Post-Secondary News Digest for January 11, 2010
Canada
U of A axes sick notes:
(Edmonton Journal) The University of Alberta has done away with sick notes for students, saying they trust people to be honest when declaring themselves too sick to write exams. In October, the university eliminated the need for notes for students suffering from flu-like symptoms during the H1N1 outbreak. This new decision makes the policy permanent and extends it to all illnesses.
Aquatic lab construction begins at Mount A:
(New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal) Mount Allison University's new aquatic research lab will allow the school to investigate how the changing environment is affecting fish stocks. The New Brunswick school started construction on the new Crabtree Aqualab after determining their current facilities weren't up to the task. The university expects the new lab, which will cost between $800,000 and $900,000, to be completed in spring or early summer.
Maritime students compete to go green:
(CBC) Students at the University of Prince Edward Island have challenged their fellow students to turn out the lights and cut energy consumption. The school has entered into a competition with Dalhousie, Mount Allison, the University of New Brunswick, St. Francis Xavier and Holland College to use less electricity over the next few weeks. Thirty residences at the schools will monitor their consumption from now until Feb. 20, with the winning school taking home an unspecified prize.
Privacy complaints over student hand scans:
(Metro Canada) Fingerprints, thumb-scans and vein maps -- new anti-cheating measures demanded by some professional programs in Canada -- are spurring privacy complaints. The federal privacy commissioner has received three complaints concerning security measures being introduced in some Canadian programs for students who want to take the GMAT entrance exams for U.S. business schools. The idea is to stop cheaters from having someone else take the tests for them. Some 8,000 Canadian students take the GMATs every year.
UBC research to aid Team Canada:
(Canada.com) Athletes aren't the only ones who have worked toward winning gold medals at the Vancouver Olympics. Engineers from the University of British Columbia have developed smarter sports technology for Team Canada. The researchers have spent nearly half a million dollars and three years developing water-repelling metal for skates and a new plastic designed to speed up Canadian snowboards.
Teens, workers compete for Ont. university spots:
(The Canadian Press) High school students in Ontario aren't just competing with each other for spots in the province's universities. They now have to duke it out with laid-off workers hoping to return to school. Administrators say they won't give preferential treatment to graduating high school students, meaning they'll be up against more experienced applicants than usual. A new government program to help mature students head back for more education, as well as massive layoffs in the automotive and forestry industries, has university enrolment up 10 per cent.
Janitor is UVic's most prolific writer:
(Victoria Times-Colonist) A janitor at the University of Victoria has beat out all other faculty and staff to become the school’s most prolific writer. Paula Johanson, who cleans dorm rooms by day, penned five of the 144 books in the display honouring UVic’s employed writers. Johanson’s 18 published books cover a myriad of mostly non-fiction topics, including platinum, fair trade, British poetry and muscular dystrophy.
Community colleges to offer bachelor's degrees:
(San Diego Union-Tribune) A California legislator is proposing a bill that would allow community colleges to offer four-year bachelor’s degrees. Enrolment caps and high tuition costs have kept high school grads from enrolling at the state’s public universities. A plan by Assemblyman Marty Block of San Diego would help ease pressure on state universities, by offering degrees more cheaply than the California State University system. However, Block anticipates major opposition to the bill.
New courses aim to avoid drug industry bias:
(New York Times) Stanford University will announce its plans today to develop continuing education programs for doctors that are free of the control of the drug industry. Drug companies in the past have paid up to half of the total cost of such programs and have used their role to influence topic selection and advice given to doctors. However, the new Stanford programs will be funded by a three-year, US$3-million grant from drug-maker Pfizer. Dr. Philip Pizzo, dean of Stanford medical school, says Pfizer will not be able to dictate how the money will be spent.
U.S.
College press run by undergrads:
(Inside Higher Ed) Vermont’s Champlain College has created a university press run by undergrads. Called the Champlain College Publishing Initiative, it publishes student work, sells it and makes anthologies to be used as classroom texts. Tim Brookes, director of the college’s writing program, says the problem with creative writing classes is students are taught to read, not to write. Student-made anthologies will help. “If you want to teach someone writing, you want to give them a different kind of [text] – one that says, ‘Here’s how you do this.’”
Schwarzenegger to transfer money from prisons to universities:
(Media-Newswire.com) Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger made a proposal on Jan. 6 to amend the state constitution, moving money previously allocated to prisons to post-secondary education. The state correctional budget would be limited to no more than seven per cent of the state’s general fund. The University of California and California State University together would receive no less than 10 per cent. In 2009-10, the universities’ portion of the budget made up 5.9 per cent, while the prison’s share was 9.7 per cent.
National AAUP joins criticism of Provost on Nike Board:
(Inside Higher Ed) The American Association of University Professors has joined a chorus of critics opposing University of Washington Provost Phyllis Wise’s move to join the board of Nike. Faculty critics say it will be a problematic role for Wise. The university has contracts with the company and campus is demanding an examination of their labour practices.
Yale fights to keep Van Gogh painting:
(Yale Daily News) Yale University is warning that if a federal court rules it has no ownership over a Vincent Van Gogh painting, billions of dollars worth of other artwork could be put into legal jeopardy. The painting, called “The Night Café,” was purchased by Yale from the Soviet Union after most Russian property had been nationalized in 1918. The original owner’s great-grandson is claiming the nationalization of the painting was illegal, but Yale says if the court agrees, at least US$20 billion worth of artwork similarly nationalized by Russia could be up for grabs.
World
Racial attacks have Indian students avoiding Australian universities:
(Times of India) A wave of racially motivated attacks on Indian students in Australia is causing Indians to rethink their plans to study in the country. There have been roughly three attacks in the past two weeks, some of which were fatal. Immigration consultants say they have seen a drop in inquiries from Indian students since the most recent attack, in which an Indian man was set on fire. The drop in interest could be a positive for British, American and Canadian universities, as Indian students looking for an English-language university education may turn to seemingly safer schools.
No exams for Indian students who skip classes:
(Times of India) Indian students considering skipping class at the Indian Institute of Technology’s Kanpur location may want to think twice. The prestigious school announced last week it is barring 38 students from writing their exams in a move meant to instill a sense of discipline among students and discourage skipping class. The students may be eligible for reinstatement if they are able to provide a valid excuse to the university’s senate.
14-year-old accepted into Cambridge:
(Varsity) Cambridge University will open its illustrious doors to 14-year-old Arran Fernandez this October, making him the youngest student to attend the school since former British prime minister William Pitt the Younger in 1773. Fernandez passed his secondary education math tests with an A in 2003, at the age of seven. He now says he aspires to be a research mathematician at Cambridge and solve the Riemann Hypothesis, an unsolved mathematical problem involving the patterns of prime numbers that has baffled mathematicians since 1859.
Cambridge issuing bonds to fund new developments:
(Varsity) Cambridge University is planning to issue bonds worth up to $500 million to fund two residential and research development projects. Throughout its 800-year history, Cambridge has never before issued bonds, but the school claims that “alternative methods” for generating the necessary funding were inadequate. The move follows a trend established by American Ivy League universities, which have regularly relied on bonds to reduce their dependence on government funding.