Weekly News Roundup

UNIONS | INSTITUTIONS | GOVERNMENT

Join CUFA BC each week for a roundup of news in BC’s post-secondary sector

The BCIT Faculty and Staff Association (BCITFSA) is currently welcoming applications to fill the Executive Director position at the head of our team. As one of the largest faculty and staff associations in BC, the BCIT Faculty & Staff Association (FSA) is a membership driven, certified trade union that represents full-time and part-time technological faculty and staff at BCIT. Through representation on committees, negotiation with BCIT and advocacy for our members, we work to advance the employment interests of members and improve working conditions at BCIT. Applications must be submitted through the Charity Village job positing.

BC | BCITFSA | Charity Village

The Government of British Columbia has released its Labour Market Outlook: 2023 Edition, which includes a 10-year forecast of the expected flow of supply and demand for labour across the province. The reports indicate that BC will have approximately one million job openings between 2023 and 2033, 75% of which will require postsecondary education or training. It estimates that the best job opportunities for those with postsecondary degrees or diplomas will be for nurses, elementary school teachers, software engineers and designers, social and community service workers, and early childhood educators, among others. It also projects that among the skilled trades, there will be a considerable demand for cooks, carpenters, hairstylists, and heavy equipment operators. BC also launched the Find Your Path education and career way-finding tool that provides a personalized, intuitive map of the steps toward a person’s education and career goals

BC | WorkBC | YouTube | TODAYINBC

Artificial Intelligence has become a buzzword in industries across the world as Machine Learning technology improves. University of Norther British Columbia Continuing Studies program has partnered with RoboGarden Inc. to provide two new courses for students in Northern B.C. looking to grow in the high-opportunity field. The Machine Learning Foundation Micro-credential will be an online self paced course teaching the fundamentals of Artificial Intelligence including an introduction to “Python libraries”, data exploration and how to classify the different models.

BC | UNBC

Christine Welsh remembers being shocked at how little students in university classes knew about the Metis when she taught in 2016. The University of Victoria associate professor emerita was debating retirement – instead, she started talking about creating a legacy project to educate students about the Metis. Seven years later, the documentary Lii Michif Niiyanaan: We Are Metis was born. “The film is really a love letter to our people, to our beautiful, courageous and resilient spirit,” said Welsh. “We want it to inspire people and move them and leave them with a deeper understanding of this place we call Canada.”

BC | Vancouver Island Free Daily

Tuition increases between two to five per cent will go to UBC’s Board of Governors for approval on December 5, after a recommendation on Monday from the Finance Committee. The committee voted to recommend tuition increases of 5 per cent for new international undergraduate students, 3 per cent for continuing undergraduate international students and 2 per cent for new and continuing domestic undergraduate and graduate students, according to the university’s proposal.

BC | Ubyssey

Hundreds of additional University of Victoria (UVic) students are living on campus as a new student housing complex has opened, relieving pressure on the local rental market. The new residence opened in September 2023, a year ahead of schedule. It has 385 single-room dormitory-style beds, primarily for first-year students, and an Indigenous student lounge. The new residence is part of a larger student housing project that was built in two phases. The first building, which opened in September 2022, includes 398 single-room dormitory-style student beds and a 600-seat dining hall. In total, the project adds 621 new beds and 162 replacement beds, increasing affordable on-campus housing by 25%.

BC | BC Gov News

See what’s happening at UBC this week, with theatre and music productions, museum events, and the opera tea.

BC | YouTube

Recently joining BCIT as president in July of 2023, to say Dr. Jeff Zabudsky had to fast-track his preparation before school started in September is an understatement. Zabudsky is a well-respected, seasoned professional with an impressive thirty years of high-level experience in the post-secondary and polytechnic sectors across Canada and the Middle East. A logical candidate for the role, he joined BCIT at a pivotal time with extensive transformations underway at the Burnaby Campus and across B.C.’s workforce. Still, Zabudsky feels enthused and privileged to take on the challenge. 

BC | Tri-City News

In this seminar Dr. Jane Seale will describe and evaluate a range of creative methods to capture the experiences of people with disabilities in research in ways that are inclusive and meaningful. The methods include memory boxes, sculpture, body-mapping, and i-poems, which Dr. Seale has used with adults with sensory and intellectual impairments and university students with disabilities in formal and informal educational contexts. In reflecting on the success of these methods, Dr. Seale will consider the extent to which participants with disabilities were able to shape and adapt the methods to meet their own goals and evaluate what researchers can learn when using these methods that they might not learn from other approaches.

BC | BCcampus

University of Victoria students disrupted a board of governors meeting on Tuesday to ask the university to take a stronger stance on the conflict in the Middle East and to divest from companies that have dealings with Israel’s military and police. A video of the protest shows the board attempting to continue with the meeting while a protester loudly addresses UVic president Kevin Hall, asking him to respond to the students, who tried unsuccessfully to enter the university’s administrative offices on Friday following a student walkout in support of Palestinians.

BC | Times Colonist

Horgan was the 36th Premier of BC, serving from 2017 to 2022 under the NDP party. He is now Canada’s Ambassador to Germany. Royal Roads University announced the news of his new volunteer position at the campus, saying that Horgan “brings a wealth of public service leadership experience to his role.” Horgan is Royal Roads University’s inaugural Senior Fellow, Leadership Studies. Horgan will be engaging with students and faculty online from Germany.

BC | RRU | Victoria Now | Chek News

The federal Fall Economic Statement introduced measures to address the housing crisis and rising unaffordability, Canada’s universities remain concerned by the continued lack of measures to support students, develop talent and advance research. As Canada looks to build a strong economic future that works for Canadians, universities are essential drivers of the talent needed to compete in the global economy. Universities are anchors of their communities and must be part of any solution to address Canada’s worsening housing crisis, fight climate change and create jobs.

National | Universities Canada

A new Statistics Canada report has revealed that nearly one in four study permit holders in 2019 were not enrolled in a Canadian publicly funded post-secondary educational institution, despite holding the authorisation to do so. To gain more clarity into the effects of increased acceptance of international students in Canada, this most recent study aims to look at what these non-enrolled international students chose to do in Canada.

National | Statistics Canada | CIC News