July 23, 2024

The Vancouver Sun reports that the number of foreign student permits granted by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) in 2024 has outpaced the number of permits granted over the same period in 2023 (216,260 vs 200,205). During the first five months of 2024, the greatest number of student visas were granted to students from India, China, Nigeria, the Philippines, and Nepal. Each of these countries saw a greater number of visa permits granted than in the same period last year. IRCC spokesperson Rémi Larivière said that it may be too early to assess how the intake cap has impacted study permit applications, as summer and early fall are the busiest season for study permit processing.

Pro-Palestinian protesters have dismantled the encampment on the University of Victoria’s campus. According to Times Colonist, protesters were read a trespass advisory over the weekend and told that they had to vacate the university grounds by the morning of July 22. “As we see no further prospect for successful dialogue, the university has advised the People’s Park UVic that they are trespassing and asked them to leave university property,” read a statement from UVic. Around 60 people gathered to help take down the encampment on Monday morning.

The University of Guelph and the City of Guelph recently announced that they have renewed their joint initiative the Guelph Lab for another three years. Established in 2014, the Guelph Lab provides a hub for research, collaboration, and experimentation to address challenges that impact the community. “We are delighted to be continuing this impactful and long-standing collaboration,” said Dr Elizabeth Jackson, co-director of the Guelph Lab and director of the Community Engaged Scholarship Institute at UoGuelph. “This renewal will enable the Lab to continue this work and leverage community-based collaboration to address shared issues, advancing our vision of an inclusive and collaborative Guelph.”

The Government of Prince Edward Island’s Chief Public Health Office is encouraging postsecondary students to get a free meningitis B vaccine before the Fall semester begins. “I’m hoping that more post-secondary students either attending post-secondary here or off-Island will get the vaccine and that we won’t see any devastating cases of meningitis B in any of our students,” said PEI Chief Public Health Officer Dr Heather Morrison. Students can receive the doses at Holland College, the University of Prince Edward Island, or at a public health nursing clinic.

The recent international student restrictions have hit Christian postsecondary institutions in Canada hard, writes Adam MacInnis for Christianity Today. Prior to the Government of Canada’s decision to reduce the number of new international students, many Christian institutions had planned to increase their numbers of international undergraduates to bolster their financial sustainability. Providence University College President Kenton Anderson said that the change has resulted in the loss of millions in revenue. Kingswood University President Stephen Lennox said that housing in the community—part of the rationale behind the restrictions—is not a major problem and Crandall University marketing and communications manager Darrell Nevers added that most students find housing through the university’s strong student network. Kingswood and Providence have both taken steps to expand graduate programming to strengthen their sustainability.

The University of Waterloo has partnered with the Accelerator Centre (AC) to launch the Global Impact Creator Program. This pilot program supports innovators looking to transform their research and ideas into solutions that benefit human, animal, and planetary health. The program provides participants with one-to-one mentorship; networking opportunities with peers, leaders, and investors; and a $12K stipend. “Waterloo is pleased to work with the Accelerator Centre to create novel pathways for our students to explore unmet needs in a global context,” said UWaterloo VP of Research International Dr Charmaine Dean. “We will be excited to see what the bright and curious Impact Creators engaged in this superb new program will come up with over the year.”

In an article for the evoLLLution, Isabelle Piette (Université de Montréal) asks how continuing education departments “[can] reinvent ourselves and develop relevant programs and projects” in today’s volatile, uncertain, and complex environment. Piette points out that competition in the learning ecosystem has intensified, compelling postsecondary institutions to develop innovative continuing education programming that meets labour market considerations. The author shares three principles that institutions can use to strategically position future projects and programs, including investing in analysis before developing innovative programs and projects; reflecting upon their institution’s values, culture, priorities, and identity; and benchmarking from the student’s perspective. Piette concludes that these guiding principles will help institutions identify development opportunities and reduce any risks in developing innovative programs.

The University of Manitoba’s Faculty of Law will launch two new micro-diploma programs that will support internationally trained lawyers (ITLs) to become licensed to practice law in Manitoba. These micro-diplomas in Canadian Public Law and Canadian Private Law aim to provide better opportunities for ITLs to integrate into the Canadian legal community, find peer support, and access legal resources. UManitoba Dean of Law Dr Richard Jochelson said that the new micro-diplomas are “a critical step towards making the legal profession more accessible, not only for ITLs but also for the diverse immigrant communities they serve.” The programs will officially launch in Fall 2025.

Wilfrid Laurier University and the University of Toronto will be offering new courses on hip-hop this Fall, taught by Juno Award-winning rapper and WLU alumnus Shad. Shad was WLU’s hip-hop artist in residence last year and was asked to develop a course for the Fall 2024 semester. At WLU, Shad will teach a special course called Hip-Hop to the World that will “delve into the unique approaches to poetry, performance, and production found in hip-hop music;” At U of T, Shad will be co-teaching a course titled Hip-Hop and the City with Dr Kofi Hope. Shad said that he hopes to pass on some “gems of real world wisdom” to his students.

In an article for University World News, University of Hong Kong scholars Hugo Horta and Jisun Jung propose three solutions to the crisis facing peer-review processes. The authors write that writers, editors, and reviewers are at capacity due to journals receiving a high volume of submissions. Instead of replacing the peer-review system altogether, Horta and Jung argue that it should be fine-tuned to become more inclusive, provide incentives to participants, and model transparency. The authors conclude by noting that the challenges that peer review is facing present an opportunity “to adapt to a fast-evolving scientific system” that followed a more “participatory, complex, and global” model with the goal of a “more inclusive, transparent, and fairly rewarded assessment of scientific works.”