Weekly News Roundup

UNIONS | INSTITUTIONS | GOVERNMENT

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

CUFA BC Election Campaign 2024: Support Public Post-Secondary Education in BC

This upcoming provincial election is a crucial time to advocate for public post-secondary education in BC. BC’s universities play an important role in the social, intellectual, and economic innovation of the province. But universities face challenges that threaten the public mission of creating an educated society. This election, CUFA BC is asking all political parties to commit to the knowledge economy by keeping public education public, creating financial stability, and supporting the teaching, learning, and research in our universities.

BC | CUFA BC

BCcampus FLO Panel: Let’s Talk About Faculty Well-Being

BCcampus will host a panel discussion on faculty well-being on October 22 at 11am. Presenters will include CUFA BC Executive Director Annabree Fairweather, Dr. Maryma Nabavi (UBC), Dr. Jessica Riddell (Hope Circuits Institute), and Dr. Peter Arthur (UBC-O). Faculty fatigue has been identified as one of the most pressing teaching and learning challenges in higher education. Join us for a panel conversation focused on faculty well-being. This 90-minute panel will discuss leaning and leading into wellness, from resilience to human flourishing, balancing self-care and success, and the structural roots of faculty fatigue.

BC | BC Campus

UVic Faculty Association and PEA UVic Chapter sponsor Oak Bay – Gordon Head Candidates’ Forum

The University of Victoria Faculty Association and UVic chapter of the Professional Employees Association will host a virtual all candidates’ forum for the Oak Bay – Gordon Head riding. The event will take place Sunday, October 6^th at 1:30pm with moderator Dr. David Black from Royal Roads University.

BC | PEA Zoom

Prince George sets three all-candidate forums

The University of Northern BC Energy Transition Group, the Prince George Electric Vehicle Association, and the University of Northern BC Sustainability Team are hosting three all-candidate forums, one forum for each of the three ridings which intersect Prince George. Students from the University of Northern BC will be fact checking the information. 

BC | PG Daily 

Post-secondary institutions across the provide were closed on Sept. 30, 2024 to commemorate the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, a federal statutory holiday to honour the lost children and survivors of residential schools, their families and communities. It is a time for reflection and a time to come together in the spirit of Reconciliation, and to honour those who have been impacted by Canada’s residential school system. Many organized events that took place throughout the week leading up to September 30, including lowering campus flags, film screenings and holding space for ceremony and dialogue.

BC | RRU | SFU | UBC | UNBC | UVic | CAUT

More than a decade after the union representing the faculty at Okanagan College brought forward a grievance over long-term disability benefits, an arbitrator has given them their last win. The full 480-paragraph Labour Arbitration Award published on Sept. 6, called on the college to immediately move to update its plans so that employees aged 65 and older have access to Long Term Disability (LTD) benefits. The grievance argued that the coverage ending either three months before or once an employee turned 65 was discrimination based on age.

BC | Revelstoke Review

The University of Victoria is hoping to build on-campus housing for at least 500 students amid the capital region’s chronic rental-housing shortage. The university is developing a business case for additional housing, especially for graduate and upper-year undergraduate students, UVic associate vice-president of student affairs Jim Dunsdon said in a statement Wednesday. Planning is still in the early stages, and details of the building type, layout and location have not been finalized, Dunsdon said. The university has issued a request for architectural consulting services for the student housing expansion proposal. It closes on Oct. 22.

BC | Times Colonist

The University of British Columbia is celebrating the 50th anniversary of its Indigenous teacher program. NITEP launched in 1974 in response to a growing recognition that Indigenous students needed a culturally relevant approach to their education—both as learners and as future educators. The program is designed for Indigenous students wanting to become teachers so they can use their knowledge, identity and cultural heritage, and prepares persons of Indigenous ancestry to be effective educators in B.C. UBC’s program takes five years to complete and involves volunteering in classrooms. Indigenous students comprise about 12 per cent of the student body in B.C. but Indigenous educators make up only about two per cent of the education workforce.

BC | UBC | Global News

Resurgence of Indigenous languages requires effort on multiple fronts, and new supports created by the University of Victoria (UVic) are removing barriers for students. The Indigenous Language Revitalization Awards rolled out this fall to support students from the following nine local First Nations. The introduction of the award is part of UVic’s broader commitment to uphold ʔetalnəwəl | ÁTOL,NEUEL | Respecting the rights of one another and being in right relationships with all things, such as fostering respectful and reciprocal relationships with Indigenous communities.

BC | ENC | UVic

Vancouver Island University’s tiwšɛmawtxʷ (teew-shem-awt) campus is celebrating a 50-year milestone on Saturday, October 5, at its Nootka Street location in Powell River, with an open house celebration beginning at noon. VIU started off offering adult basic education classes in 1974 out of an office on Marine Avenue. A half-century later, the university is a satellite campus of VIU in Nanaimo and has expanded its post-secondary course, program and training with plans to continue to develop new opportunities for students in the region. The 50th birthday party for tiwšɛmawtx^wcampus is the kick-off event for a series of activities planned between now and into the spring.

BC | Coast Reporter

As announced in July, UBC is launching a process to refresh its strategic plan, to define the university’s priorities and actions for the next three to five years. The existing ten-year plan, Shaping UBC’s Next Century, was launched in 2018 and since that time UBC has made great strides in advancing all aspects of it. The world has changed a lot since 2018 and we need to continue to adapt. We are calling this process a ‘refresh’ because the intention is not to replace UBC’s strategic plan, but to define a series of priorities and actions focused on our core academic mission of teaching, learning and research. UBC President Benoit-Antoine Bacon invites members of the campus community to engage in the process through pop-up events, workshops, and online feedback.

BC | UBC

As we close out September, universities across Canada are well into their new year of learning. An exciting change is underway. An increasing number of First Nations, Inuit and Métis students have enrolled in post-secondary studies. Many universities are aware of this growing interest in post-secondary studies among Indigenous Peoples and have actively recruited from this rising demographic. But the exciting trend is raising questions about what commitments universities have made to the recruitment, retention and support of Indigenous students. Today, institutions must ask: How are the cultural backgrounds of Indigenous students appropriately honoured and reflected in university programming? How comfortable do Indigenous students feel within these spaces where the reconciliatory journey is a relatively new initiative?

National | The Conversation

Global News reports that nearly 13,000 international students applied for asylum in Canada between January and August of this year. Government of Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Marc Miller both emphasized the importance of addressing the misuse of the international student program and asylum system as a shortcut to gain Canadian permanent residency or citizenship. An IRCC spokesperson noted that there are legitimate circumstances under which international students may “make an asylum claim because of developments in their country of origin” after arriving in Canada.

National | Global | StatCan

Canada’s reputation as an international student destination has suffered immense harm since last January when the government announced that it would be cutting the number of new international student visas. According to proprietary data Studyportals provided to University World News, the year-over-year decline in interest in studying in Canada by international students is 35.3%.

National | University World News