U of M blimp to study riverbank erosion: Free Press

Goodyear blimp, eat your heart out.
The University of Manitoba engineering school launched its own blimp this morning � a seven-meter-long craft that will photograph riverbank erosion in a major research project.

�We�re doing an asset management study for the city of Winnipeg,� said civil engineering Prof. James Blatz.

Blatz said that aerial photography can detect far more movement and shifts in riverbanks than can ground-level surveys.

�It costs a lot of money to take a plane and fly the river,� but the blimp, technically called an aerostat, �only costs about $150 each time to put it in the air � that�s for helium.�

The blimp is tethered, and will usually be operated from a boat, taking photos from about 40-metres high.

The blimp costs $3,000 and its camera equipment another $3,000, and is funded by federal research grants.

Link

Maritime university enrolment dropping faster than expected: Globe

BY ELIZABETH CHURCH

June 27, 2007

University enrolment in Canada's three Maritime provinces is dropping sooner and more dramatically than expected thanks to the lure of western oil-patch jobs, a declining population and the end of the recent flood of Ontario students, a new report says.

If current trends continue, the number of university students could fall by 10 per cent or more in the next decade, predicts the report, produced by the Maritime Provinces Higher Education Commission and released yesterday. In the past two school years alone, undergraduate levels have fallen by 4.5 per cent after reaching a peak in 2004-2005.

"It has been quite a shift. We didn't expect the decline to hit us so quickly," said Mireille Duguay, chief executive officer of the commission, an agency created by the Maritime premiers.

A decrease in the university-aged population of the provinces has long been expected, but Ms. Duguay said the effects of that demographic trend have been accelerated by an increase in the number of high-school students choosing not to go to university. "We are seeing students make different choices," she said. "They are leaving the province, they are staying and taking jobs or they are going to college."

. . .

At Dalhousie University in Halifax, for example, where enrolment has remained steady, fewer than 60 per cent of undergraduates come from the Maritimes and 23 per cent are from Ontario, a spokeswoman said.

Mr. Halpin said the academic community is also focusing on increasing the percentage of local high-school students who go on to university.

That is key, Ms. Duguay said, because another recent study showed that once they graduate, about 90 per cent of university students stay in the region.

Full story here.

UNBC wants to become a green university

Green university

By Arthur Williams
Prince George Free Press

Jun 27 2007

UNBC is seeking government support for a $50 million initiative to make it, “Canada’s Green University.”

University president Don Cozzetto said there is a growing political interest in environmental sustainability and UNBC is ready to take advantage of that.

“UNBC is positioned better than any other university in Canada to be a leader in sustainability and environmental management,” Cozzetto said. “Eight per cent of our students are enrolled in environmental management programs.”

More here.

VLC: ‘Web 2.0 approach to university learning, Manitoba style’

"The Virtual Learning Community website allows students to define what they want to talk about, what's important to them and gives them a platform to discuss those concerns," said Peter Tittenberger, acting director of the University of Manitoba's learning technology center, as he launched a new site that lets staff and students create academic and personal profile pages they can use to share information or make new contacts.

The approach is meant to foster learning through social collaboration and openness, Tittenberger told Canada's CBC, adding: "The VLC allows students and staff an opportunity to connect, discuss, share and create content online as an entire university community – not at a course level."

Another member of the learning technology center's staff, George Siemens, took a similar approach to his new book, Knowing Knowledge, launching it as a wiki, CBC also reports.

"People need to be very up to speed," Siemens said. "The process of getting published in a print journal can take one to two years. A wiki is obviously much quicker, and it also embodies the formal peer review process in the right context."

link:http://www.socialcomputingmagazine.com/viewcolumn.cfm?colid=341

FP: U of M president responds to letter

Letter of the day

Tue Jun 19 2007

U of M president responds

In his June 13 column, More bean counters needed, Rodney A. Clifton paints an unbalanced and incomplete picture of the fiscal responsibility of the University of Manitoba. His suggestion that operating expenditures have risen disproportionately to the number of degrees granted is misleading and does not factor in numerous important considerations. Clifton does not indicate where that money goes or how it is spent at the U of M. He also does not consider the dramatic increase in enrolment experienced at the U of M and all other post-secondary institutions in the province over the last number of years, or its impact on the cost of providing an education to students and delivering on the province's research and innovation agenda.

Student enrolment increased by 33 per cent between 1997-98 and 2005-06. At the same time, expenditures increased by 29 per cent after adjusting for inflation. Clearly, the university coped with more students with less money. The U of M recognizes that in order to attract and retain the best professors, researchers and staff, the institution must remain competitive with sister universities around the country. In order to do this, salaries must be in line with those offered elsewhere and this accounts for a significant portion of the increase. Clifton also fails to consider increases in numerous other costs incurred by the university. For example, utility costs at the university have increased by 70 per cent since 1999 due to rate increases and new facilities. Insurance premiums are up 175 per cent in that same time frame. The cost of maintaining and adding to our library materials has increased dramatically, not to mention the high cost of ensuring that our facilities are kept current with up-to-date technology and equipment. In the past few years, the U of M has added new facilities to campus that ensure our students have what they need to learn and succeed in today's knowledge economy. The U of M has met these challenges and experienced this growth while making a concerted effort to keep administration costs low. According to the Canadian Association of University Business Officers, the U of M is second only to Queen's University in having the lowest administration costs of all universities in the country. Unlike a number of other Canadian universities, the U of M adheres to balanced budget legislation and does not carry a deficit year over year. Tuition at the U of M continues to be among the lowest in the country. Our students paid an average of $3,272 in 2005/06 compared to the Canadian average of $4,214 as outlined by Statistics Canada. The U of M has shown itself to be a good manager of its resources for the last 25 years. To suggest otherwise is incorrect and unfair.


EMOKE SZATHMARY

President and Vice-Chancellor


University of Manitoba

Aboriginal students still more likely to drop out of PSE: CMSF

No surprise here: http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix/news/local/story.html?id=4594c354-e708-4a96-9722-7e7edcfac712

My question: why is CMSF so heavy on the press releases of late? Could it be that the program is in danger of not being extended?

(CMSF: http://www.cmsf.ca/index1.htm) [Note: worst intro point on a website ever!

Ontario PSE is great: Minister

Province is funding 'every student and more'

By Chris Bentley, Ontario Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities
The Hamilton Spectator
(Jun 19, 2007)
Re: 'More students, less funding' (June 15)

Let me congratulate faculty, staff and administration at McMaster for their work. McMaster is an excellent post-secondary institution, delivering world-class education at both the graduate and undergraduate level.

I understand the challenges budgets present, and frustrations that may result in the process. I know many of these are the result of operating funding that did not increase from 1991-2003, even though the number of students did. This funding pays for faculty, staff, libraries and equipment.

McMaster's operating funding went down more than 2 per cent over those years, which included one year, 1996, when funding of all colleges and universities was cut 20 per cent.

Times have changed. Premier Dalton McGuinty recognized the need for more funding at our post-secondary institutions, and acted. Between 2002-03 and 2006-07, four years, McMaster's operating funding increased by more than $60 million to $183 million, a 54 per cent increase in four years. This doesn't include capital funding, nor $13 million provided to McMaster from this year's provincial budget to alleviate immediate cost pressures. I understand the number of students taught increased, over the same period, by 32 per cent, substantially less than the budget increase. We are funding every student, and more. In presenting McMaster's budget challenges, the much larger contribution by the people of Ontario to education at McMaster over the past four years should be recognized.

The number of students McMaster takes is up to McMaster, not the Ontario government. McMaster would have received more operating money even if it had not taken additional students. Our government is providing operating funding for every student, and is also paying for many spaces created by universities under the previous government that were never supported by government funding, as the funding increases indicate. Is there more to do? Yes. But substantial progress has been made in the past four years. We will continue to ask the people of Ontario to support our students, and institutions they attend, with funding they need to succeed.

http://www.hamiltonspectator.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=hamilton/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1182227244625&call_pageid=1020420665036&col=1112876262536

News of the day for June 13 (and the slack period in between)

ESL funds used to heat schools: Toronto Star

'Failure to innovate' sinking economy: CBC

Trial of bouncers accused of killing The Beach patron: CBC

CBC News In Depth: Student Debt: CBC

No one knew about racist prof's activities, U of S says: CBC

Students in debt more likely to abandon studies: Macleans

Studio Garage Sale

Saturday May 26, 2007 between noon and 5pm.

Some architecture students are closing up their studio permanently and are looking to get rid of EVERYTHING!!!

Location: 5th Floor 290 McDermot Ave.

from: winnipeg.craigslist.org/sss

How BC Libs aim to reinvent higher ed.

‘Campus 2020’ report promises upheaval without progress: the Tyee

The B.C. government's report on post-secondary education is thoroughly taken apart by a Capilano College professor:

The Campus 2020 report came out late in April, and rarely has such an education policy paper had such an immediate and powerful impact.

(read more!)

60% of Winnipeggers want better roads; 30% want better transit

. . . So says the Canada West Foundation's Urban Transportation study, released today, the third in a series of public-opinion surveys on urban issues.

Read a pdf of the report here, though I feel compelled to warn you that many of the stats are inconclusive — it's interesting, though, to see how Winnipeggers stack up in terms of public perception of transit as compared to other cities.

Here's the press release:

(CALGARY, May 2, 2007) - The results of a Canada West Foundation public opinion survey, released today, show that strong majorities in Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Regina, Saskatoon and Winnipeg feel that building and maintaining the road system is a high priority.

At the same time, the percentage of people who think that their local government is doing a good job of ensuring an efficient road system ranges from 18% in Winnipeg to 34% in Calgary.

When it comes to the road system, urbanites want more to be done and they want it done better. When it comes to funding these improvements, the most popular option is increased federal and provincial grants. Strong majorities in all seven cities included in the survey state that increasing federal and provincial infrastructure grants-even if it means a small increase in income taxes - s a good idea.

At the other end of the continuum, the idea of introducing a new local fuel or sales tax is very unpopular with at least 7 out of 10 residents in each city in the survey opposing this option.

Auditor-general's report on Millennium Scholarship Foundation

(Ottawa, 1 May 2007) — Federal programs providing financial assistance to post-secondary students have good controls to ensure that loans, grants, and bursaries are delivered in the right amounts to eligible students, says the Auditor General of Canada, Sheila Fraser, in her Report tabled today in the House of Commons.

"I am pleased about the good management practices we found in these programs aimed at giving young Canadians better access to higher education," said Ms. Fraser.

The full report is available in pdf form.

Lynch's Inland Empire opening in Winnipeg on June 15

You heard it here first, kids: June 15 at Cinematheque will bring with it the latest David Lynch feature, Inland Empire.

It opens May 2 in Vancouver. For more info see here.

Canadian university enrolment continues to increase: AUCC

OTTAWA (May 1, 2007) — Canadian university enrolment will grow nationally by between 70,000 to 150,000 full-time students over the next decade despite challenging demographics in some regions of the country, according to a new study by the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC).

The first volume of the report (and the rest of this press release) are available on the AUCC website.

UPDATE: Highlights from CBC story
* There are 700,000 undergraduate and 115,000 graduate students.
* Women account for two-thirds of the enrolment growth.
* PhD enrolment has jumped by 57 per cent between 1996 and 2006.
* Between 1990 and 2006, jobs for university graduates have doubled.

Today's top U of M stories

Doer promises 10 new med school spaces, 100 more doctors within four years: CBC, Freep, Sun

Aboriginal students part of solution to doctor shortage: Freep (subscribers only)

King's Park labyrinth planned to honour former U of M writer-in-residence Carol Shields: CBC, project website

U of M Press book cleans up at MB book awards: What's On Winnipeg

Bisons volleyball player Josh Klassen is trying out for the national men's team: Sun

Enrolment at Saskatchewan universities expected to drop: Regina Leader-Post

NB political parties clash over whether graduation is required for post-secondary tax rebate: CBC

University of Western Ontario student newspaper could be run by university admin: Maclean's