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COMMENTARY
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Nights in Columbus
April 23, 2010
WATSON SCOTT SWAIL, President & CEO, Educational Policy Institute
This was one of those weeks. Started in Miami on Sunday morning talking with the Council on State Governments on the new US Common Core Curriculum Standards that are going through in the US. Moved on to New Orleans, where I met at the AACRAO conference to discuss higher education ranking systems, and ended up in Columbus, Ohio, where I conducted a site visit of Ohio Dominican University and also keynoted at Columbus State Community College (CSCC) on student success. I’m tired.
But I’m also invigorated. On Friday morning, I had the pleasure to speak to 800 faculty and staff members at CSCC about student retention and persistence and what it takes to increase student success at their institution. As most know, improving graduation and/or transfer rates is not easy business. On paper, it doesn't seem to difficult. In practice, not so much. Given the issues of institutional politics, history of prior efforts, dated policies, and an emerging clientele with more demands and perhaps less preparation than before, you must acknowledge that many of these professionals are saints. READ MORE...
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| STATISTIC OF THE WEEK |
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Women have increased their share of university graduates such that in 2007, they accounted
for more than 50% of graduates in all fields, except for three: architecture and engineering;
mathematics and computer sciences; and personal, protective and transportation services. Women increased their share of graduates from less than 50% in 1992 to over 50% in 2007 in two fields—physical and life sciences; and agriculture, natural resources and conservation.
Source: Canadian Social Trends, Stats Can
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THE NEWS
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| ACADEMIC PREPARATION |
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Calgary, Edmonton to get 10 new schools
By Archie McLean, Edmonton Journal
The province plans to build a total of 10 new schools in Edmonton and Calgary through a $253 million public-private partnership. B2L Partnership will design, finance, build and maintain the schools over a 30-year period. “These schools will serve as the hub of these communities for many years,” said Education Minister Dave Hancock in a news release. The government says the alternative funding model will save taxpayers $105 million, but has not provided more details, something the auditor general urged it to do in his report last week.
Catholic schools must teach new sex ed: McGuinty
By The Canadian Press
Ontario's Catholic schools can't opt out of a revamped sex ed curriculum even if it goes against their religious beliefs to teach kids about masturbation and homosexuality, Premier Dalton McGuinty said Wednesday. Several conservative and religious groups claim the changes coming this fall will corrupt young minds with “explicit” topics like anal sex. But Ontario's Catholic premier made it clear that all public schools must teach the lessons that will start as early as age six. “They're part of the publicly funded school system here in Ontario and this is part of our curriculum,” McGuinty said.
Spending restraints threaten public schooling, trustees warm
By Janet Steffenhagen, Vancourver Sun
Richmond school trustees joined their Vancouver counterparts Tuesday in blaming inadequate funding from the provincial government for their decision to axe 95 jobs to balance next year's budget, a move they warn will result in significant changes in the delivery of public education. "We are at a watershed moment," trustee Donna Sargent said in an interview. "We can't deliver [education] the way we have." Linda McPhail, chairwoman of the board of education, said the vote Monday night to cut $6 million in spending in 2010-11 follows reductions of $7 million this year. "It's a very anxious time for people and a very sad time. I am mourning a system in distress."
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| POST-SECONDARY ACCESS AND SUCCESS |
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Accidental e-mail confuses U of T applicants
By QMI Agency, Toronto Sun
Would-be graduate students across Canada got their hopes up this past weekend, only to have them dashed to pieces in what the University of Toronto is calling an "administrative error." A mass e-mail sent to 169 applicants to the speech language pathology program at the University of Toronto on Friday appeared to be an acceptance letter. But it wasn't. "Welcome to the University of Toronto," read the subject line. There were about 250 applications to the program, and only 45 were admitted. Of the 205 students rejected from the program, 169 of them received the erroneous e-mail.
Medical, nursing school cash lost in bureaucratic maze
By John McPhee, The Halifax Chronicle Herald
Millions of dollars in medical funding have been lost in a maze of provincial government bureaucracy. Dalhousie University’s medical school is short $5.5 million, while $5.3 million is missing from St. Francis Xavier University’s nursing school budget. Dalhousie and St. F.X. officials said the results will be devastating if funding is not restored. "It would have a significant impact on our operation," Dr. Thomas Marrie, dean of the Dalhousie medical school, said in an interview Tuesday. "We would have to let people go."
College in Fort Chipewyan a dream coming true
By Leslie Stolte, Edmonton Journal
A Fort Chipewyan band official says he hopes the new Keyano College campus in the community will let young students mature at home before heading out among the temptations of nearby Fort McMurray. The bars and easier access to drugs are tough for previously sheltered new high school graduates to resist. "Maybe with age will come more resistance to peer pressure, because I know how it was when I moved out to Fort McMurray," said Anthony Ladouceur, a 29-year-old councillor for the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation.
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| INTERNATIONAL NEWS |
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Latin America hopes to lift global profile
By Marion Lloyd, The Chronicle of Higher Education
In 2008, when much of the world was deep in recession, Chile was rolling in revenue from its copper mines. Rather than invest the windfall at home, however, the government did a surprising thing: It set aside $6-billion to pay for Chileans to earn graduate degrees abroad. The decision, which education experts say is by far the largest per capita investment in study-abroad scholarships by a Latin American government, was rooted in the belief that the country's future depends on its development of human capital. Chile, with a population of just 17 million people, is also spending tens of millions of dollars on improving its state universities and developing programs in the humanities, arts, and social sciences—in part in a bid to attract foreign students and professors.
Uni demands cloud power of watchdog
By Andrew Trouson, The Australian
Universities Australia is pushing for greater control of the development of the new national tertiary education agency following concerns the regulations will be too heavy-handed and undermine university autonomy. UA chairman Peter Coaldrake has written to Education Department secretary Lisa Paul calling for the functions of the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency to be gradually phased in. UA argues the new body should initially focus on high-risk areas such as scrutinising non-university providers. It is also advocating the creation of an interim higher education advisory committee to oversee the design and early implementation of TEQSA. The committee would have strong university representation.
Minister unveils education budget
By BBC News
The Northern Ireland education minister has admitted her budget allocations for the coming year have involved "difficult decisions". The overall funding is up by 1.9% to just over £1.9bn but the minister must find savings of £74m against her original plans for the year ahead. Catriona Ruane said that in drawing up the revised budget, she had focused on "equality, reducing bureaucracy and ensuring funding for the classroom". Education chiefs criticised delays in producing the budget.
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