Updates on the world of Post-Secondary Education...a review of interesting articles from the Month of November

Link of the month:

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/complaint+launched+society+over+post+secondary+education/2272723/story.html
(UBC AMS student government has lodged a complaint with the United Nations over the federal and BC governments' failure to meet international obligations to provide accessible higher education)
(Related story below:***)

Teaching:
http://www.educationalpolicy.org/pub/etw/canada/commentary/etwcancom_091127.html
(K-12 or PSE, Teaching is crucial:"..copious [amounts of] evidence suggesting that the quality of a teacher trumps all other school-related factors in influencing student performance, numerous policy initiatives have been launched north and south of the border to improve teacher quality...")

PSE, Tuition and Advocacy:

http://www.ousa.ca/2009/11/10/ousa-presents-a-post-reaching-higher-plan-to-government/
(Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance submitted to the provincial government its recommendations for a new long-term plan for PSE. You can just see VPED Justin on stage in the Youtube video!)

http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/25096/
(A voice against lowering or freezing tuition: University of Toronto professor Ben Levin argued against reducing or freezing tuition fees, stating that such a policy would be counter-productive because it would be expensive and have very little impact on participation)

http://thedailygraphic.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2190997
(Manitoba MLA blames 10 year long provincial tuition freeze for reduction to University services)

http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/November2009/17/c9976.html
(If Canada's colleges, institutes, and polytechnics are to keep pace with its international competitors, the federal government must quickly ramp up its support for these institutions, says Association of Canadian Community Colleges president James Knight)

More PSE:

http://www.heqco.ca/SiteCollectionDocuments/Academic%20Transformation%20ENG.pdf
(The link is a summary of a new book about PSE. The thesis of the book is that the present approach to the provision of baccalaureate education in
Ontario is not sustainable and is in need of significant modification.)

http://radio.feds.ca/archives/2009-11-25%20-%20Town%20Hall%20-%20The%20Future%20of%20Higher%20Education.mp3
(FEDS Town Hall discussion: The future of Higher Education in Ontario with distinguished speakers)

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/11/06/ashe
(Catching Up to Canada: This article explores why the Canadian PSE system is better than the USA's PSE system)
 
http://www.universityaffairs.ca/low-cost-solution-could-boost-participation.aspx
(Students from low-income families who get help with student-aid forms are more likely to attend university, says a Canada-U.S. study)

http://notes.ocufa.on.ca/OCUFApress.nsf/a97a540ca9eec6d6852573b00053f099/67a538d62a75054685257677005759c8?OpenDocument
(OCUFA Report Summary: report examining the recent trend to view university education exclusively as an economic enterprise....recommends the balance between economic interests and the traditional values of liberal arts education be restored at provincial universities)
(Full report here: http://notes.ocufa.on.ca/OCUFARsrch.nsf/9da1693cdc3d700f852573db006561fc/6d923dbcc7f994f0852576770051e400/$FILE/The%20Business%20of%20Higher%20Education.pdf)

http://www.millenniumscholarships.ca/en/newsevents/newsfull.asp?newsid=170
(***Related to Link of the week - According to a new report from the Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation, Canada has made little progress on narrowing the "access gaps" affecting PSE participation by young people from various backgrounds)

http://www.leg.bc.ca/cmt/39thparl/session-1/fgs/reports/PDF/Rpt-FGS-39-1-1stRpt-Budget2010Consultations-2009-NOV-13.pdf
(BC committee recommends province consider lowering student-loan interest rate:)

WUSC: Student Refugee Program
http://www.news.ontario.ca/tcu/en/2009/11/post.html
(Province supports ($3.5M) Ontario International Education Opportunity Scholarships to support nearly 1,400 post-secondary students as they complete a portion of their studies abroad and  $150,000 a year for 3 years in the World University Service of Canada to help deliver its Student Refugee Program)

Technology/Social Media:

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/10/30/predict
(This article is on the use of technology to track and predict student success leaving the potential for early teacher intervention - "actionable analytics)

http://matthewmelnyk.com/wordpress/?p=139
(More suspicious "Class of..." groups found on Facebook)

Student Governments in the news:

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/montreal/story/2009/11/18/montreal-ssmu-pro-life-choose-life.html
(An anti-abortion club has had its campus rights suspended by McGill University's student body council.)

FUNNY:

http://www.academicagroup.ca/node/4677
(Student protest: pays tuition in nickles and dimes because "the government and the university are nickel-and-diming students."

http://www.metronews.ca/vancouver/canada/article/358974--halifax-student-turns-to-pennies-to-pay-off-loan-debt
(Paying Tuition with Pennies)

Other (but still humourous...):

http://www.peta2.com/COLLEGE/vegfriendlycollege-09/index.asp?c=p209vfc35
(McMaster named most veggie-friendly university in Canada: peta2)

http://www.queensu.ca/principal/speech/financialupdate2009-11-26.html
(Difficult Financial Times at Queens University: principal of Queen's University last Thursday, Daniel Woolf stated there are "significant and difficult choices" to be made at the university)