July 21, 2026

Mérici Collégial Privé and the Government of Québec have signed an agreement in principle for the college to join the public postsecondary system. QC Ministre de l’Enseignement supérieur Martine Biron explained that the college would be integrated into an existing institution in order to keep administrative costs low. The move comes at a time when QC expects enrolment in the Québec City region to increase by 37% by 2034. The partners will continue exploring the details of the integration over the next year, with classes at the college continuing as normal.

The Association of Atlantic Universities and the Atlantic Chamber of Commerce have partnered to sign a Prosperity Charter, which commits signatories to develop and retain the region’s future workforce. The charter will help to build stronger pathways for university students to the workforce by expanding opportunities in areas including mentorship, networking, and work-integrated learning. AAU Chair Dr Andrew Hakin explained that the majority of postsecondary graduates remain in the Atlantic region, which signals the benefits of working with Atlantic businesses on experiential learning.

École de technologie supérieure will receive up to $33M from the Government of Québec for a new aerospace engineering pavilion at the École nationale d’aérotechnique (ÉNA) of Cégep Édouard-Montpetit. The three-storey building will include classrooms, laboratories, and a research cluster, and will provide opportunities for synergy between the ÉTS and ÉNA communities. ÉTS directrice générale Kathy Baig explained that the resulting training and research ecosystem will be able to respond to the complex challenges of the aerospace industry.

The University of Saskatchewan and Métis Nation–Saskatchewan (MN-S) have signed a Joint Statement of Intent. This statement of intent recognizes MN-S as a Métis government that must support its citizens’ well-being and offer them programs and services. It further acknowledges that this work is supported by research, data, education, and policy expertise. “As a university community, we look forward to further engaging with the MN-S government to inform ongoing impactful and collaborative work, including the development of a strategy that reflects the needs, priorities, and future of this province,” said USask President Vince Bruni-Bossio.

Memorial University’s Faculty of Engineering has issued an apology after 103 applicants mistakenly received an engineering acceptance letter. Memorial told CBC that the emails were not official acceptance letters for the Fall semester. The messages were intended for the 350 students who had been accepted to the faculty. “I know that these students are very anxious at this time to get the results, that this was confusing and not the right thing,” said Memorial Engineering Associate Dean Dennis Peters. “Certainly, we apologize to those students. We are reviewing our processes to try and not let this kind of thing happen again.”

CBC reports that Cape Breton University is moving forward with a 146-unit development at the former Tartan Downs racetrack at a time when it has an oversupply of student accommodations. The university is contractually obligated to keep the building as part of its funding agreement with the Government of Nova Scotia Department of Advanced Education, reports CBC, while also reducing its campus vacancy rate from 34% to 5%. “CBU is likely in a housing oversupply situation that will increase as enrolment levels fall to 3,500 students in the coming years,” stated CBU AVP Becky Chisholm and Housing Director Doug Connors. “This is creating upward pressure on the residence vacancy rate both at present and in the coming years.”

The Association of Commonwealth Universities—which includes 11 Canadian postsecondary institutions among its members—has partnered with the Institute of Leadership. This partnership is focused on strengthening postsecondary leadership capacity and equipping universities to operate in the global context. The two partners will collaborate on leadership development opportunities; knowledge-sharing, mentoring, and peer-learning opportunities; the establishment of a Special Interest Group; and more. “This partnership brings together two organisations with a shared commitment to leadership excellence and a shared belief in the power of international collaboration,” said ACU Secretary General and Chief Executive Colin Riordan.

Collège Universel will be opening a new location in Sherbrooke, with registration for the Fall 2027 semester beginning this Fall. The college said that the new facility will provide students in its hockey program with a campus so that they can study in person. An article from La Tribune notes the connections between the administration of Collège Universel and that of the recently closed Collège supérieur de Sherbrooke. The QC ministry of higher education responded that each institution is assessed independently and subject to different regulatory frameworks and requirements.

Borealis, a national research data repository governed by the Digital Research Alliance of Canada, has announced that its CTS Documentation Suite has received an official endorsement from the CoreTrustSeal Board. This suite is an openly available resource for Borealis member institutions to support their data repositories. “By making these templates openly available, they lower barriers for repositories pursuing certification and help strengthen the consistency and accessibility of the CoreTrustSeal process,” said CoreTrustSeal Board Chair Olivier Rouchon. “This initiative exemplifies the spirit of community-driven capacity building that is essential to advancing trusted digital repositories globally.”

In a recent article for Nature, Bertalan Meskó, Tamás Kristóf, Josip Car, Joseph Sung, and Tien Yin Wong discuss how researchers can use foresight and scenario analysis to future-proof their research. While research programs anticipate future needs, assumptions about the programs are often not stated, tested, or revised. The authors offer a framework they call translational foresight, which can make research programs explicit, testable, traceable, and revisable. They also outline how scenario analysis can help ensure that decisions are made with consideration to future implications. They conclude by offering steps that the scientific community and funders can take to integrate these approaches into research.