Humber College has received a $30M donation from the Barrett Family Foundation in support of STEM programs and technology. The donation will be used to support existing and new programs, people, and resources at the Barrett CTI; cultivate a digital transformation at the college; create a Barrett Centre Collaboratory; and support industry-driven skills, training, and development. “We have a longstanding relationship with Humber, and we believe in, and have witnessed, the success of their polytechnic model of education,” said Bob Barrett, co-founder of The Barrett Family Foundation. Humber states that the donation is the largest single donation ever made to an Ontario College.
Top Ten News
January 25, 2023
The University of New Brunswick has received a 10-year $2M gift from BMO Financial Group in support of education, professional development, and new athletic opportunities. The gift be used for the BMO Centre soccer pitch at UNB, the creation of the BMO Emerging Entrepreneurship Awards, and the sponsorship of the BMO Apex Business Plan Competition. “We are deeply grateful for this vote of confidence in our university’s capacity to educate a new generation of athletic, business and community leaders,” said UNB President Dr Paul J Mazerolle.
Okanagan College is offering credit monitoring to its students and staff following a security breach earlier this the month. Okanagan said that its investigation determined that certain student and employee information may have been at risk. The college is offering credit monitoring free of charge while it continues the investigation. “[T]he investigation is ongoing,” read a statement from Okanagan. “Should the investigation determine that information pertaining to other individuals may have been impacted by the incident, we will notify those individuals accordingly.”
Several doctors who studied in the province as international students have spoken to CTV News and Global News to raise their concerns about the rules that prevented their colleagues from completing residencies in Canada. Dr Matthew Kumar and Dr Abhinaya Yeddala, both of whom are now medical residents, say they were required to either be permanent residents or Canadian citizens to complete a residency in the country. Both completed their training through a partnership between Dalhousie University and the International Medical University in Malaysia and said that many other students left for other countries because of the rules. “It’s almost like a catch-22, because you can’t get your (permanent resident status) without work, and the work we’re trying to get into needs (permanent resident status),” said Yeddala.
The University of Manitoba’s College of Rehabilitation Sciences has joined the World Rehabilitation Alliance (WRA). The WRA is a global network hosted by the World Health Organization that promotes rehabilitation as an essential health service. The membership will support the College of Rehabilitation Sciences in using research, education, and service to advance health knowledge, skills, and behaviours in Manitoba and around the globe. “Joining the WRA will help the college and help WRA by sharing expertise that exists in the college and the broader UM community with WRA, and it will provide the college with an opportunity to share its work with others on a global scale,” said UManitoba College of Rehabilitation Sciences Dean Dr Reg Urbanowski.
McGill University’s Dobson Centre for Entrepreneurship has launched a new entrepreneurial program using a $1M gift from the Weston Family Foundation. The Weston Family Entrepreneurial Innovation & Sustainability Program will provide entrepreneurs who are interested in launching sustainability-focused businesses with a hands-on program to accelerate their start-ups. The program will include two eight-week sessions in which participants will refine their concept and business plan and receive personalized coaching to prepare them for a two-round pitch session.
Confederation College and Shooniyaa Wa-Biitong have partnered to offer Treaty 3 members Office Administration training. Students will be able to access in-person training at the Shooniyaa Wa-Biitong offices and Confederation’s Rainy River District Campus. The program will cover practical and transferable skills for work in office settings, and course credits can be counted toward Confederation’s The Office Administration – General program if students with to continue their education. “This training partnership is coming at a time when the business sector in northwestern Ontario is facing staffing shortages” said Confederation President Kathleen Lynch. “We are excited to continue to work with Shooniyaa Wa-Biitong to help new professionals enter the workforce.”
Université de Montréal’s École de santé publique has had its accreditation with the Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH) renewed for a seven-year cycle. The university’s public health faculty is reportedly the only French-speaking school to be accredited by the CEPH, which requires accredited members to offer high-quality programs, qualified and diversified faculty, a stimulating study environment, and produce cutting-edge research. Seven years is the maximum possible accreditation duration. Carl-Ardy Dubois, UdeMontréal public health dean, expressed the community’s pride in the accreditation and shared that the exercise was also useful for identifying opportunities to invest in the school to continue its improvement.
Two institutions have recently reached tentative contract agreements with faculty or staff associations. The University of Victoria and University of Victoria Faculty Association members have reached a tentative agreement under the province’s Shared Recovery Mandate. The tentative agreement covers almost 1,000 faculty members and librarians. “We’re pleased that after 10 months of pretty intense bargaining we have a tentative agreement that we’re pleased to take to our members,” said UVFA President Lynne Marks. In Ontario, Trent University and OPSEU Local 365 – which represents over 450 support staff at the institution – have reached a tentative settlement on their new collective agreement. At both institutions, the details of the agreements will be shared after ratification.
Research universities should be professionalized rather than based on an apprenticeship model, writes Gillian R Hayes. In an article for Inside Higher Ed, Hayes writes that the current “apprenticeship model” is dead and that undergraduate students deserve to be taught by dedicated and well-trained teachers. Since many are pushing for PhD students to be financially supported for their entire studies, the author argues that it is more fiscally responsible to hire one trained professional over multiple teaching and research assistants. The author asserts that it is important to provide training to PhD students, but in lower numbers and with positive graduate outcomes. Hayes writes that the cultural shift will pose a challenge on many campuses, but that a move toward professionalization, specialization, and reorganization is necessary to ensure that research universities survive.