July 2, 2025

Memorial University has officially launched the Fairlead Social Impact Fund, which it describes as Canada’s first university-housed, student-managed social impact fund. This fund will serve two purposes: supporting socially responsible investment in local social enterprises and providing students with a hands-on learning opportunity. “This initiative gives students the rare opportunity to make real investment decisions that drive meaningful social change,” explained Memorial Centre for Social Enterprise Manager Dr Gillian Morrisey. “We are so excited to be able to offer this opportunity to our students and our community.”

Without a national AI literacy strategy, Canada is leaving students and teachers ill-equipped to navigate artificial intelligence in education, warns Brock University professor Mohammed Estaiteyeh. Estaiteyeh explains that AI literacy gives learners the awareness, understanding, and critical thinking skills that they need to make safe, informed decisions about AI tools and assess their output. The author highlights how other countries are implementing national AI education initiatives and calls on Canada to create a co-ordinated strategy. This strategy would provide educators with the professional development and toolkits they need to guide students, ensure students develop AI literacy, and support collaboration between stakeholders. “Whether you think AI is good or bad,” he writes, “our kids need to learn about this technology and how to use it responsibly.”

A report published by the Government of Québec Ministère de l’Éducation asserts that QC’s secularism law is not being consistently respected at Dawson College and Vanier College, according to the Journal de Québec. CTV states that the report highlights issues such as tensions created by political student groups and divergent interpretations of academic freedom. The report authors questioned the relevance of prayer rooms on a public campus. La Presse reports that the investigators found the cégeps to have acted diligently and in accordance with legal and ministerial frameworks; they called for QC to tighten laws and regulations applying to the cégep system. Dawson and Vanier released a joint statement in which they expressed surprise at receiving the report after the media, but said they were pleased that the report acknowledged “the rigour of our practices.”

The Council of Ministers of Education, Canada (CMEC) recently convened for its annual meeting, where the provincial and territorial ministers discussed a variety of issues related to K-12 and postsecondary education. These topics included the quickly changing role of AI and digital technologies in education and the need for ethical and inclusive policies; the system-wide opportunities and challenges facing postsecondary education; and innovative approaches to aligning skills development with labour-market demands. “In the current context, it’s more important than ever to continue to work together to better respond to common workforce and innovation challenges,” said Government of Québec Minister of Education Pascale Déry, who is the incoming chair of CMEC.

The University of New Brunswick has announced that it will be creating a new teaching model for nursing students that uses extended reality (XR), thanks to a $500K commitment over three years from the Government of New Brunswick. UNB will set up 14 training stations at its Fredericton and Moncton campuses, where students will be able to develop their skills, make mistakes, and try approaching a situation in a different manner before entering the real-world clinical environment. This training model will also help to relieve pressure on clinical placement sites. UNB Nursing Assistant Professor Don Leidl explained that the university has the capacity to create new learning models on their own, resulting in “nurses building tools for nurses to education nurses.”

King’s University College’s School of Social Work has announced that it will be incorporating the Casper assessment into its admissions process. Casper is an open-response situational judgement test that presents applicants with real-world scenarios in order to gain a fuller picture of their social intelligence, professional skills, and readiness to support others. This Fall, applicants to King’s BSW and MSW programs will be expected to complete Casper as part of the application process. “This supports our commitment to preparing future Social Workers who are not only academically capable, but also ethically grounded, critically reflective, and equipped to lead meaningful change in their communities,” said King’s UC Graduate Program Coordinator Dr Jane E Sanders.

Suncrest College and First Nations University of Canada will launch a new cohort of the Bachelor of Indigenous Education program this fall that will include a remote option. The remote option expands access for students in northeast Saskatchewan by allowing them to stay closer to home while completing the four-year program. The program blends Indigenous content, land-based learning, and classroom experience, and graduates are certified to teach in Saskatchewan. “The program plays a vital role in promoting Indigenous knowledge, culture, and reconciliation through education,” said Suncrest VP of Academics and Learner Engagement Teri Thompson.

York University’s Board of Governors has approved a five-year budget plan–a shift from the typical three-year rolling budget at the university–in order to give the university time to realize the outcomes of its Forward Action Plan. The budget plan includes a $95.6M investment into enhancing and expanding scholarships and bursaries for 2025-27, $9M to support planning for the School of Medicine, and $2.9M investment into recruitment and retention over two years. The Senate and Board of Governors also approved the establishment of the School of Medicine within the Faculty of Health. The school will begin training physicians in Fall 2028.

Aurora College’s developmental studies program will be using online learning classes taught by the remaining instructors across its three campuses to save costs, reports Cabin Radio. Aurora President Angela James said that the move will “streamline delivery and make better use of our subject matter specialist instructors,” while also freeing up funding for other areas, such as academic supports, IT, and wellness supports. However, NWT Literacy Council Executive Director Kathryn Barry Paddock told Cabin Radio that online learning comes with its own challenges for learners, including those with different learning styles, a lack of access to reliable internet, or in need of additional learning support.

The Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance (OUSA) has released a new policy paper calling for urgent OSAP reform. The paper notes that students seeking OSAP face unclear eligibility rules, inconsistent disbursements, and limited access to appeals or financial aid information. The authors assert that these issues have persisted since policy changes in 2019 and a $400M funding reduction in 2020. To address these challenges, OUSA outlines recommendations that include restoring low-income tuition guarantees, improving loan repayment and transparency, and expanding supports for underrepresented groups. “It is integral that students have access to equitably distributed, needs-based financial aid,” says OUSA.