July 21, 2025

The Rideau Hall Foundation (RHF) and the Mastercard Foundation have announced an $8.6M investment in support of 12 Indigenous-led partnerships focused on recruiting and retaining Indigenous teachers. The partnerships involve postsecondary institutions such as First Nations University of Canada, the Louis Riel Institute, Memorial University, the University of Alberta, the University of British Columbia, and the University of Manitoba, as well as the under-development Inuit Nunangat University. “Indigenous youth are telling us loud and clear: they want to learn from educators who reflect their communities and worldviews,” said RHF Board Director Dr Annette Trimbee. “This is about supporting educators who carry cultural wisdom into classrooms and creating spaces where all students can thrive.”

The Government of Ontario is reportedly planning to revise core college and university funding as soon as next spring. A memo from ON Colleges and Universities Minister Nolan Quinn states that the review will help align programs with labour market needs, ensuring regional priorities are taken into account, improving outcomes for students, and ensuring institutions are on solid ground financially with “fair, predictable, and transparent funding.” Quinn explained that the review will ensure that investments in PSE align with the needs of “students, communities, industry, and our economy” and address “the long-term sustainability of the postsecondary education sector.” Separate from the review of core funding for the sector, the Toronto Star says that an anonymous source indicated that ON may also consider lifting the seven-year-old tuition freeze.

The Government of Alberta has reportedly become the first in Canada to regulate and license health care aides under a regulatory college. Starting next February, the approximately 40,000 health care aides working in AB will need to be licensed under the College of Licensed Practical Nurses and Health Care Aides. This new college will register workers, set practice and conduct standards, handle complaints, and ensure staff engage in professional development on an ongoing basis. Postsecondary institutions, health care aides, the regulatory college, and employers will work together on this transition over the coming months.

The Government of Canada’s tri-agency council has made two new announcements. Dimensions Canada has created a new cohort, which consists of 11 universities, five colleges, and two polytechnics. Members of this cohort will share knowledge, experiences, and materials with other institutions; they can also participate in the Dimensions recognition program, which is focused on the advancement of EDI. Meanwhile, the tri-agency has opened its Indigenous Innovation and Leadership in Research Network Grants competition for 2025, which awards funding to Indigenous not-for-profit organizations and postsecondary institutions in support of Indigenous-led research, strategies, and structures. The funding will support multiple objectives, including increasing networking and collaboration among Indigenous researchers and communities, and efforts related to Indigenous knowledge systems and ontology, epistemology, and methodology.

CEWIL Canada has announced partnerships with four organizations—Academica Group, the Conference Board of Canada, NVision Insight Group, and Talent Strategy Collective—to advance work-integrated learning in Canada. The projects undertaken through these partnerships will demonstrate the economic impact of WIL experiences through CEWIL’s iHUB, reframe CEWIL’s WIL typology through an Indigenous lens, identify and address critical barriers for industry, and build actionable knowledge for public policy and practice. “From measuring ROI of WIL to Indigenizing our frameworks, these initiatives will equip us with the evidence, inclusivity, and industry insights necessary to continue to shape the future of WIL in Canada,” said CEWIL Executive Director Charlene Marion.

Several Canadian postsecondary institutions have appeared in the 2025 World University Rankings for Innovation (WURI). These rankings were launched by a consortium of universities in 2020 with the goal of assessing universities according to the criteria of “innovation,” “implementability,” and “impact.” Canadian institutions that appeared in the global rankings included: Simon Fraser University (#12), Queen’s University (#114), the University of Toronto (#133), the University of Waterloo (#152), McGill University (#199), McMaster University (#212), the University of British Columbia (#239), the University of Calgary (#246), and HEC Montréal (#364).

Simon Fraser University and Fraser Health have partnered to launch the SFU-FH Health Research Institute (SFHRI). This research institute will support collaboration between patients, clinicians, and researchers and foster the creation of new research opportunities. These efforts will benefit clinicians and communities across the rapidly-growing region and beyond, helping to build an integrated culture of research and care. “There is a huge amount of health expertise at both institutions and this institute will help bring that talent together to support community-engaged research,” explained SFHRI Director Carolyn Sparrey. “In so doing, it will help to transform health care in BC by making it more accessible, effective, patient-centred, and sustainable.”

The University of Winnipeg and other organizations in Winnipeg are launching activities and camps to keep young wildfire evacuees busy. Speaking to CBC, several evacuees from the Garden Hill Anisininew Nation explained that it has been difficult to find affordable activities in the city, as well as transportation to these activities. In response, UWinnipeg is taking action, inviting youth to join its expanded summer camps for free, providing equipment such as soccer balls for youth to play with, and hosting ToyBox Manitoba—which is run by UWinnipeg Professor Sheri-Lynn Skwarchuk—to provide educational activities on campus. The goal is to help keep the evacuees occupied while they wait for the all-clear to return home.

In a recent article for The Conversation, Rachel Fitzgerald (University of Queensland) and Caitlin Curtis (UQueensland) discuss the importance of ensuring graduates are prepared to use AI tools responsibly. While many Australian universities permit students to use AI in certain situations, Fitzgerald and Curtis explain that this does not inherently teach students how the tools work or about responsible use. They argue that all learners need to graduate with a basic understanding of how AI works, its limitations and biases, the role of human judgement, and what constitutes responsible use in their field of study. To accomplish this, the authors note that institutions will need to invest in academic staff development and teaching resources, while governments will need to offer clear policy direction.

The body of a Thompson Rivers University international student has been recovered by police after an extensive search, reports Castanet. During a game of volleyball with other international students, Jatin Garg reportedly entered the Thompson River to retrieve the ball and was swept away by the undercurrent. TRU has offered its support to Garg’s family and friends and is helping repatriate his body to India. “We view that as the least we can do[. T]he parents trusted us, sent a student to us, and this is the worst nightmare a parent can have,” said TRU VP International Baihua Chadwick. “We can’t bring their children back to life, but we can lessen their burden through this kind of support.”