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THE NEWS
ACADEMIC PREPARATION
Province gets tough on students’ late assignments
By Amy Dempsey, Toronto Star
Students across Ontario will face tougher penalties for missing deadlines when they return to school this fall. New guidelines from the Ontario Ministry of Education will allow teachers to hand out zeros to students who don’t submit assignments on time — a policy previously discouraged in many school boards. “It doesn’t mean that teachers are going to give zeros all the time,” said Ken Coran, president of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation. “It means this is now one strategy that can be used to try and improve the students’ behaviour, work habits and achievement.”
Back to school means high-tech
By Misty Harris, Edmonton Journal
"No more pencils, no more books" is sounding less like an end-of-school anthem than a back-to-school forecast, thanks to the growing presence of technology in the classroom. From e-readers to iPads, digital textbooks to mobile apps, students of every age and education level are confronting shopping lists that make graphing calculators look like abacuses. The pricey tech contributes to a back-to-school bill expected to top $600 per consumer before Labour Day, with computers, software and computer-related electronics representing one of the Top 4 purchase categories.
How about majoring in reading, writing and arithmetic?
By Michael Zwaagstra, National Post
An Alberta elementary school is taking the concept of specialization to a completely new level. At R.J. Hawkey Elementary School, students heading into Grade 2 will be expected to select a "major" that defines the focus of their education for the next three years. These majors include: the arts, sports, scientific inquiry and humanitarian/environment. Teachers are required to tailor the provincial curriculum to match these specialty areas. Thus, students in the humanitarian/ environment stream can expect to spend a lot of time in math calculating average recycling rates while sports stream students pore over team statistics.
POSTSECONDARY ACCESS SUCCESS
Making it easier to apply for a student loan
By Ontario News Release
Starting this year, college and university students will spend less time filling out loan and grant applications and standing in back-to-school line-ups. They will also receive their financial support faster. The province is streamlining student aid by making the application process easier and cutting red tape. This will help students focus more on their studies. Some changes to the process this year mean students will fill out fewer forms for the Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP) and Student Access Guarantee (SAG) funds. Also, when they complete their OSAP application, students will also be automatically evaluated for SAG funding.
Investments made to increase participation at universities, colleges
By New Brunswick News Release
The provincial government is making several investments to enable more New Brunswickers to participate and succeed in post-secondary education. Details were released today by Post-Secondary Education, Training and Labour Minister Donald Arseneault. "Improving accessibility by focusing on students who are under-represented at the post-secondary level and increasing their participation is a key priority as we move forward with Be Inspired. Be Ready. Be Better. The Action Plan to Transform Post-Secondary Education in New Brunswick," said Arseneault.
Back to school for grown-ups
By Caitlin Crawshaw, The Vancouver Sun
Across Canada, children are starting to panic as summer fades and a new school year approaches, and most of their parents are celebrating -- but not all. Each year, more and more Canadians pursue post-secondary education -- including adults. According to Statistics Canada data, between 1986 and 2006, the number of Canadians with undergraduate degrees doubled and the number with master's degrees nearly tripled. For a "mature" student -- which most universities categorize as anyone who's been out of school for more than two years, or is 23 and older -- leaving the office for the classroom is a challenge.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
The appliance of extra science is no economic panacea
By John Morgan, The Times Higher Education
An academic believes he has found evidence to refute the government's case that increased university provision of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) subjects is needed to aid the economy. There is "no significant relationship" between a nation's economic growth rate and the number of STEM students, according to an analysis by Paul Whiteley, professor of politics at the University of Essex. In January, the then business secretary, Lord Mandelson, told the House of Lords that STEM skills were "crucial in securing future prosperity", hence the government was "opening up opportunities in universities and beyond".
A shifting international mix
By Elizabeth Redden, InsideHigherEd
In fall 2004, Kansas State University had just one Chinese undergraduate on campus. In fall 2009, there were 534. The statistic would be staggering in any context, and yet the surge is merely an extreme manifestation of a national trend. Chinese undergraduate enrollment has soared at U.S. universities in recent years and, as another academic year begins, the trend line shows no sign of reversing. Nationally, Chinese undergraduate enrollment shot up 64.7 percent from 2006-7 to 2007-8, and another 59.8 percent from 2007-8 to 2008-9. According to the most recent Open Doors data, collected by the Institute of International Education, 26,275 Chinese undergraduates were enrolled at U.S. universities in 2008-9.
Australia steps up efforts to recruit Latin American students, and they respond
By Janaki Kremmer, The Chronicle of Higher Education
During the past six years, Australia has had rapid success in recruiting students from a relatively new market: Latin America. Since 2004, enrollment of students from the region has risen from 7,000 to 34,000. Academics and recruiters attribute that success to aggressive outreach and reduced visa restrictions. The unpopularity of the Bush administration within the region, recruiters say, also helped drive students to look to countries other than the United States for foreign study. But most Latin American students in Australia are only still here to learn English at private vocational colleges and English-language schools.
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