All Posts Tagged With: "Kwantlen Polytechnic University"
New sustainable farming degree in B.C.
Kwantlen University to capitalize on trend
Kwantlen Polytechnic University is looking for a couple dozen recruits for its new four-year Bachelor of Applied Science in sustainable small-scale agriculture, reports the Vancouver Sun.
The degree will focus on agriculture that saves energy. Students will take business, biology, soil management and complete a hands-on practicum in year three. It will be taught mainly in Langley.
There’s growing interested in sustainable agriculture on Canadian campuses. To learn more, read The dirt on Farming by Jason McBride from the 21st Maclean’s University Rankings.
UPass hits a bump in the road
One contract for all B.C. students causing friction
Back in June, the BC government announced, with great bravado, that a province-wide transit pass would be available to all post-secondary students for $40 a month. Politicians get to look sustainable, students save a buck. A slam-dunk, right?
Er, no.
The deal is contingent on a) Students voting in favour of the pass via referendum, and b) Student unions signing off on the contract between them and the government. A contract which, as of now, will require all students to pay for the pass, whether they use it or not. And in the case of Kwantlen University, both issues are at play right now, which has caused them to miss a deadline for having the transit pass implemented by January.
Causing tension is the fact that transit to and around Kwantlen’s mutiple campuses in the Fraser Valley can be quite scattershot, to put it mildly. In September, students raced on bike and foot to beat buses that went between the school’s Surrey and Langley campuses—and the buses lost.
Naturally, students wonder if paying $40 a month for a system they may not be inclined to use is actually worthwhile, and there’s a push to allow Kwantlen students to be able to opt out of the plan if they want. However, the government wants one contract for all post-secondary institutions, which is causing some friction, according to the Georgia Straight.
No doubt this will eventually get resolved—but it will be interesting to see if the provincial government budges on this, or whether intra-student union solidarity will break first.
The Charter right to use a credit card
Kwantlen students no longer able to pay tuition with a credit card, student association prepares for court
Students at Kwantlen Polytechnic University will no longer be permitted to pay tuition using their credit card. For the university, it is simply a cost saving administrative change, with a portion of the savings in user fees ($250,000) being redirected towards scholarships and bursaries. For the Kwantlen Student Association (KSA) it is a matter of human rights.
International students will still be allowed to use their credit cards because they may not have access to banking options that allow tuition to be paid online, as domestics students do. That’s discrimination says Bradley Head KSA director of academic affairs. A lawyer who Head consulted with told him that restricting credit card use by place of origin violates the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the B.C. Human Rights Act. If a solution cannot be negotiated with the university the KSA plans to take the issue to court as “a last resort.”
Kwantlen lifts ban on controversial research
Teacher’s association ends inquiry on prof’s plan to observe an assisted suicide
Canadian Association of University Teachers has ended an inquiry into the actions of Kwantlen Polytechnic University administration in stopping controversial research on suicide and assisted suicide last summer.
In a bulletin, CAUT says the University has reached an agreement with professor Russel Ogden which allows him to continue his previously approved research.
RELATED: Kwantlen shuts down controversial research (7 July 2008)
Kwantlen Polytechnic University – Impressions Catering
Too bad Jell-O isn’t a food group
If I ever again find myself in the cafeteria at Kwantlen’s Surrey campus, I’ll try to remember to come armed with Canada’s Food Guide. I’ll also be sure to eat before arrival. The food—I use that term loosely—was horrendous.
We had a hard time choosing our meals since nothing looked particularly appetizing. Three pans of pizza had already sold out and were obviously not going to be replaced any time soon. Beside me, a student picked up a tray of plastic-encased nachos, stared, and warily put it back on the rack, like a man handling a bomb. Next to the industrial nacho cheese pump sat a clear-fronted fridge pimping three colours of noxious energy beverage.
The broccoli and cheese soup might have once been great, but the vat was scraped clean. The only good thing one could say about the oily beef and barley stew is that it was hot. A veggie burger with Swiss cheese for $4.20 turned out to be nothing more than a vehicle for white bread. The bottom of the veggie patty featured four bitter burnt stripes from the grill and the cheese was wafer-thin.
The same could be said for the glamorous-sounding chicken BLT with pesto, which set expectations high at over $6. It turned out to be 80 per cent white bread, 10 per cent burnt chicken and 10 per cent BLT.
I thought I had taken a carrot muffin, but the tray was mislabelled and I got a dubious cinnamon roll muffin instead. The best part of the meal was the overpriced Jell-O cup for $2.50. It was flavourful and familiar. Too bad Jell-O isn’t a food group.
