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THE NEWS
ACADEMIC PREPARATION
N.S. alters its course in math
By Jeffrey Simpson, The Halifax Chronicle Herald
Nova Scotia is changing its math curriculum after a large number of elementary school students performed poorly on tests this year. The province released results of the provincial math assessment on Monday that indicated 63 per cent of Grade 6 students at English-language schools met expectations, a drop of four percentage points since the same group was tested three years ago while they were in Grade 3. Vince Warner, the Education Department’s director of evaluation services, said the results were reason for concern but also reflected how high the bar is set for expectations in the province.
N.L. high school students get surprise when grades for wrong year arrive in mail
By Canadian Press, Winnipeg Free Press
Almost 12,000 high school students in Newfoundland and Labrador got their grades in the mail this week — except they were for last year. That's nearly two-thirds of all high school students in the province. The Education Department blames a processing error and is apologizing for any confusion or inconvenience. Final marks for 2009-10 will be mailed in the coming week. The error is being blamed on a communications failure when the transcripts were sent out for mailing without department approval.
Have your say about future of C.R. schools on public online forum
By Denise Sharkey, The Courier-Islander
An online forum for the public to submit ideas or provide viewpoints about the reconfiguration of Campbell River's secondary schools is now up and running. Public meetings on the changes coming to local schools will be held starting this fall, but Jim Ansell, assistant superintendent for School District 72, said the online forum provides another opportunity for parents, students, teachers, administrators and interested members of the public to make their feelings known about what should happen at Carihi and Timberline Secondary schools.
POSTSECONDARY ACCESS SUCCESS
College malfunction loses grades
By Galen Eagle, The Peterborough Examiner
A backup system failure at Fleming College has resulted in the loss of hundreds of students' grades and has staff and faculty scrounging to find hard-copy marks so students can finish the summer semester uninterrupted. The issue began July 16 when students reported problems logging onto the college's learning management system, which houses grades and course material. The college has been experiencing power outages as a result of ongoing construction on campus, chief information officer Jim Angel said. The college's 119 additional computer systems, including the core student system, were not affected, Angel said.
McGill will no longer require MCAT
By Karen Seidman, The Montreal Gazette
McGill University's medical school may have an Ivy League reputation, but it no longer has something that most of the top medical schools on the continent do -a requirement for all students to write the Medical College Admission Test. Beginning this month, Canadian students who studied at a Canadian university before applying to McGill medical school will no longer be required to write the MCAT -the widely used admissions test that measures students in physical sciences, verbal reasoning, biological sciences and a written sample. Students typically spend about three months studying for the exam.
McGuinty Government helps strengthen Northern economy
By Ontario News Release
A new skills training program will help Aboriginal people in the North and northern Ontarians get the training they need to benefit from new resource development opportunities. The program provides northern communities with better access to skills training opportunities, leading to jobs in resource-related sectors, including energy, mining, and forestry. Eligible projects must involve a collaboration between industry and Aboriginal or northern communities or organizations. This will ensure that northerners benefit from the opportunities provided by projects such as the Ring of Fire and other innovative technologies.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Education groups call for deepening U.S. academic ties to Indonesia
By Karin Fischer, The Chronicle of Higher Education
A coalition of education and public-policy groups is calling for more-substantial higher-education ties between the United States and Indonesia, arguing that "2010 offers the best chance there will ever be for a major United States-Indonesia bilateral initiative on education." The coalition—which includes the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities, the Institute of International Education, the United States-Indonesia Society, and the East-West Center, is pressing for more education exchanges, deeper institutional linkages, and greater investment in Indonesia's higher-education infrastructure.
Fears for the future of Germany’s ‘Ivy League’ initiative
By Aisha Labi, The Australian
Konstanz is one of nine universities that have earned a coveted designation by the German government as being among the nation's strongest. The project, which began in 2005, has unleashed a new dynamic that has reshaped German higher education, demolishing the pretence of egalitarianism and forcing universities to focus on defining their mission and sharpening their focus. "This kind of competition set free a lot of new forces within the universities," says Margret Wintermantel, president of the German Rectors' Conference, which represents the heads of the country's 258 institutions of higher education. "Overall, we are very positive about it."
Asian business schools target Western students
By Hannah Fearn, Times Higher Education
Four major schools - the China Europe International Business School in Shanghai, the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, the Indian School of Business and Nanyang Business School in Singapore - are all ranked in the top 30 business schools worldwide according to the Financial Times, and have long been fierce competitors for European applicants. Now, with demand growing for an international business education, the four institutions are collaborating to promote themselves in the West. They have formed a recruitment coalition that will attend MBA fairs in London, Paris and Madrid this autumn, under the title Top Asia Business Schools.
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