November 6, 2025

The University of Waterloo’s Faculty of Engineering has received $20M from the Gloria Baylis Foundation and has renamed its engineering building in recognition of the contribution. The Pearl Sullivan Engineering Building’s name honours former UWaterloo Engineering dean, the late Dr Pearl Sullivan, under whose leadership the building was constructed. The donation will support UWaterloo’s work on wicked problems, as well as the establishment of a Canada Excellence Research Chair in Health Engineering and Technology. “Our goal with this gift is to support the University’s culture of embracing positive change and its drive to make a real impact in the world,” said Gloria Baylis Foundation Director Valerie Baylis.

Colleges and Institutes Canada, Polytechnics Canada, the U15, and Universities Canada have each released their initial reactions to the proposed federal Budget 2025. All four advocacy groups praised the budget’s emphasis on economic resilience, as well as the inclusion of infrastructure funding, which will help postsecondary campuses to develop the facilities they need to support the budget’s goals. Polytechnics Canada also noted the investments in youth employment and reskilling, while U15 and Universities Canada both highlighted the commitments to attracting international talent. CICan and Polytechnics Canada said that the budget failed to fully recognize the role of the institution types they represent in achieving the budget’s goals.

The University of Manitoba has received $5.4M from Dr Wayne Chiu and Dr Eleanor Chiu for the establishment of the Chiu Centre for Business Serving Community. This centre—housed within the IH Asper School of Business—will focus on business models and how they can be harnessed to shape society. It will offer students research opportunities, thought leadership, real-world experience, career development, and opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration. “The Centre will empower our students and future leaders to approach business with compassion, drive innovation with purpose, and create meaningful impact, all while advancing a culture that keeps community at its core,” said UManitoba IH Asper School of Business Dean Bruno Silvestre.

Student unions in British Columbia are calling for more, improved affordable public transportation options. A coalition of student unions called BC3—the Alma Mater Society of the University of British Columbia (UBC AMS), the Simon Fraser Student Society, the Students’ Union for UBC Okanagan, and the University of Victoria Students’ Society—cosigned an open letter calling on BC Ferries to offer a $10 walk-on rate for postsecondary students. They stated that this would mirror existing support for K-12 students and improve accessibility, affordability, and ridership. UBC AMS has also voiced its support of the UBCx project, which would connect the SkyTrain to the university’s campus, and hosted a rally last month in support of the project.

The Collège communautaire du Nouveau-Brunswick has shared its 30-year campus master plans for its campuses in Bathurst and Dieppe. The college intends to develop and modernize the two campuses in order to fully meet the current and future needs of its community. In Bathurst, CCNB will be centralizing activities within a single hub for all learning, innovation, and community services; developing new facilities to support recreational and academic activities; and potentially developing new student residences. In Dieppe, the college plans to take actions that will better integrate the campus into the city and optimize its learning spaces to accommodate growing demand.

Instructors must adapt their evaluation methods in online courses to combat the challenges generative AI poses to the credibility of courses, write Mohammed Estaiteyeh (Brock University) and Rahul Kumar (Brock). Estaiteyeh and Kumar explain that asynchronous courses are most at risk of having their credibility challenged, as instructors cannot observe students’ thinking processes and generative AI can be easily applied to conventional assessments. While “less-than-ideal” strategies like short oral examinations and verified experiential learning components can respond to these challenges, the authors conclude that the design of asynchronous programs ultimately must be completely reconsidered.

Brandon University has formally adopted the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA), which commits the university to evaluating scholarly work using fair, transparent, and inclusive approaches. As a signatory, BrandonU will take several steps to improve fairness in evaluating scholarly work, including revising its internal research assessment policies and supporting researchers in documenting their contributions. “Whether it’s through traditional publications, community engagement, creative scholarship, or Indigenous research methodologies, our evaluation practices must reflect the breadth and depth of contributions our researchers make to knowledge and to society,” said BrandonU VP (Research & Graduate Studies) Dr Bernadette Ardelli.

Earlier this week, Ukrainian university students visited the Saskatchewan Legislative Building to express concerns that the Ukrainian student tuition agreement will not be extended. The agreement—which is set to expire in March 2026—allows students from Ukraine to pay domestic tuition rates when studying at Saskatchewan postsecondary institutions. “If this program genuinely gets cut, the price is going to be […] $40,000, $50,000 a year,” said University of Saskatchewan student Ivan Teteria. “People who flee the war typically don’t have just $40,000 lying around.” The program is jointly funded by the federal and provincial government, and Government of Saskatchewan Advanced Education Minister Ken Cheveldayoff said that the two governments will be engaging in contract negotiations in the future.

The Ontario Public Service Employees Union has announced that its members have ratified a new three-year contract, after 89% of voting members voted in favour of the agreement. The ratification comes after a deal was reached last month which ended the nearly five weeks of strike action. Several key benefits to the new agreement include increases to wages, job security enhancements, extended severance and recall rights, and enhancements to bereavement leave. The College Employer Council said it was “grateful” that staff have ratified the new agreement and returned to work. OPSEU indicated that its focus is now on the province, as it intends to “put an end” to the provincial government’s “years of defunding our college system.”

Saskatchewan Polytechnic’s Digital Integration Centre of Excellence (DICE), as a part of the Innovation Centre of the North (ICON), has joined the NATO Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA) test centre network. As a member of ICON NATO DIANA, DICE will assist start-ups and entrepreneurs by supporting the testing and validation of technologies that can be used for defence and civilian applications. “This partnership strengthens Sask Polytech’s international presence and provides Canadian innovators with invaluable access to expertise and resources from allies across the network,” said Sask Polytech AVP, Applied Research and Innovation Dr Ian McWilliams.