March 16, 2026

Several institutions have shared how they are using AI in their courses and classrooms. Cégep de Matane is experimenting with the use of AI in its nursing program to provide feedback on virtual reality scenarios. At the University of Saskatchewan, PhD candidate Olivia Abram is exploring ways to incorporate generative AI into an Indigenous storytelling course, with the goal of helping students to see new possibilities and develop their critical thinking. Speaking to Radio-Canada, staff and faculty from Cégep de Trois-Rivières shared how they are incorporating AI into their courses. The cégep has taken steps to ensure students have clarity on how to use it appropriately and that instructors are supported in their ideas for using AI in the classroom.

Acadia University, Fanshawe College, and North Island College each announced cuts to their programming or staffing last week, due to financial pressures. At Acadia, 31 staff in administrative and service roles were laid off, including the entire department responsible for the university’s Wong International Centre. Fanshawe announced cuts to nine programs last week, which Fanshawe Senior VP Academic Susan Cluett said will save the college $500K and result in no staff reductions. Meanwhile, NIC is in discussions with the faculty association to cut up to 10 positions as it reviews program feasibility.

The Government of Canada’s Future Skills Centre recently announced that it would be investing $5.5M to replicate three proven training models in new locations. The Replicate initiative will expand three programs—Construct, which is focused on construction careers; Reboot+, which is focused on the school-to-work transition; and In Motion and Momentum+, which aims to help people on social assistance find meaningful work. Reboot+ is led by founding partner Douglas College and involves the College of the North Atlantic and Fanshawe College.

In a recent article for University Affairs, Loleen Berdahl (University of Saskatchewan) explains how institutions can incorporate more human skill development in their programs. She asserts that the arrival of AI heightens the value of human skills and describes three ways that faculty can support their students’ human skill development. These strategies include requiring students to complete liberal arts courses, offering experiential learning opportunities, and introducing human skills development opportunities in the classroom. “Human skills have always been valuable to the economy and to our larger society,” writes Berdahl. “The current attention to these skills presents an opportunity for universities to support student development and demonstrate our continuing societal value.”

Sheridan College and Trent University have expanded their college-to-university learning pathways to enable graduates of Sheridan’s arts and science and pre-health sciences programs to continue their education in a degree program. Under the expanded credit transfer agreement, graduates of select Sheridan programs will be able to enter and complete a select Trent bachelor’s degree program with only three years of additional study. The new pathways will reduce course duplication and support long-term academic advancement.

In a recent article for Inside Higher Ed, Johanna Alonso discusses how weather during campus tours can impact prosepective students’ application decisions. Alonso discusses a US research paper that discovered that students were less likely to apply to an institution if they toured the campus on a day that was rainy, excessively hot, or cloudy and cold. The report authors encouraged institutions to find ways to accommodate for weather where possible, such as encouraging tour participants to sign up for tours on days with a forecast of mild weather.

McMaster University signed a memorandum of understanding last week with Vilnius University, the Vilnius University Foundation, and the Embassy of the Republic of Lithuania to Canada. McMaster says that this MOU will build on the existing research connections its researchers have with scholars at the Lithuanian university. The MOU will formalize and strengthen collaboration between the universities in the fields of health sciences, social sciences, and interdisciplinary research. In the future, the partners plan to explore mobility options that would drive future research collaborations for faculty and students.

The University of the Fraser Valley is planning to develop its underutilized campus lands through the UFV Properties Trust with the goal of enlivening its campus environments and generating revenue. The trust will develop the university’s underutilized land over the next few years, creating liveable communities beside its Abbotsford and Chilliwack campuses with amenities that reflect the needs of the university community and bring in revenue for the institution. UFV VP Administration Jackie Hogan explained that the funds generated by these efforts will be distributed to UFV and the UFV Foundation to be used for strategic priorities such as academic capital infrastructure, research funding, and student awards. The next steps for UFV include technical studies and servicing of the land, rezoning applications, and developer procurement.

Cégep Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu has announced that it is partnering with Club de golf Pinegrove to introduce an intercollegiate golf team to its sports program, Les Géants. Starting in Fall 2026, student-athletes will be able to pursue their athletic development in golf while completing their studies. They will have access to the facilities at Club de golf Pinegrove, as well as specialized coaching. The golf team will compete in the Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec (RSEQ) league.

In a recent article for the Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, Jonathan Graves (University of British Columbia) discusses how to fairly weight assessments and final exams in order to evaluate students most effectively. Graves shares a framework that connects learning outcomes to assessment weighting to ensure that a student’s final grade best reflects their learning. After explaining the base framework, he discusses key considerations and the implications that this has for common teaching practices like low-weight final exams and allowing for dropped assessments. In an appendix, he explains how the framework can be applied through a real-world example.