Endowed scholarships on hold
The University of Guelph, facing sharply reduced investment returns, will suspend most endowed scholarships and bursaries for the time being, according to President Alastair Summerlee. Only 17 per cent of Guelph’s student assistance is supported by endowments. National institutionally supported awards such as the President’s Scholarships will not be affected. Since May 2008, the market value of Guelph’s endowments has fallen 25 per cent.
– University of Guelph Investment losses drive U of A deficit
The University of Alberta expects to post an $84-million budget deficit this year, mainly due to investment losses. Initial projections for 2008-09 year called for a $1.7-million surplus but revenue sources dried up during the year. While the financial situation could get more difficult over the next few years, the university expects a six-per-cent increase to its base operating grant from the government — the same annual hike given the last several years. Starting in 2010-11, the government plans to move to three-per-cent annual increases. The approved 2009-10 budget is valued at just under $1.5 billion — $824 million for operations and $665 million for capital projects. – Edmonton Journal
Larger Perimeter being drawn
The Perimeter Institute of Theoretical Physics, in Kitchener-Waterloo region, is playing its own role in the expanding universe. Waterloo council has approved a $35-million, 54,000-square-foot addition to the building, almost doubling the size of the facility. The current building was completed in 2004. Perimeter draws physicists from around the world to study and share ideas on how matter and energy behave in this universe — and possibly others. In June, Stephen Hawking will begin the first of several visits. – The Record
Keep it on campus
The University of Calgary earns about $24 million a year through the Catering & Food Services, Hotel & Conference Services, the Bookstore and the MicroStore. A new campaign, Keep it on Campus, seeks to increase that amount by encouraging the university community to use services available on campus. Revenue generated by the services is reinvested back into the university, and helps to enhance the overall student, faculty and staff experience. In particular, the university has identified spending of $3 million a year off campus on food, clothing, electronics and other e-services that are available from on-campus vendors. The university will open its first on-campus hotel in fall 2009, allowing Hotel & Conference Services to increase guest accommodation and conference service capacities. The hotel will have 85 standard rooms, 15 suites, six meeting rooms and a café.
– University of Calgary
Going international
Queen’s University has experienced a sharp increase in the number of students seeking international exchanges. One faculty alone registered a 52 per cent hike in applications The university’s partners in the UK have noted a similar increase in interest in international study.
– Queen’s Gazette
Supply, demand and foreign students
The proportion of international students enrolled in U.S. doctoral programs is rising rapidly, according to a new study by the National Bureau of Economic Research. For example, the proportion of foreign-born PhD recipients in science and engineering nearly doubled from 27 per cent in 1973 to 51 per cent in 2003. The stats are causing some debate about the implications. While some suggest the shift indicates weakness in America’s ability to generate ‘homegrown’ PhDs, others argue it reinforces the country’s ability to draw the brightest ideas from around the world.
Are lab rats’ days numbered?
Bioengineers are working to replace lab rats, bunnies, beagles and other warm-blooded animals with insentient but biologically sophisticated substitutes. Brown University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and other research centres are building complex living “microtissues” from cultured cells that may reduce the need for lab creatures. “There’s a serious effort afoot to find ways to phase out animal testing in research,” said Jeffrey R. Morgan, professor of medical science and engineering at Brown. His team scored an advance, detailed in Biotechnology and Bioengineering, by forging three-dimensional freestanding cellular structures from “building blocks” of living cells. The microtissue was cultured from human surgical waste.
– Boston Globe
Get rid of faculties
Traditional university faculties are too conservative and stand in the way of progress as Europe’s education system struggles to become more innovative, according to the head of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s Centre for Educational Research and Innovation. Professor Dirk Van Damme recently told a European Policy Centre the current system of dividing knowledge into faculties should be broken up. “We should abolish faculties in universities. Faculties are the most conservative bulwarks against change. Europe must move to a radically different trans-disciplinary approach. Most of the interesting things happen on the boundaries of the discipline.”
– University World News