Archive for September, 2010

Robots, stem cells and green scenes: what engineers are making now

As University of Toronto dean of engineering Cristina Amon puts it, “Hot engineering careers combine innovation and creativity, and allow engineers to create things that didn’t exist before.” But in addition to dreaming up objects that improve lives—like artificial organs or medical imaging devices—today’s engineers are being enlisted to address global issues, such as warming. Here are other growth areas in the field of engineering.

Sustainability: From teaching students to design and build eco-friendly buildings and infrastructure to implementing green government policy, sustainability has become a dominant theme in engineering education. A master’s of engineering in clean energy at the University of British Columbia is now open for students with undergraduate degrees in engineering who want advanced training in energy-efficient technologies. At the University of Calgary, undergraduates in the engineering B.Sc. can enrol in a specialization in energy and environment. Carleton University offers its bachelor of engineering students a new option in sustainable and renewable energy, and the university has established a master’s program in sustainable energy, which students can finish with either an engineering degree (M.A.Sc. or M.Eng. in sustainable energy) or a public policy degree (M.A. in sustainable energy). Finally, the University of Western Ontario has a new green-process engineering undergraduate program, which teaches the fundamentals of chemical engineering to design commercial products and processes that are both economical and environmentally friendly.

Biomedical: The intersection of biological systems and engineering has led to innovation in medicine that could only be dreamed about a decade ago, and now biomedical engineering is one of the fastest growing areas of the profession. These engineers grow tissue and stem cells, build devices that can be implanted in the body to deliver drugs or detect illnesses, and design substitute body parts like pacemakers and artificial joints. In 2009, École Polytechnique de Montréal launched an undergraduate degree in the subject. The University of Guelph offers its undergraduates a biomedical engineering option. At the University of Calgary, undergraduate students can complete a biomedical specialization in conjunction with their engineering degree. The University of Manitoba will begin offering a new master’s in biomedical engineering in January, and Queen’s University, McMaster University, and the University of Toronto give graduate students the opportunity to take the interdisciplinary approach to biomedical engineering through collaborative programs.

Mechatronics: Mechatronic systems are all around: from industrial robots to the antilock brakes in your car. As society advances technologically, the demand for these computer- controlled electromechanical devices will only grow. As such, universities across the country have established degrees or specializations in this subject. The University of Waterloo, for example, offers an undergraduate program in mechatronics engineering. At McMaster University, students can enrol in mechatronics programs at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. The University of Guelph gives graduate students in the engineering systems and computing program the option to research mechatronics, and the University of British Columbia, University of Calgary, University of Toronto, and University of New Brunswick offer a mechatronics option to mechanical engineering undergraduates.

Photo by Andrew tolson

Early morning M.B.A. classes at the University of Calgary accommodate people with jobs and night lives

This summer, the Haskayne School of Business at the University of Calgary announced a program for the bright-eyed and bushytailed. Slated to start in January 2011, a new morning M.B.A. class will run three mornings a week, from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m.

“We already had the evening program,” says Robin Hawes, administration officer at the Haskayne school. “It seemed like a perfect complement.” The difference is that the morning classes will be held in the new downtown campus, instead of the main grounds outside the Calgary core. “It’s literally a five-minute walk from the downtown companies,” says Hawes.

The Haskayne school is one of just two schools in Canada that offer the early bird option. The other is the “Morning M.B.A.” at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management. The program graduated its first class of students this June.

“The morning seemed like a completely untapped market,” says Kimberley Neutens, director, M.B.A. program services, who helped conceptualize the 32-month degree. Most students are about 30 years old with six years of work experience. “They want to go to school,” says Neutens, “But don’t want to give up soccer games or family dinner.”

The morning classes see a different sort of M.B.A. student than the usual type-A personality. “The fact that everybody already has a job means it’s not as cutthroat,” says Jaime Stein, a recent graduate from the Rotman program and a manager at the Canadian Football League. Stein says he found an unexpected support group in the class. “There’s a baby boom going on,” and many of his classmates have young families. “All my friends were single,” says Stein, whose wife is expecting their first child. “Now I have all sorts of people giving me advice on strollers.”

Today, with the morning and evening M.B.A. programs running at Rotman, the school is virtually open round the clock. Neutens says she refuses to get up earlier than six in the morning. But, she says, “We joke about a midnight M.B.A. every once in a while.”

The O’Neill Report needs to go in a drawer right now.

Nova Scotians have lots to be proud of: stunning natural vistas, rich cultural heritage, and a network of universities that, considering the population, is unmatched in Canada.

That last one is under attack, and the first blast of the trumpet was sounded on Friday.

Tim O’Neill’s long-awaited report on Nova Scotia’s university system is out, and rather than offering ways to sustain or enhance one of the province’s social and economic advantages, it reaches for the same old hammer of economists and managers alike: cut, cut, cut.

O’Neill couches his recommendations in conditional phrases and other weasel words, but the pattern quickly becomes clear: never mind the long term consequences, let’s save money where we can right now. Indeed, that principle, long term pain for short term gain, is specifically invoked in his discussion of the idea of a University of Halifax system, an idea that other experts cite as the best opportunity to really save:

While the concept of a University of Halifax is both more logical and more appealing than that of a University of Nova Scotia, it is too large a consolidation effort to contemplate, at least in the current environment. For a government faced with having to impose fiscal restraint, the transition costs for a merger of six institutions would be far too high to seriously contemplate.

A solution that is logical and effective? Never mind that — there’s an election in a few years.

Though the report pretends its recommended changes are modest, they, could, if fully implemented, and adjusting for the bureaucratese in which the document is written,  include:

1.Merge the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design with Dalhousie

2. Merge the Nova Scotia Agricultural College with Dal and lower funding accordingly.

3. Merge Mount Saint Vincent University with Dal or St Mary’s

4. Make Cape Breton University a technical/transfer college

5. Move Universite Sainte Anne to Halifax

6. Drastically increase tuitions

Modest changes? Hardly. O’Neill’s report would see six institutions change dramatically and affect every single student in the province.

Many of these changes involve mergers which would, one hopes, see most programs remain in tact. The exception is that of Cape Breton University. As a Cape Breton native, O’Neill surely knows that returning higher education on the island to the bad old days of a technical school and a transfer college would be met with fierce opposition, so he pretends not to say it even as he proposes it:

With respect to how to reduce its offerings, CBU could consider eliminating whole programs. An alternative approach would be to eliminate four-year degrees in those areas where it may determine it has more limited capacity to compete. Instead, the first two years of the programs would be offered and arrangements made with other universities to accept the students who have completed these two years into the balance of a four-year degree program. However, this is not a proposal that CBU turn back the clock to its former status as a two-year institution or a junior college. It would still offer degrees, but in a more limited number of areas.

This is classic Orwellian Newspeak. O’Neill  proposes canceling programs, turning programs into 2-year transfer options, and then washes his hands by claiming he does not want to “turn back the clock.” But of course, a college with limited degree options and transfer programs was exactly what Cape Breton had in the early 1970s before the formation of what was then UCCB. So O’Neill doesn’t want to turn back the clock; he just wants to go back in time.

Remember that CBU already offers a limited number of offerings as it is: many programs available as 4-year degrees elsewhere (Physics, Classics, Geography, French, Engineering to name just a few) are not available at CBU. To pretend that CBU could continue to call itself a university with significant program reductions at this point is disingenuous. At best, it would survive as a polytechnic school, though O’Neill probably avoids that word, since something similar was proposed for New Brunswick a few years ago and had to be abandoned after being met with public outrage. If O’Neill is seriously maintaining that there should be no genuine university to serve Nova Scotia’s second largest population centre, which he certainly is, he should say so plainly.

These recommendations are particularly egregious since O’Neill is proposing drastically reducing access to university programs in Nova Scotia while at the same time arguing that they should cost students much more. And this after Nova Scotians have already had their taxes raised, taxes that I thought were to help pay for things like education. And what consultant proposed that tax hike? The very same Tim O’Neill.

What we need are thinkers who understand how important universities are to a province and make policy suggestions accordingly. We need more views like this:

Nova Scotia benefits from a strong university system that delivers quality teaching to its students along with research that enhances the environment for innovation. Universities also improve the economic, social and cultural life of the communities in which they operate. [We need] to identify policy options which ensure the long-term viability of the university sector.

And what enlightened observer said that? That’s the very same Tim O’Neill, before he wrote the report. Apparently O’Neill has a strange idea about what “long term” means and what “viability” means. Of course, he didn’t say long term viability for everyone.

It’s worth noting that the government’s own release on the report ignores the biggest potential changes such as eviscerating CBU. One hopes that this is because they know they are non-starters. Put another way, at some point, Nova Scotia’s NDP are going to have to start acting like New Democrats.

To be sure, my own view is that of one person and is necessarily biased. But if bias is the issue, why is so much weight being placed on the necessarily biased view of one bank executive?

I maintain that smart public policy means investing in the long term and playing to one’s strengths. The Nova Scotia university system is one of the province’s strong points. It should be understood as an indispensable component of future prosperity, not a series of bank accounts to be tidied up or emptied. That approach is nothing to be proud of.

Fuelled by late-blooming entrepreneurs, business schools see doctoral enrolment double

Valerie Sheppard’s been self-employed, she’s worked in government (in the tourism sector), and now she’s headed back to school. Sheppard, 50, who says she has an entrepreneurial streak, is one of four candidates in the University of Victoria’s new business Ph.D. program (UVic welcomed its first cohort this month). “I don’t see myself retiring,” says Sheppard. “Getting a Ph.D. will give me the flexibility to keep working.” After spending years out in the workforce, going back to school is a bit “scary,” she admits, but she’ll have someone close for support: daughter Leah, 26, is doing a Ph.D. in business, too, at the University of British Columbia.

A mother and daughter both doing business Ph.D.s might sound unique, but it speaks to the booming popularity of the degree. The number of doctoral candidates enrolled in business programs nearly doubled in a decade, from 696 in 1998 to 1,227 in 2008, Statistics Canada figures show. (That year, about 31 per cent of students were aged 30 to 34, and 24 per cent were 40-plus, the two biggest age groups.) UVic decided to offer the Ph.D. because “there’s a shortage of business school professors out there, and we knew there’d be a demand for graduates,” says academic director Charlene Zietsma.

Indeed, as countries like Brazil, China and India became financial hubs, the number of business schools worldwide tripled from the 1980s to the mid-2000s, drawing North American-trained academics, says John Fernandes, president and chief executive officer of the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, a leading accreditation agency. (Most of the grads leaving for developing regions were international students, he says, heading back home.) At the same time, North American business schools cut back on Ph.D. programs, investing in the more lucrative, and high-profile, M.B.A. instead.

Job prospects have suffered in this gloomy economy, but they’re expected to improve. “The market for academics with a business Ph.D. has been good, and will be again,” predicts Debbie Compeau, who directs the Ph.D. program at the University of Western Ontario’s Richard Ivey School of Business.

But academia isn’t the only option. Many of those who pursue a doctorate in business have past work experience, and about 20 per cent of all students will take their degrees into the workforce, Fernandes says. Among these people, a new type of degree is gaining traction: the doctorate of business administration. Unlike a Ph.D., which is scholarly and research based, the D.B.A. encourages “applied research that’s relevant to the real world,” says John Ingham, who directs the three-year D.B.A. program at the Université de Sherbrooke, one of two in Canada to offer the degree. (The other is Athabasca University.)

Richard Vaillancourt, 54, is completing a D.B.A. online through Athabasca while serving as CEO of OMISTA Credit Union in Moncton, N.B. “I thought a D.B.A. would be more relevant and practitioner-oriented, whereas a Ph.D. is more research,” says Vaillancourt, who’s considering a career in credit-union consulting or teaching, post-retirement.

In January, Valerie Sheppard left her government job to take on an associate faculty position at Royal Roads University; getting a Ph.D. will “solidify my ability to teach in a university setting,” she says, and keep working for many years to come. And, she argues, the so-called Ivory Tower and the real world aren’t so far apart. As a professor, “you’ve got your own courses, and students; there’s some flexibility,” she says. “In a sense, it’s entrepreneurial. That’s what I’m looking for.”

Photo by Darren Stone

Cost of education rises at more than double the rate of inflation

Students are paying higher tuition fees, which have increased at more than double the rate of inflation, according to Statistics Canada’s yearly round up of the cost of education, released yesterday. On average, Canadian undergraduate students will pay $5,138 in 2010-11 for one year of university, compared to $4,942 in 2009-10, a  four per cent hike. The consumer price index rose by 1.8 per cent.

Across the country, there was significant variation in the tuition rate, which ranged from a low of $2,415 in Quebec to a high of $6,307 in Ontario. All but three provinces saw tuition increase to some extent. Newfoundland and Labrador and New Brunswick saw no change in tuition fees and tuition in Nova Scotia declined (4.5 per cent) for the third year in a row.

Tuition fees for graduate students increased faster than for undergraduates, at 6.6 per cent. The national average for graduate school tuition is $5,182, ranging from a low of $2,456 in Newfoundland to a high of $7,350 in Nova Scotia. Although, like their undergraduate counterparts, Nova Scotia’s graduate students saw a decrease in fees of 4.5 per cent. In fact, all four Maritime provinces saw a reduction in tuition for graduate students this year. Master’s of Business Administration programs were the most expensive graduate programs at a national average of $21,118, and $28,773 for executive MBA programs.

As for professional programs, students in dentistry paid the highest average fees at $14,701, followed by medicine ($10,244) and pharmacy ($9,250). International undergraduate students also saw their tuition increase, at 5.2 per cent, bringing the average rate up to $16,768. Average tuition fees don’t encompass the total increase to the cost of education, as compulsory fees also rose this year to $702 from $656 in 2009-10.

Students groups were unimpressed with the continued trend towards higher tuition fees. The Canadian Federation of Students called Ontario’s status as the jurisdiction with the highest tuition rate, an “embarrassment” in a media release. “While students in Ontario pay the most, they experience the largest classes and are funded at the lowest per capita levels in Canada,” Sandy Hudson, who chairs the group’s Ontario branch, said.

Similarly, the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations (CASA), highlighted how the recession has placed financial constraints on students and their parents. “[S]tudents and families have fewer resources to pay for a post-secondary education as a result of the recession,” CASA’s national director Zach Dayler said.

How do faculty measure up? How do grads fare? Maclean’s fourth annual survey reveals all

Are a law school’s professors significant contributors to the intellectual life of their discipline? Do a law school’s graduates land the most sought-after jobs in government, the private sector and academia? These are the two questions Maclean’s annual law survey seeks to answer.

All of the data used in the Maclean’s law rankings are publicly available. All focus on law school outputs. Fifty per cent of the overall ranking is determined by faculty quality, and 50 per cent by graduate quality.

The four measures of graduate quality look at the success each law school has had producing graduates able to land the most competitive jobs. The indicators are:

Elite Firm Hiring: Maclean’s calculated how many of each school’s graduates are serving as associates at law firms on Lexpert’s list of the largest firms in Canada across all regions, or at one of the five leading New York firms, according to the employment website Vault. This was done by examining the online biographies of thousands of lawyers at dozens of law firms. To scale this measure to each school, the tally was divided by first-year class size, averaged over the past three years. This measure is worth 20 per cent.

National Reach: This indicator, based on the Elite Firm Hiring measure, is worth 10 per cent. It measures the proportion of each law school’s grads at leading firms who are working at firms other than the three that hired the most grads from this school. It’s a measure of the extent to which leading firms outside a school’s region hire its graduates.

Supreme Court Clerkships: A measure of how many of a school’s graduates have served as clerks at the Supreme Court of Canada, this indicator is worth 10 per cent. There are 27 clerks each year; it is one of the most competitive positions open to graduates. Maclean’s looked at the last six years’ worth of clerks. As with the other measures of graduate quality, the tally was divided by each school’s average first-year enrolment.

Faculty Hiring: Worth 10 per cent, this indicator looks at how many of a school’s graduates are professors at Canadian law schools, with extra weight given to grads hired by faculties other than their alma mater.

Faculty Journal Citations: In this measure of faculty quality, worth 50 per cent, Maclean’s employed the HeinOnline database of legal periodicals. The search included citations in international publications as well as Canadian journals in order to reflect the reality of a globalized academy. The number of citations recorded by each faculty member was measured; the tally for each school was then divided by the size of its faculty.

Next page: Which school is on top?

Textbook rentals have stormed onto Canadian campuses, but not without some opposition

Shocked by the nearly $1,000 you dropped on textbooks this fall? Maybe it’s time to rent. Big business at American universities, textbook rentals have stormed onto Canadian campuses, but not without a little opposition. While the idea may prove popular with some students, a limited number of titles available for rent could see the program unavailable to many others. As for publishers, many are squirming from what they say could be an administrative nightmare that will eat into their finances.

Six university and college book stores, run by Follett of Canada, are participating in a pilot textbook rental program, called Rent-a-Text. They include stores at Carleton University, the University of Winnipeg, Humber College’s Main and Lakeshore campuses, and St. Clair College campuses in Windsor and Thames. Michael Clark, who runs the U of W bookstore says students who decide to rent can expect to save at least 50 per cent per title. With about a quarter of the store’s titles being eligible for rent, he estimates that could translate into $200 or $300 in savings for the average student. “I think once it catches on, it’s really going to catch on,” he said. Students will typically rents books on a per semester basis.

Stores say they are choosing books for rent that are popular and that have put out recent editions, to ensure they will be used for several semesters. “We’re hoping the professor will use it for three years,” Ed Kane, Carleton’s assistant vice-president (university services) explained. Even if professors won’t commit to a rental title, or change their minds, Follet will be able to rent the book at one of its other stores.

The company, which runs 35 stores in Canada, piloted the program at seven American campuses last fall and has since extended that to more than 750. According to numbers released by the company yesterday, Follet stores have rented more than one million books over the past three weeks, a savings to students of $45 million the company claims.

The market for rented textbooks has been steadily growing in the U.S. since at least 2001 when Chegg.com, a book renting website modeled off of Netflix, launched. Bricks and mortar retailers are only now starting to catch up with their online counterparts.

The National Association of College Stores (NACS) estimated that only 200-300 of its members were renting books last September. They now peg that number at more than 1,500 American campus stores. Barnes and Noble, which operates 636 campus bookstores, also piloted a rental program, beginning with three stores last September, and expanding to 25 by this past winter.

However, renting textbooks is still relatively rare, even in the United States. A May survey of 500 students by the NACS, found that only 12 per cent had rented textbooks, though about 44 per cent said they would consider it. Another 36 per cent were unsure, and 20 per cent said they would not choose to rent. Of those who rented, 72 per cent said they would rent again.

Although textbook renting is new to Canada, Carleton and the U of W won’t be the first universities to enter the market. Last fall the University of Manitoba Students’ Union started a book rental program, and is continuing it this year. Although the UMSU plan is on a much smaller scale—renting only three titles—union president Heather Laube says it is still saving students thousands of dollars. “We had a high success rate last year with very positive feedback and a smooth return process overall,” she said.

In the spring, the University of Toronto Bookstore put six books up for rent, and has now expanded that to more than 100 titles. When the program was first launched, the bookstore rented one book for every four sold. The non-profit bookstore will be renting textbooks for a little more than Follet stores, at around 60 per cent of the retail price.

Campus bookstores will also be facing competition from book renting websites geared towards the Canadian market. Brad Dolan, who graduated with a business degree from Carleton in 2008, started an online rental company called BookMob. Dolan says students will save between 50 and 80 per cent off the retail price.

BookMob boasts being “the first service of its kind,” but another website, textbookrental.ca, also launched this summer. Michael Stock, who completed his business degree at York University in the spring, started the company with the help of Toronto accountant Gershon Hurwitz, to capitalize on the budding textbook rental market. “We identified that no one was doing it in Canada,” Hurwitz said.

While renting may prove to be a boon for retailers, who can rent the same title over and over, some publishers are concerned that rental schemes could hurt their finances, if they are not compensated. Paul Cercone, executive director of McGill-Queen’s University press, told industry magazine, Quill and Quire in June that he is worried about author royalties. “I would want to know exactly what they have in mind to see if it’s advantageous for me,” he said.

Colleen O’Neill, of the Canadian Publishers Council, told the magazine that rental programs have been an “administrative nightmare” for publishers down south.

Follet didn’t consult with publishers prior to offering books for rent and does not pay additional royalties. “Rent-A-Text is driven by our own inventory of both new and used books. We purchase new from publishers,” Elio Distaola, Follet’s director of campus relations, stated via email.

However, profit sharing and royalties agreements, to compensate publishers when a textbook is rented, are not uncommon. Cengage Learning pays publishers a royalty for every time a book is rented, and McGraw Hill supplies Chegg with a limited number of titles for rent in exchange for a portion of revenues.

Despite potential savings to students, renting will not always be the optimal option. An internal U of T survey did reveal that 66 per cent of students were interested in renting textbooks, but 81 per cent indicated they would be interested in buying second hand. Owning a book is often desirable because it can be used for future reference. In other cases, a book may be required for multiple terms rendering the renting option uneconomical.

There is also some dispute about exactly how revolutionary the idea is. Students have always been able to sell their used books back to bookstores, in what amounts to a “quasi-rental” exchange. One bookstore manager pointed out to the Chronicle of Higher Education that if a book has a retail price of $100, a student may be able to rent it for $40, or buy it used for $75. The buy back option may see $50 returned to the student. Although, there are usually only a limited number of books that stores will buy used.

Because only a fifth to a quarter of textbooks may be available for rent from any given store, not all students may even have the option. Zach Janzen, a second-year environmental studies student at the University of Winnipeg, was hoping to rent three books this year. “But it ended up that none of them were for rent,” he said. Instead he purchased two books second hand, one for $80 and the other for $90. Another he purchased brand new for $150. A fourth book Janzen wanted was available for rent, but it cost only around $20 to buy, so he bought it.

Distaola admits that renting will never fully supplant the market for new and used books, nor is it intended to. “It’s about creating options for students.”

Related: Why textbooks are so expensive

How to download your textbooks for free

Cameron Bruce was a model student, warmly remembered

An American teenager who played the trumpet, swam competitively and had a “love for learning” was mourned by his hometown Tuesday as word spread that the first-year student was found dead outside a Queen’s University residence. The bedroom community of Westport, Conn., was left stunned after hearing that Cameron Bruce, 18, died at the eastern Ontario school.

Any adult would “love to have a son just like him,” said John Dodig, principal of Staples High School, where Bruce graduated from. Dodig said he informed the teachers at the school of Bruce’s death and showed them a photo of Bruce from a musical performance, wearing a tie and sporting slicked-back hair. “He looked like he belonged on the cover of GQ magazine, but the Cameron I saw every day always had dishevelled, spiky hair because he spent half his life in a chlorine-filled pool.”

Bruce had swam with the Water Rat Swim Team since he was 7 years old, said coach Ellen Johnston. “The whole thing is just so shocking,” Johnston said. “He’s just a terrific person,” she said, sounding stunned as she added that he had grown up on the team.

Police in Kingston, Ont., said students discovered a body outside the residence hall early Monday, the first day of classes at Queen’s following orientation week for new students. In a release Tuesday night, Kingston police said foul play was not suspected in Bruce’s death, but did not reveal a cause of death. “The investigation is ongoing and police detectives are asking anyone who knows Cameron Bruce or had contact with him during the evening of Sunday Sept. 12,” to contact investigators, the release said.

The multi-talented teen was an inspiration to the school, said Dodig. He played in the jazz ensemble, acted in school plays, and excelled in the school’s most demanding courses. Dodig said when he broke the news to Bruce’s former music teacher, the man could barely stand up.

Bruce’s economics teacher told the principal that after the final school tests last May most students lost interest in school, but not Bruce. “In his case, he showed up after the exam, bright eyed and bushy-tailed and eager for three more months of learning about economics,” said Dodig. More than 1,800 people attended Staples High School, and most knew Bruce, he added.

A page mourning the teen’s death was created on Facebook, and Staples High School’s theatre group, the Staples Players, also created a memorial to Bruce on its blog. Along with his success as a trumpet player with the jazz band, Bruce also performed in a one-act play. “I honestly never saw Cam without a smile on his face. His enthusiasm for life was incredible,” Alan Southworth, a friend, said in an email.

Along with playing in the school band, Southworth and Bruce played in a jazz quartet at local nursing homes. “His willingness to give back to his community with music was inspirational to me and so many others,” said Southworth. Bruce arrived at Queen’s to begin orientation last week, according to people in the community who spoke to Dodig.

The teenager’s father was an alumnus of Queen’s, said Dodig, adding that was one of the main reasons drawing the ambitious teenager to the Ontario school. Bruce’s father was in Kingston during orientation week, helping his son prepare for his first year, and was still in town on Monday, Dodig added. A family friend who answered the phone at the Bruce home in Westport said they did not want to talk.

Dodig said he has heard from the people in the town that the family will postpone a memorial service for their son until Thanksgiving, so his many friends can attend the service.

The Canadian Press

57% say quality has declined in the past year, according to survey

Ontario universities are crammed with students, and education is suffering, according to a survey of professors and librarians released today. The study, conducted by the Ontario Confederation of Faculty Associations (OCUFA), revealed that 57 per cent of academic staff say education quality has been declining over the past year. OCUFA president Mark Langer calls the results a “warning bell” issued to government from “the people working on the front line in the universities.”

Other results showed that 55 per cent of respondents reported larger class sizes and 38 per cent said retiring or departing faculty had not been renewed. As a result, 38 per cent said that out-of-class support for students had declined, and 39 per cent were using fewer essay-style exams to compensate for larger classes. Fifty-one per cent said that programs, or classes, had been canceled due to budget constraints.

Langer said the survey results were directly linked to government initiatives to encourage more and more students to go to university. “We’re just packing them in,” he said. “It’s not like stamping out widgets. It doesn’t work that way.”

The Ontario student teacher ratio is among the lowest in the country at 26 to one, compared to the national average of 19 to one. Langer also says that Ontario per student funding is the lowest in the country, but he didn’t have exact figures available, calling the numbers “complicated.”

According to the Canadian Press, John Milloy, minister of training colleges and universities, objected to the claims in the report. “Quality is not declining  . . . it’s in fact the opposite  . . . We’ve seen a phenomenal investment in the system,” he said. Operating grants to universities have risen from $1.9 to $3.2 billion since 2002, an increase of 77 per cent.

Langer does not dispute that the government has invested heavily in higher education, but he says any extra funding is being “swallowed” up by disproportionate number of students being admitted. “[Funding] is not keeping pace with demand,” he said. Landger adds that the government is not solely to blame, noting that the recession wreaked havoc on university endowment funds and pension plans. When asked if OCUFA would support lowering the number of students admitted to Ontario universities, he dismissed the idea. “We’re certiainly ready to educate them, but give us the support.”

Bonnie Patterson, president of the Council of Ontario Universities, agrees that universities are underfunded, but says that the OCUFA survey failed to account for the many out-of-class programs she says universities provide. She says institutions have shifted some resources towards support for students from underrepresented groups and international students. “And yes there has been some trade-offs in the classroom,” she said.

Meaghan Coker, president of the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance, says the survey does not account for the quality of teaching in the classroom, focusing too much on measures like student teacher ratios. “It depens less on class size, and more on the practices professors use,” Coker said. She is referring to “active learning” versus “passive learning” and says even in a class of 250, a professor, properly trained, could be effective.

Getting a C in chemistry may not be a barrier to that white coat, as med schools reassess their admissions

If you ever wanted to be a doctor, but were scared off because of all the science you would have to learn, you may soon be in luck. Canadian medical schools are taking a closer look at their admissions practices, and prerequisites like the much-feared Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT) are no longer seen to be as imperative as they once were.

Just how picky medical schools should be about students being well-versed in the scientific foundations of human anatomy is a decades-old debate. But now, lacking a solid grasp of science might not be a barrier to getting that white coat.

For 25 years, Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York has reserved around 30 spaces for students who haven’t taken physics, calculus, organic chemistry or the MCAT. A recent study on the Mount Sinai program, co-authored by the school’s dean emeritus Nathan Kase, concluded that students admitted through the humanities and medicine stream “performed at a level equivalent to their premedical classmates.”

In Canada, there are already two medical programs, McMaster University and the Northern Ontario School of Medicine, that have no science requirements, either through course prerequisites or the MCAT. Several others are reviewing their core application requirements.

The University of British Columbia is undergoing a curriculum review that could see a revamping of at least one first-year medicine course so that it no longer presumes an extensive science background. According to Joseph Finkler, associate dean of admissions for medicine, that could open the door to revising the selection process. “It is possible that we will end up with multiple admissions streams, including one without the prerequisites and MCAT,” he said. Lewis Tomalty, Queen’s University’s vice-dean, medical education, says that while some science is “necessary,” encouraging students with a range of academic backgrounds to apply is beneficial to the classroom. “We’re looking at how extensive [science prerequisites] have to be and are certainly looking to change the actual admissions requirements,” he said. Similarly, the Université de Montréal has put a committee in place to review whether its list of science requirements creates an unnecessary barrier to pursuing a career in medicine.

But the school that is farthest along in this process is McGill University. In July, McGill announced that it would no longer require prospective students to take the MCAT. The faculty of medicine will also be reserving three spaces for “non-traditional” students, giving great weight to things like work experience. They will also be exempt from having to complete their first degree full-time, a common prerequisite intended to ensure students can handle the workload. Saleem Razack, assistant dean of admissions at McGill, says these policy changes are needed “so that the excellence that students with diverse life experiences can bring to the medical profession can be assessed and valued.”

The key is finding the right balance, says Miki Rifkin, who oversees the humanities and medicine program at Mount Sinai. While her students are exempt from most science prerequisites, they still have to take introductory chemistry and biology, and have an otherwise exemplary academic record. The goal is to encourage students who might otherwise be deterred at the prospect of the MCAT to pursue medicine. “We want to make a difference for students passionate about some non-science area,” she said.

“The older way of thinking is that doctors should be scholars and scientists first,” says Terry Wuerz, who earned his medical degree from the University of Manitoba in 2007. “I think it’s great that med schools are starting to recognize the different roles doctors play.”

There are, of course, hurdles to reform. Using the MCAT and having science prerequisites are very useful for sorting through thousands of applications. “How do you choose the ones you’re going to interview?” asks Tomalty. While Mount Sinai non-science students do well overall, they do struggle during their first two years, and perform less well on medical licensing exams.

This is consistent with the experience at Canadian schools, says Harold Reiter, chair of admissions at McMaster, but that doesn’t detract from the generally high performance of the non-science students, he said. “Once they have caught up, they do every bit as well as their science-background peers.”