a plan for keeping content current, and assessment feels meaningful and authentic. AI should be used for future-proofing support rather than design, writes Miroshnikov. “Future-proofing is not prediction work,” concludes the author. “It is design work.”

NOSM University has partnered with Agnico Eagle Mines Limited to strengthen physician recruitment in Northern Ontario. The three-year partnership will highlight the unique opportunities that are available in the region, promoting them through outreach, digital marketing, and recruitment resources. “We want to highlight the strengths of communities across Northern Ontario and the impact of practising medicine here,” said NOSM U Associate Dean, Physician Workforce Strategy Dr Sarah Newbery. “We believe this is an exceptional place to live, learn, and build a career.” The partnership is funded through a $225K gift from Agnico Eagle Mines.

In a recent article by Canadian Affairs, journalist Seth Forward examines the growing interest in the trades—and the decline in interest in universities—among young Canadians. Forward points to the job market as one key factor influencing the trend, noting that high unemployment, downsizing among traditional employers of university graduates, and susceptibility of entry-level roles to AI are key factors turning young people towards the trades. In considering the costs associated with each path, the article points to many trades’ paths being shorter than traditional undergraduate degrees, with similar or better early-career salaries. “I think that the messaging of society is starting to catch up with the reality of a skilled trades career,” explained Polytechnics Canada CEO Sarah Watts-Rynard.