Archive for September, 2010
Some guidance for international students?
As soon as I know what the CICIC does, you’ll know too
A couple of days ago I wrote a quick piece titled “No guidance for international students.” Shortly thereafter, Mr. Yves Beaudin, the National Coordinator for the Canadian Information Centre for International Credentials (CICIC), showed up to correct me. I sent him some mail to suggest an interview and he’s accepted. As soon as something can be arranged we’ll have the results.
Here’s what I know now. The CICIC is primarily focused on supporting the recognition and portability of qualifications and educational credentials. It seems to work both ways–helping Canadians to navigate foreign systems and helping those foreign to Canada to navigate our domestic systems. And for that reason alone I’m already happy to promote them. This is a real need for all concerned and has been the subject of considerable attention. Apparently CICIC was conceived as a response to Canada’s obligations under a UN Convention on the subject. If you really want to read up on that you can do so here.
What I don’t yet know, and what I’m eager to find out, is whether or not CICIC is the answer to the other problems I was initially writing about. Credential assessment and recognition, while very important, is only one challenge for international students. As for the rest of it? Well, the jury’s still out.
I will say this much. The CICIC and Mr. Yves Beaudin are fast on the draw when it comes to their email. And I wouldn’t fault them for solving just one piece of the puzzle while the rest remains, if that turns out to be the case. But I guess we’ll all know soon enough. In the meanwhile, for international students who can’t wait, you can contact them here.
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Questions are welcome at jeff.rybak@utoronto.ca. You can also follow me on Twitter.
No more bishops please
Student council wants to repeal automatic naming of bishops as chancellor of St. FX
Student council at St. Francis Xavier University is expressing opposition to the automatic appointment of the Bishop of Antigonish as chancellor of the Nova Scotia school. Members of the council voted 14-1 this week against the practice.
The process for appointing the chancellor, the honorary head of the school, is enshrined in the university’s bylaws. Council president Sam Mason will present the student position at the upcoming board of governors meeting. The board of governors is the only body capable of repealing or amending the bylaws. Such changes require a majority vote of the members present at any annual meeting of the board. The next general meeting is Oct. 8.
A group called the Movement to Stop the Automatic Appointment of the Chancellor has been active in the university community over the past year.
“Our movement has used informal and formal internal processes to inform the administration that the relevant bylaws contravene the university’s own discrimination policy as well as the Nova Scotia Human Rights Act,” says the group’s Cam Fleming. “That the board of governors has not taken action to amend this process is a shame given the values of equality, social justice and inclusion at this university.”
The Canadian press
The process for appointing the chancellor, the honorary head of the school, is enshrined in the university’s bylaws.
Council president Sam Mason will present the student position at the upcoming board of governors meeting.
The board of governors is the only body capable of repealing or amending the bylaws.
Such changes require a majority vote of the members present at any annual meeting of the board.
The next general meeting is Oct. 8.
A group called the Movement to Stop the Automatic Appointment of the Chancellor has been active in the university community over the past year.
“Our movement has used informal and formal internal processes to inform the administration that the relevant bylaws contravene the university’s own discrimination policy as well as the Nova Scotia Human Rights Act,” says the group’s Cam Fleming.
“That the board of governors has not taken action to amend this process is a shame given the values of equality, social justice and inclusion at this university.”
Recession hurt students
Student unemployment spiked during recession according to Statistics Canada
While it is commonly understood that universities and colleges are a refuge from a hard economic climate, students were among the hardest hit by the recession, according to a report released by Statistics Canada yesterday. The unemployment rate jumped to nine per cent in 2009-10 compared to 6.5 per cent in 2007-08 before the economic downturn. Though the overall employment rate fell to 45 per cent from 48 per cent, it was still markedly higher than the 1970s when the employment rate for students was 25 per cent.
Summer of 2009 represented the hardest labour market for students aged 20-24 when the jobless rate hit 14 per cent, compared to nine per cent in summer 2008. During the recession those who worked, worked an average of one hour less, but the average wage rose from $10.75 to $11.80, resulting in average earnings holding at $6,300. Of students who worked, 96 per cent were employed in the service sector.
The report noted that a one per cent increase in unemployment, results in a six per cent increase of students seeking loans.
Statistics Canada remains optimistic that with the reversal of the economic downturn students who wish to find work should be able to do so. The employment rate increased in summer 2010 to to 47 per cent. “With signs that student employment is starting to recover, students wanting work may soon have a better chance of being employed again,” the report stated.
The luckiest law students in all the land
Spoiler alert: It’s the kids at Osgoode Hall.
The decision this week by an Ontario Superior Court judge that struck down three of Canada’s criminal code provisions that relate to prostitution made this week an awesome one to be a law student. In my criminal law class today we spent about half of it looking at the Bedford decision as a way of studying how the Charter can affect the Criminal Code. The planned lesson for today in any event was going to be the Constitution and the Criminal Code, as well as how aspects of morality and harm play into the criminal law, so the prostitution decision just made all of that more current and awesome. Just trust me, it was a really fun and illuminating class.
Fun as it was at UVic, though, it seems impossible to conceive that the luckiest first-year law students in this country aren’t the ones who have Criminal Law at Osgoode Hall Thursday, for the simple fact that their Professor, Alan Young, is the lawyer who got the three provisions struck down. How cool is that?!? Can you imagine what class will be like?
“Guys, listen, I know on the syllabus it says we’re going to talk about how omission relates to actus reus, but instead what we’re going to do is talk about my week because I don’t know what you did this week but me, personally, I got three provisions of the Criminal Code declared unconstitutional. Boom.”
Also, he looks like a pretty funny guy from the section on examination in his Criminal Law syllabus:
In lieu of this mode of evaluation, students may make a significant donation to the Alan Young Personal Reclamation Trust Fund (cash only in U.S. currency)
Come on, that’s pretty funny. Anyway, I’m going to go drown my jealousy by absorbing myself in Contract Law readings.
Tribunal can appoint faculty deans
UWindsor can still search for a new Dean of Law, but Human Rights Tribunal may intervene
The Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario has affirmed its authority to choose faculty deans. The ruling was made Monday in reference to allegations that racism and sexism kept a women professor from taking the top post at the University of Windsor’s faculty of law. However, for the time being, the Tribunal also ruled that the university can continue its dean selection process.
In an application filed Sept 10, Emily Carasco had asked the Tribunal to order Windsor’s dean selection committee to stop its search, and install her in the position. She had initially filed a complaint in July alleging sexism and racism played a role in her being denied the post. Carasco is seeking $60,000 from the university and an additional $15,000 from law professor Richard Moon who accused Carasco of plagiarism. Carasco was one of two top candidates being considered for the position, but both were rejected in the spring.
Although the dean selection process will continue, Tribunal vice-chair Sherry Liang did not rule out the possibility that the Tribunal could eventually install Carasco into the post, even if it is filled in the interim. “The appointment of a new dean does not preclude the option of a remedial order instating the applicant to the position of dean should the applicant (Carasco) succeed in her application,” Liang wrote in her ruling.
Outgoing dean Bruce Elman will stay in the position until it has been filled. The university denies any wrongdoing and is preparing its response.
Related: Should HRCs pick your faculty dean
- Photo by Joe Gratz
‘This is what Harry Potter must feel like’
Ryerson University has a Quidditch team, inspired by the Harry Potter novels. Here, student paper the Eyeopener challenges the team. Video courtesy of the Eyeopener
Ryerson University has a Quidditch team, inspired by the Harry Potter novels. Here, student paper the Eyeopener challenges the team.
Teaching plagiarism
UPDATED: Saskatoon public schools to eliminate consequences for academic dishonesty
In an educational climate where red pens are chucked for coming off as confrontational and teachers are encouraged to use “brainshowering” over the more violent-sounding “brainstorming,” the Saskatoon Public School Board has gone overboard by eliminating penalties for plagiarism and missed deadlines.
Under a new evaluation method for report cards, Saskatoon public high school students will no longer face penalties for handing assignments in late or trying to pass off someone else’s work as their own. The idea, according to the board, is to shift focus from behaviour to learning. “We’re trying to keep the emphasis on the learning, not on the penalty,” John Dewar, a superintendent with Saskatoon Public Schools told the National Post. And so, students caught plagiarizing may not be penalized with a poor grade, but will instead could be required to redo the assignment.
Related: All your profs are wrong about plagiarism and The great university cheating scandal
Besides the whole—you know—culture of tolerance for fraudulence thing, the program will undoubtedly create unnecessary extra work for teachers. Not only will they have to mark subsequent drafts after detecting plagiarized assignments, but they will likely also face an influx of last-minute submissions if penalties are removed for lateness. After all, why should students aim for the due date if they can hold off handing in their “Principles of Intellectual Property” essay until just before report cards?
A similar, misguided policy was introduced in Ontario in 1999 but has since been reversed under new policy guidelines released this year. Saskatoon, however, is going ahead with its no-reprimand plan. “I don’t give late marks, or deduct marks if students are late,” Katie Kehrig, a Saskatoon teacher who supports the policy told CBC News. “I don’t give bonus marks. I don’t have participation marks. Those are behaviours.”
And so, out the door goes the idea of holistic learning. Kehrig and the Saskatoon school board have essentially deemed behavioural growth, an integral part of a child’s development, simply irrelevant within the classroom context. Students, therefore, are being given the message that they can copy, steal, slack off and lie without any consequences. Granted, a plagiarized assignment may have to be rewritten—but that’s only if the student gets caught.
So, shall we peg our bets on Saskatoon as the next breeding ground for disciplined, honest workers? The city where individuals leave school well-versed in the implications of dishonesty and the discipline to adhere to deadlines?
There’s no tolerance for cheating or plagiarism in the real world, and examples are everywhere. In 1998 a scandal erupted when journalist Stephen Glass was discovered to have fabricated countless investigative features for The New Republic. In 2007, Rapper Timbaland was involved in a plagiarism scandal concerning the motifs and samples of his collaborative track “Do It,” and even Prime Minister Stephen Harper faced a plagiarism accusation in a 2003 speech he delivered about the US-led invasion of Iraq. In those cases, Glass was fired and disgraced (though he later got a law degree and wrote a novel—go figure), Timbaland’s reputation was tarnished because of the plagiarism controversy and the Tory campaigner who wrote Harper’s speech was compelled to resign in 2008. And yet, the only words of caution we’re giving Saskatoon high schoolers is ‘Whoopsies, try again?’
In any case, the buck will certainly stop for these students at the post-secondary level. While some university students still manage to get away with academic dishonesty, those caught cheating or plagiarizing are always subjected to some form of institutional slaughter. Whether it’s a failing mark, a spot on academic probation, or expulsion in some extreme cases, professors certainly will not shrug it off and ask a fraudster to try again. Many first-year students already struggle with academic integrity issues having never learned how to properly cite borrowed ideas; not exposing them to the consequences of plagiarism early will only exacerbate their difficulties.
The Saskatoon school board needs to realize it is ill-preparing its students for the real world. Cheating and missing deadlines simply won’t be tolerated, nevermind go without reprimand. So while the public school bubble may be romanticizing this latest win for ‘learning,’ its students, in the meantime, will be clipping posts off Wikipedia.
Getting into med school
High marks aren’t enough
Even with high marks and impressive extracurricular experience, there are no guarantees when it comes to getting into med school. At least, not in Canada. The harsh reality is, there are far more highly qualified applicants than there are available seats.
The statistics vary from province to province, but as a med school hopeful living in Ontario, my chances are about 19 per cent (or 1 in 5). Yes, this is just a raw number–it doesn’t take grades, extracurricular activities, or MCAT scores into account. For applicants with high (or low) marks, or applicants who are involved in some sort of incredible medical research, the chance of success isn’t 19 per cent. But there are lots of students with impressive GPA’s, great MCAT scores, and plenty of medically-related volunteer work, and they’re all competing for the same number of limited spots.
How can an applicant stand out?
A few years ago when I interviewed Dr. Evelyn Sutton, assistant dean of admissions and student affairs at Dalhousie University, in an article for Maclean’s Professional schools issue, she remembered one successful applicant whose “unique” extracurricular activity made her stand out from the pack: she was a champion skip-rope jumper.
Some med schools, including Dalhousie, still want to see medically related experience on an applicant’s transcript. The important thing to remember: med schools are looking for “well-rounded” applicants.
I’m not suggesting that a med school hopeful should volunteer or suddenly develop a “passion” simply because it might improve their chances of getting in. After all, the admissions board can see right through that kind of act. Trying to be a good Samaritan just because you think it’ll make you look good will probably have the opposite effect.
What does this mean for the rest of us? How can applicants present themselves in the best possible light?
“Don’t be just a computer geek,” advises Dr. Barry Ziola, of the University of Saskatchewan’s College of Medicine, “because computer geeks do not make good physicians.”
-photo courtesy of RambergMediaImages
Don’t give students more tools of mass distraction
Hand-held device will soon become part of classrooms across the country
The role of technology in the classroom has no doubt been a contentious issue since the first Roman student brought an abacus to his grammaticus. Using the most up-to-date equipment in school has always seemed to be a necessity. And yet the process of learning hasn’t really changed that much since ancient times: teachers still need to teach and students still need to pay attention.
Last week Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty sparked a national debate on the role of technology in Canadian classrooms. Asked about a proposal to relax a ban on cellphones in the classrooms of Toronto-area high schools, the premier seemed rather agreeable to the idea. “Telephones, BlackBerries and the like are conduits for information and one of the things we want our students to be is well informed,” he said. “It’s something we should be looking at in our schools.”
McGuinty has a point. It seems inevitable that some sort of hand-held wireless device will eventually become part of education systems across the country. The cost and complication of traditional textbooks makes electronic delivery of course material straight into the hands of students a rather attractive proposition. For this reason alone, electronic tablets or smartphones such as the BlackBerry likely have a place in the classroom of the future. The prospect of linking students together via communication technology also holds great educational promise.
At the same time, we can’t ignore the enormous and obvious downsides of such technological intrusions. Cellphones may be conduits for information, but they’re also tools of mass distraction. Texting, tweeting, surfing and updating your online profile have nothing to do with learning and no place in the classroom. Yet it’s even become commonplace for parents to text their children during school hours. What are they thinking?
Any effort to make cellphones part of the official school day must solve the problem of their non-educational use, either by setting strict rules of acceptable conduct or blocking access when it’s not appropriate. And we should recognize that there’s a big difference between integrating wireless devices into the curriculum and simply inviting students to bring whatever diverting gadgets they might possess to class. The fact not every student owns a smartphone must also be addressed. Regardless of what the future holds, it’s far too soon to be advocating widespread use of cellphones in the classroom.
It’s also the case that the value of technology to learning is frequently oversold by eager advocates. A long series of educational revolutions via technology has been promised throughout the years: from television to video to desktop computers to laptops to SMART Boards to cellphones. Despite claims that these innovations will change the educational experience for the better, there’s no evidence technology actually leads to higher marks for students.
The ubiquitous presence of wireless laptops on university campuses in many ways anticipates the presence of cellphones in public schools. A study from 2008 in the academic journal Computers & Education looked at how these laptops have affected classroom behaviour. “Results showed that students who used laptops in class spent considerable time multitasking and that laptop use posed a significant distraction to both users and fellow students,” the research observes. “Most importantly, the level of laptop use was negatively related to several measures of student learning.” Students with laptops had lower test results than those without. The reason? They were often not paying attention to their teacher. We should expect the same thing from cellphones.
Similarly, a 2009 study looked at students who sent instant messages during class. Texting students took longer to perform simple tasks such as reading a written passage than those who did not. Consider it another blow to the alleged benefits of multitasking. An investigation into PowerPoint lectures found students enjoyed them more than traditional presentations, although this did nothing to raise test scores. Clickers, small hand-held wireless devices used for in-class quizzes that are popular with students and teachers, similarly have no discernable impact on marks.
Technology may lower school costs, make marking more efficient and even raise student satisfaction. But it can’t produce students with better grades. And this means technology will never replace the timeless need for skilled teachers capable of catching the attention of easily distracted students and engaging their minds. The smartest phones may be the ones we keep outside the classroom.
From the editors
UBC journalism students win Emmy
Team beats 60 Minutes, 48 Hours and Nightline in investigative journalism category
A group of journalism students from the University of British Columbia and their professor have won a prestigious Emmy Award for their work on a documentary about electronic waste. Their film, Ghana: Digital Dumping Ground, which aired on PBS last year, was nominated in two categories and won for outstanding investigative journalism in a news magazine. The news and documentary Emmys were awarded in New York on Monday night.
The documentary followed electronic waste around the globe and addressed concerns about public health, human rights and national security. In the investigative journalism category, it was up against two CBS productions — one from 60 Minutes and another from 48 Hours — and a story on ABC’s Nightline. The production was funded by the Mindset Social Innovation Foundation, which aims to finance projects that advance social change.
Mindset chief executive Alison Lawton said it’s the first time a group of students has ever won an Emmy. Also earning Emmy trophies were the Globe and Mail online project, Behind the Veil, which won for new approaches to news and documentary programming, and British filmmaker Sacha Gervasi’s documentary Anvil! The Story of Anvil. The acclaimed portrait of the still-touring, ’80s-era Toronto heavy metal band won an Emmy for outstanding arts and culture programming.
Broadcaster CBS picked up a leading seven Emmys, including for Rape in America, a five-month investigation into the low percentage of rape prosecutions across the U.S. NBC was immediately behind, nabbing a total of six trophies, including for NBC Night News coverage of the emergency plane landing on the Hudson River.
PBS placed third in the Emmy haul, with its five wins including honours for A Death in Tehran, the investigation into the death of Neda Soltan, the young woman killed during the protests following Iran’s controversial 2009 presidential election. The evening also included several special award presentations. Documentary maker Frederick Wiseman received an Emmy for lifetime achievement, while PBS NewsHour was honoured with the chairman’s award.
The News and Documentary Emmy Awards are presented by the U.S. National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.
The Canadian Press
Your move McGill
Quebec renews promise to take ‘action’ over tuition hike for MBA students
Quebec has renewed promises to take “action” against McGill University over a tuition hike for MBA students. Incoming McGill MBA students are paying $29,500 a year, up dramatically from around $1,700. Earlier this month, the two sides were still in the grips of a months-long stare down over a threat from the province to cut the university’s funding by $30,000 for every student who pays the deregulated fee. On Friday, a spokesman for education minister Line Beauchamp said “there will certainly be action in the future.” However, the minister who took over the education post last month from Michelle Courchesne, is “still reflecting” on what to do.
No guidance for international students
Coming to Canada, you’re pretty much on your own
I recently received yet another email from a concerned international student looking to study at a Canadian school. The details don’t really matter, but suffice it to say that this student dug up a year-old article of mine from On Campus about a lawsuit happening at this school but unrelated to his proposed program, and wanted to know if he should reconsider. And oh yeah, could I recommend another program that might be better for his purposes — anywhere in North America.
I get this sort of mail fairly regularly. While I’m usually able to say at least something useful, I’m always stumped by just how little international students know about post-secondary education in Canada. To begin with, for example, this fellow was looking at a college program. Does he know and appreciate the difference between “college” in Canada and “college” in the U.S.? He was, at least, looking at a reputable public college. But quite often international students get sucked into the (largely unregulated) private career college system. Seeing the difference between the two systems, from half a world away, must be darn near impossible. And all of that is before we even start to talk about money questions, visa issues, professional licensing, etc. It’s frustrating for me when I get so many questions I can’t answer, or where I can only scratch the surface of these issues, but I can’t blame international students for mailing me. They have few enough options.
Often, when we talk about Canada’s obligations to our international students, we seem to speak in terms of sharing the opportunities we enjoy here, creating jobs and scholarships, expanding work visas, and so on. But the truth is that many international students really do just come here to get their education and intend to return home with it. They are pursuing foreign credentials for any number of reasons, but most of them would be recognizable to any Canadian student. It’s a way for those who can afford it to combine travel with school. It’s an opportunity to prove or to polish fluency in English. It may be a gateway to an international career. It could simply be a way to distinguish one’s credentials from out of the pack of job applicants when the day comes. But really, any of these reasons are very similar to why a Canadian student might choose to study in France rather than Toronto.
The challenge of accommodating these students in our system is more one of information than resources. The resourcing decision, for good or for ill, was made some time ago. Aside from whatever merit-based scholarships may exist for the top cut of students, international students are expected to bear the full cost of their education in Canada. In some cases they may even supply positive revenue (what we would otherwise call profit) for the schools that host them. And this is a point of contention for some people, but it seems what’s most important at this stage is to ensure that students who are investing very significant sums of money here at least have the opportunity to invest wisely. And here’s where we fail.
I will observe that some individual schools are doing a pretty good job with international student services. I want to compliment those efforts. The issue I’m talking about, however, occurs before students commit to an individual school, and when they’ve decided to study in Canada but aren’t sure where they should start. Before these students commit to a school there’s very little available in the way of help, and if they commit to the wrong school or act on bad information it may be too late afterward. And of course there’s always the fact that sometimes these students need to be warned away or protected from the schools themselves, and in these cases we can hardly rely on internal services to do that.
For a student coming over from South Asia (or equivalent) it may well be the case that any destination in the country (or on the continent!) is equally convenient. What that student wants is a good education with good opportunities to follow. And there is simply no centralized resource to which that student can turn for information. Anything to fill this void would be a serious undertaking — probably one requiring cooperation between the federal government and the governments of the various provinces and territories — but considering how much money comes into Canada each year from foreign study and how important these markets are to our international identity, I’d argue it’s an important investment to make. Not to say we need to be in the business of actively marketing ourselves to foreign students. The strength of our system seems to speak for itself. But once we’ve decided to accept their enrolment and their tuition, you’d think we’d offer them more in the way of guidance to ensure they leave Canada with good memories and a positive experience, rather than feeling like they’ve been duped, neglected, or simply ignored.
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Questions are welcome at jeff.rybak@utoronto.ca. You can also follow me on Twitter.
Photo: Getty Images
CBU students get wet
Students’ Union seeks to break Guinness record for largest water balloon fight.
Academics love to throw numbers around, so here’s one: 3927.
Believe it or not, that’s the number of participants in the world’s largest water balloon fight, and that’s the number that the Students’ Union at Cape Breton University is trying to beat this Sunday. Am I the only one who thought that number would be higher?
Anyway, I like events like this one because they are simultaneously goofy and serious, and although the event was originally scheduled for Frosh week, I think the October date is better. October is the time when the initial rush of excitement over the new academic year has abated and the warmth and richness of the December holiday season is still too far off to serve as a motivator. New students especially have, by early October, developed a sense of just how tough university can be and will be feeling the stress that comes when you realize that if you don’t work hard, you might actually fail at this. So October is a great time to let off some steam.
Or, in this case, condensed steam. Inside a balloon. Thrown at your head.
U of T recalls diplomas
Hundreds of students receive parchment with spelling error
Due to a spelling error, hundreds of University of Toronto-Mississauga graduates have had their parchments recalled, campus paper, the Strand has reported. Some 1,350 students who graduated in fall 2009 and spring 2010, received parchments that included the wrong title for Ian Orchard, who was then the vice-president and principal of the satellite campus. The error was detected in June, and affected graduates were notified last week. The university assures students that their degrees are still valid, and that all replacement and shipping costs will be covered by the school.
The top 25 places to work
University and college students rank where they want to be employed
Students believe working for the government is their best option, according to a survey released last week. The 2010 Canada’s Top Campus Employers Report, produced by firms DECODE and Brainstorm Consulting, surveyed 27, 000 university and college students, asking them to select from a list which employers they would like to work for. They were also invited to write in employers not listed. Fourteen of the 25 top employers selected were governments, of all levels, government related agencies, and non-profit organizations.
Graham Donald, one of the reports co-authors, says that the choices reflect a desire among young people to do meaningful and interesting work. However, the relative stability and high pay, of government jobs is also a factor. The report found that 57 per cent of respondents were looking for job security and the prospect of staying with a company or organization for life.
The top employers are listed below:
1 Government of Canada
2 Provincial Government
3 Apple
4 Health Canada
5 Google
6 The Hospital for Sick Children
7 Municipal Government
8 Air Canada
9 Canadian Cancer Society
10 Big Brothers Big Sisters
11 Microsoft
12 David Suzuki Foundation
13 Bombardier
14 Canadian Institute for Health Information
15 University Health Network
16 Public Service Commission
17 Facebook
18 Oxfam
19 Research In Motion (RIM) / Blackberry
20 CBC
21 Canadian Forces
22 Bank of Canada
23 Deloitte
23 L’Oréal
25 Electronic Arts
Students who dropout over grades
Universities aim to improve retention rates
A grade of C+. It’s enough to shake up a first-year student and spell the end of university career, say some school officials. As mid-term marks begin to pour in for university freshmen over the next few weeks, Ontario schools say they’re on hand to help curb dropout rates across the province.
“We’re dealing with students who are overachievers in high school. They often have never had anything worse then an A,” said Deanne Fisher, director of student life for the St. George campus at the University of Toronto. “So, when they come to U of T and find they might have got a C +, or worse, on their first mid-term that can have quite an emotional impact on them,” Fisher added.
Related: Your grades will drop
While most students continue with their studies after first year — retention rates are steadily improving for many universities– there are still a small number of students deciding to pack it all in. The reasons are varied, from a crisis at home, to poor marks, financial struggles to a program that just doesn’t deliver.
Adam Miceli, 24 — an affable, bright young man — laughs sheepishly as he describes the years he spent meandering through different schools, unsure about his programs, uncertain about his future. Miceli, now a music student at the University of Toronto, began at York University in biology five years ago. By the time second semester had rolled around, he knew he was ready to leave the school. “I was coming right out of high school. I was thrown into things,” said Miceli, who said he had been overwhelmed by classes the size of stadiums.
Miceli was under pressure to succeed after receiving a scholarship. “I was pushed into the university because of that and plus, my parents were looking at me to perform.”
According to the Canadian Federation of Students there is a patchwork of information regarding retention rates across the county, but nothing on a national scope.
At most universities in Ontario, the retention rates are high. For example, at Ryerson University in Toronto, 89 per cent of the students from first year continued on to their second year in 2008. At the St. George campus at U of T, the retention rate for students coming back to school in 2008 was 90.3 per cent, at McMaster University in Hamilton it was 86.2 and at the University of Windsor it was 80.1 per cent.
But there are those who slip through the cracks. “We do know from our surveys that the primary barrier to success for our first-year students is not financial, it’s their own academic performance,” said Fisher. “You can feel you’re in over your head and it’s a palpable feeling for them, ‘wow, this is the most difficult thing I’ve ever done,’ ” said Fisher, as she described some of the feedback she’s heard from students.
Clayton Smith, vice-provost for students at the University of Windsor, said often students lose their way because they fail to “academically connect to their major.”
“This is a very different place than high school. They should commit to doing well. It sounds like daddy kind of talk, but the reality is just making the decision, ‘I’m going to do well,’ ” said Smith.
But not every first-year student is the same, and retention rates can vary, he added. “An aboriginal student who is away from home is in a different culture now, if they haven’t found a way to keep their values alive and be well supported, they often will go home and not finish university,” said Smith.
Smith also pointed out that if a school doesn’t make accommodations, such as providing a Muslim prayer room on campus, it could risk alienating a student.
Universities have taken aggressive steps to keep retention rates high. At Ryerson University, transition activities on campus help to integrate new students into the community by offering information on time management, writing and research. U of T addressed a problem with retaining its first-year engineering students a few years ago by creating an office solely dedicated to new students in the faculty.
It has also launched a pilot program for its life science students by offering organized study groups for students in large classes. Fisher said while university can be daunting for many, students need to reach out for help or else they will get lost in the shuffle. “We are tough and we expect a lot but we have to match that with the amount of support,” she said.
The Canadian Press
Students furious over closing of McGill cafe
On Wednesday, hundreds of students protested the shutting of a popular student run restaurant. Read full story here. Video courtesy of David Huehn, the McGill Daily.
On Wednesday, hundreds of students protested the shutting of a popular student run restaurant. Read full story here.
Video courtesy of David Huehn, the McGill Daily.
Students furious over closing of McGill cafe
Hundreds protest shut down of student run restaurant
Students at McGill University are furious over the closure of a student run cafe that the university says was financially unsustainable. On Wednesday, more than 300 students rallied outside the university’s Leacock building where the first Senate meeting of the year was being held to protest the move. Space previously used for the Architecture Cafe will be transformed into a student study space.
While the cafe is managed and staffed by architecture students, its finances have been overseen by the university’s food services since 2007, when problems arose over a neglect to pay taxes and to have regular on site food inspections. “We had no control of the money,” Katherine Messina, a graduate student, who managed the cafe for the past two years, said. In fact, Messina says that while she understands why the university would want a direct role in managing finances, she is skeptical about claims that the restaurant is not viable, as she hasn’t seen accounting records. “The university was not upfront about it. . . . Show us the books.”
The 2007 arrangement only stipulated that the cafe break even in order to remain open, and Architecture Cafe staff claim that they were told in May that their finances were in order.
The McGill Daily reported allegations that the decision to shut the cafe was related to Aramark, a campus food service company, taking over from Chartwells this year. “We seemed to be breaking even, and in May we had meetings with our supervisors and they said we were doing fine.… This summer they said, ‘with Aramark now, you’re not doing fine,’” Carly Roualt, Messina’s successor said.
Morton Mendleson, deputy provost for student life and learning, was unavailable for comment Friday, but he has denied that the decision to close the cafe was in anyway related to McGill’s contract with Aramark. He told the Daily that several business models were explored but that none proved viable. “I had to make the decision that the cafe was shut down – or wouldn’t be reopened in September,” he said. On Wednesday, he informed the Senate that “the administration is not willing to revisit this issue.”
While some students have begun boycotting food services on campus, in further protest of the decision, Messina says the issue has more to do with a general crowding out of student run space, which is becoming increasingly rare. “There’s not many places like that on campus,” she said.
Photo: courtesy of Ali Najmabadi
Video On Campus: McGill Students Protest Arch Cafe, courtesy of David Huehn, the McGill Daily
Honourary degrees awarded at UNB’s 225th
Spirit of Canada was the theme running through the night at celebration in Toronto
Last night at Koerner Hall in Toronto, the University of New Brunswick celebrated its 225th year by awarding five honourary degrees to outstanding Canadians. Each honouree gave an impassioned talk about his or her field of expertise. Alan MacGibbon, a business leader and the current managing partner and chief executive at Deloitte Canada, spoke about the coming economic uncertainties and the opportunity Canada has to create business models that are responsible and sustainable. Olympic athlete Clara Hughes was also honoured, and talked about the value of sport and its power to inspire.
Purdy Crawford, an esteemed lawyer and businessman, discussed Canada’s great potential to be a leading nation in the world. Carolyn Acker, the founder of Pathways to Education Canada, shared her thoughts on the possibility for education to empower and create new pathways for underprivileged people in this country. Finally, former National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations Phil Fontaine gave a speech about the place of reconciliation in Canada, and the goal Canadians should have to close the health and well-being gap between First Nations people and the rest of Canada.
New Brunswick came to Toronto for the evening because Ontario is home to a great number of UNB alumni and donors. The university is also seeking to create awareness about its history and offerings outside of the Atlantic provinces. The university was founded in 1785 before Canada was formed and even before the U.S. had its first President. Loyalists from south of the border carved UNB out of the wilds of New Brunswick with the goal of bringing higher education to the local population. Since then, the university has established this nation’s first engineering school, as well as a world-renowned institute of biomedical engineering, among other top-ranked programs. The university now has 13,000 students who come from 100 countries.
The beginning of the end of frosh week
The tragic death of a Queen’s student has renewed calls for a crackdown that is already well under way
Natasha Zapanta, a cheery first-year Queen’s University business student in a perfectly manicured first-week outfit, won’t be telling her grandchildren about any Old School-worthy hijinks. Frosh week for this 17-year-old involved scavenger hunts, a video dance party and “Commerce Cares”—random acts of kindness visited upon unsuspecting fellow students by commerce freshmen. “There was nighttime partying,” she admits, “but we just stayed in the residence hall.” Most of her friends are also 17, below Ontario’s legal drinking age and, while alcohol is readily available, they’ve been warned not to indulge.
For biochemistry major Connor Forbes, the week was so low-key it threatened to dampen that famous Queen’s school spirit altogether. The gloom extended even to the engineering faculty, where students were this year banned from the school’s ancient move-in day tradition, in which engineers paint themselves purple and taunt incoming freshmen. Engineering society president Victoria Pleavin, citing complaints, sent an email to all engineering students warning them that anyone caught engaged in the practice would be escorted off campus. “Move-in day was really an introduction to the fun of the school and gave you a sense of community,” says Forbes. “The event is gone and we don’t know if it’s coming back. They took it away.”
Such moves followed a raft of measures taken by Queen’s administrators aimed at taming the furor surrounding frosh week—and, it seems, everything else too. Last year, the university cancelled its infamously out-of-control homecoming event, which newspapers have become fond of noting cost over $200,000 to police. Queen’s also vowed to curb freshmen excesses by stamping out the likes of “Slosh the Frosh” and “Sauce the Boss” because, according to senate meeting minutes last year, they “put students at risk.” The clampdown is, depending on your politics, already a success. Says John Pierce, interim associate VP and dean of student affairs: “By last Thursday, I was getting reports that, ‘Well—jeez!—frosh is going better than it has before!’ ”
And yet even these stringent measures could not prevent tragedy. Last Monday, Queen’s students on their way to rugby practice discovered the body of Cameron Bruce, an 18-year-old freshman from Connecticut, on the lawn outside his residence, just hours before he was to start classes. The night before, Bruce had attended an engineering banquet—a sort of last hurrah to end engineering frosh week. After dinner, he walked back to residence with friends. What happened next is still shrouded in mystery: police suspect no foul play, and they’re investigating whether alcohol played a role in the incident.
News of the death brought the inevitable newspaper editorial: “Be it the mass drunkenness of Aberdeen Street or young people getting a dubious initiation to booze in peer-pressure-filled orientation activities,” wrote the Kingston Whig-Standard, “the greater community has long quietly wondered: what will it take for Queen’s to do something about this? Does someone have to die?” The incident’s significance was not lost on students: “I think it’s the beginning of the end of frosh week,” one told Maclean’s.
No, actually. It’s the end of frosh, full stop—not just at Queen’s, but everywhere. A generation of children raised in an era so risk-averse that schools ripped seesaws, parallel bars and fireman’s poles from playgrounds has come of age and gone to university. The halcyon days, when freshers set cars and couches ablaze and guzzled beer at university-sanctioned keggers, now grow dim and will soon become distant memories. Many schools have retired the word “frosh” altogether, preferring less festive words like “orientation”; at the University of Ottawa, freshmen are referred to by the tin-eared sobriquet of “101er.” Official first-week events are now mounted sans booze. A handful of U.S. colleges are entirely dry. The University of Guelph this year, for the first time, made residences alcohol-free zones during frosh week. It’s a revolution some students call a “war on fun.”
