June 5, 2025

McMaster University and the Government of Prince Edward Island have launched the PEI-McMaster Collaborative Hospitalist Fellowship, which will provide international graduates with a pathway to practicing medicine. Health PEI will select and fund fellowship candidates, who will then complete most of their training at McMaster. Upon graduation, they will be expected to practice in the province for at least one year. “This initiative helps international physicians integrate into the Canadian health system while giving PEI a boost in our workforce,” explained PEI Minister of Health and Wellness Mark McLane.

Humber Polytechnic has launched an initiative to help over 8,000 employees who have been laid off by Hudson’s Bay. The polytechnic has launched a series of free career counselling webinars called Career Comeback, which will cover topics like resume and interview best practices and help participants understand how their experience, education, and skills align with in-demand postsecondary programs. Participants will also get access to JobScan Premium—a resume builder software—for a limited time. “Humber Polytechnic is here to help and we’re doing this all for free […] because it’s the right thing to do,” said Humber Continuous Professional Learning Associate Dean Dave Smiderle.

The University of Prince Edward Island’s Atlantic Veterinary College will be increasing the number of seats available to Canadian students by reclassifying 19 international seats. Beginning in the 2025-2026 admissions cycle, the 19 seats that were previously designated as international will now be reclassified as “unsubsidized seats.” International students will still be able to access these seats, but the change will enable Canadian applicants who are not selected for a subsidized seat to pursue veterinary studies with tuition and fees that align with tuition costs abroad. “This change preserves our core commitment to the Atlantic provinces, while offering more options to talented students across the country,” said AVC Dean Dr Dominique Griffon. “It ensures that excellence and opportunity remain central to AVC’s mission.”

The Financial Times has published its 2025 Executive Education Rankings. This pair of rankings evaluates the custom and open-enrolment programs at 119 business schools with either AACSB or Equis accreditation from around the world. Four Canadian business schools appeared in the Custom program rankings: Western University’s Ivey School of Business (#37), York University Schulich School of Business (#58), University of British Columbia Sauder School of Business (#70), and HEC Montréal (#85). For Open programs, five Canadian business schools appeared: HEC Montréal (tied for #30), Western Ivey (#32), York Schulich (#34), the University of Saskatchewan Edwards School of Business (#77), and UBC Sauder (#78).

The Fédération québécoise des professeures et professeurs d’université (FQPPU) has launched a new campaign, “Relight the Beacon,” to restore universities’ public mission. Despite Québec’s adoption of the Loi sur la liberté académique in 2022, FQPPU alleges that academic freedom violations are rising, and institutions have been slow to implement the law. The manifesto outlines five pillars—public funding, academic freedom, collegial governance, institutional autonomy, and resistance to the commodification of knowledge—and warns that all are under threat. “The university is not a brand to be sold, nor a parrot for political and economic rhetoric,” said FQPPU President Madeleine Pastinelli.

In a recent Ask Dr Editor column for University Affairs, Dr Letitia Henville shares insights from interviews with 49 former SSHRC Insight and Insight Development Grant peer reviewers on the unwritten expectations that SSHRC applicants should understand to ensure their projects are competitive. For example, Henville notes that peer reviewers do assess equity, diversity, and inclusion, even though EDI is not explicitly listed in the evaluation criteria. In addition, the author underscores three key strategies to support application success: preparing precise budgets, choosing the right committee, and crafting distinctive training and knowledge mobilization plans.

Champlain College Saint-Lambert, Dalhousie University, and Kwantlen Polytechnic University have each unveiled art installations featuring aquatic creatures. Champlain College media students installed a colourful public art piece that in the G-Block stairwell that features fish. Dalhousie University has installed an 18-metre blue whale skeleton in its Beaty Centre for Marine Biodiversity, which is anticipated to open later this year. The skeleton is from a whale that was found beached in NS in 2017. At KPU, Coast Salish Artist Shain Jackson has installed the Sea of Salmon, which pays visual tribute to salmon’s importance in Indigenous culture and British Columbia’s ecosystem.

The University of Guelph-Humber’s Early Childhood Studies program has launched Walking with Children, a five-year initiative supported by the Flanagan Foundation that develops culturally-grounded curriculum rooted in Indigenous worldviews of childhood. Led by Humber Polytechnic Professor Maya-Rose Simon, an Anishinaabeg from the Chippewa Tribe of Sault Ste Marie, the project emphasizes land-based education and intergenerational learning. As the first step of the project, UoGuelph-Humber and collaborators such as the University of Waterloo rebuilt a wiigiwaam at the Silverthorne Early Learning Earth Centre. “We are not just rebuilding a structure—we are rebuilding ourselves, our connections, and our future,” said Simon.

Ambrose University will be adding an Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference Cross Country Running program for the 2025-2026 season. “There’s a sense of anticipation in the air, and I’m looking forward to building team spirit and supporting each other through the challenges that come our way,” said Ambrose Assistant Professor Dr Saulo Neves, who will serve as the team’s head coach. Neves highlighted that he “[hopes] to create a supportive and inclusive environment that fosters personal growth, teamwork, and resilience,” as well as being competitive within the conference.

In a recent article for the Winnipeg Free Press, University of Winnipeg Professor Jim Clark reflects on the importance of funding basic research. Clark writes that there is widespread misunderstanding about the fact that basic research is conducted commonly at universities, as well as its connections to applied research. “Research that lacks foreseeable applications is invisible to most members of the public,” concludes Clark, adding that some politicians exploit this for political gain. “The result is fewer countries invest in university research to simply understand the world, and fewer benefit economically from later applications without which the world is worse off.”