July 7, 2026

A University of Calgary project will receive more than $4.2M in Government of Canada funding as a part of a broader $26M federal investment in clean energy in Alberta and Saskatchewan. The UCalgary project will research inter-provincial electricity transmission development in Western Canada, focusing on the economy and affordability; Indigenous partnership; clean energy; and national resilience. UCalgary VP Research Dr Bill Ghali explained that the project’s ultimate purpose is to respond to the urgent challenges around the increased demand on the electrical system from data centres, electric vehicles, and industry.

Thompson Rivers University’s Faculty of Law has received a $1.4M legacy gift from the late justice Hope Hyslop, KC. Part of the gift will establish the Hope Hyslop Legacy Community Legal Clinic Fund, which will serve Interior BC residents who are facing complex challenges. The funds will be used to expand the clinic’s capacity each year by increasing student opportunities and adding supervision. Additionally, the gift will establish the Hope Hyslop Legacy Law Retention Awards, which will provide $10K awards to returning third-year students who are dedicated to practicing family law within specific regions.

Portage College has received approval to launch a Bachelor of Education program, the first bachelor’s degree to be offered in the college’s history. The program offers a flexible multi-access format with in-person and remote courses. “We are removing barriers that have historically limited access for some potential learners,” said Portage President Dr Steve Price. “This is about growing our own educators, people who are already rooted in this region, and supporting them to step into the classroom without having to step away from their lives.” The program’s first cohort of students will begin their studies this Fall.

Canadore College has indicated that it will take several steps to address its projected budget deficit. In its business plan, the college noted the challenges that provincial funding levels, demographic shifts, the changing job market, and inflation pose to addressing this deficit. The college outlined several actions it will be taking to address the deficit, including collaborating with other sectors to diversify its income, imposing a hiring freeze, and potentially cancelling or suspending up to 35% of its postsecondary programs. Canadore VP Academic Ahmed Obaide explained that the college will be reviewing programs with lower demand and investing in programs aligned with local and regional workforce needs.

Institutions should strive to build a “sector-wide understanding” of continuing education outcome data, according to Lisa Rochman (MacEwan University). In her article for The evoLLLution, Rochman explained that institutions presently lack standardized methods to evaluate the outcomes of continuing education graduates. Citing micro-credentials as an example, Rochman notes that there is variety in the types of learning and credit hours awarded, making it difficult for members of the sector to make sense of each other’s data. Rochman highlights the recent success of the Canadian Association for University Continuing Education’s annual survey in building support for such a shared framework, adding that the sector should explore further opportunities to connect continuing education with labour market trends.

A new American Association of Colleges and Universities report on open-educational resources has found that these free resources lead to better student outcomes. Through a two-year study, the report authors found that courses that were designed with free course materials for students often had lower withdrawals, higher grades, and a decreased time to graduation for community college students. The study also noted that customizing OERs to courses can be labour intensive for faculty and may require “shifts in teaching practice, course design, and professional identity.” The authors outline ways that institutions can support the use of OERs with dedicated supports for faculty, including financial, time, and personnel supports.

York University has announced the official relaunch of a literary journal for Canadian Jewish writing called Parchment: Contemporary Canadian Jewish Writing. The journal has been relaunched by YorkU Associate Professor David S Koffman, with support from the university’s Koschitzky Centre for Jewish Studies, the J Richard Shiff Chair for the Study of Canadian Jewry, and the Association for Canadian Jewish Studies. It will be published two times each year, and will include a variety of writing including poetry, fiction, and creative non-fiction as well as visual storytelling. “York University’s support helps sustain a platform dedicated to celebrating and advancing contemporary Canadian Jewish writing for readers across the country,” said Koffman.

Peter Sutoris (University of Leeds) encourages university academic departments to move away from hiring for “fit” when bringing on new academics. Sutoris explains that hiring for fit instead of hiring for quality tends to preserve the status quo and focus on addressing immediate departmental needs and research opportunities. Hiring for quality has greater long-term benefits for the department, but is more difficult to do. It requires the hiring team to be able to recognize originality and potential, while also navigating the tension of disagreement. “Every appointment is a bet on who will carry a field forward, yet we keep betting on whoever costs least, unsettles least and matches the current operational needs most closely,” writes Sutoris. “None of this decides whether the discipline advances.”

At McGill University, education faculty represented by Association mcgilloise des professeur·es d’éducation (AMPE) have voted in favour of a five-day strike mandate. According to the Montréal Gazette, AMPE is negotiating its first collective agreement with the university, and AMPE president Dennis Wendt stated that the union has been in negotiations for more than a year. The association’s members are seeking wages comparable to other education professors at Canadian universities; a pension plan similar to Université de Montréal; and improvements to academic freedom protections, tenure and promotion processes, and working conditions for contract academic staff.

In a recent article for Nature, Anna McKie discusses the issues with using AI detectors to evaluate sensitive student work. While AI tools are being used to detect AI use, these tools vary in their quality and are often inaccurate, unjustly accusing students of cheating. The author discusses a variety of instances where inaccurate AI detection led to complaints after student work was flagged. Through conversations with sector experts, McKie highlights recommendations that include avoiding taking AI detectors’ findings at face value and redesigning assignments to capture the learning process.