Canadian University Thread

[urbandreamer]

I'm debating going back to school so yeah I guess it's good news. It's depressing lining up for jobs, competing with 45,000 unemployed realtors, 800,000 TFW students and now 100,000 laid of tech bros for $30/hr jobs.

[MolsonExport]

Canada's international student spike was blamed on private colleges. Here's what really happened

Data obtained by CBC News reveals which colleges, universities account for biggest share of rapid growth

Post-secondary institution Province Permits
Conestoga College Ontario 30,395
University Canada West B.C. 13,913
Fanshawe College Ontario 11,706
Niagara College Canada Ontario 11,199
Seneca College Ontario 11,042
Lambton College Ontario 9,639
Centennial College Ontario 9,529
Algoma University Ontario 9,329
Sheridan College Ontario 9,211
Fleming College Ontario 8,849

Over the six-year period covered by the data, more than 1.5 million study permits were issued for students to attend some 1,300 colleges and universities.

That translates into international students paying tens of billions of dollars into Canada's post-secondary system — at a time when provincial governments were imposing austerity measures on public universities and colleges.

hmm, degreeless douggie ford cuts spending and freezes tuition (for 7 years) and you wonder why this is happening.

[J.OT13]

Research disparaging Quebec's claims that Anglophone Universities are overfunded and hurt the French language in the Province. To be taken with a grain of salt as it was conducted by a research institute Concordia-based.

This research was concluded before the sweeping changes on out-of-province tuition at Anglophone Universities and International Students.

Researchers unpack claims McGill, Concordia are overfunded and hurting French
“Ideological arguments underline what appears to be a conflation of two different problems: the chronic underfunding of the university system and the future of French in Quebec.”

Author of the article:Andy Riga
Published Mar 05, 2024 • Last updated 18 hours ago • 6 minute read

https://montrealgazette.com/news/loc...hurting-french

[TorontoDrew]

Originally Posted by urbandreamer

I'm debating going back to school so yeah I guess it's good news. It's depressing lining up for jobs, competing with 45,000 unemployed realtors, 800,000 TFW students and now 100,000 laid of tech bros for $30/hr jobs.

I hear you, I've been out of work for 10 months now. Since the Writers/Actors strike it's shut down the entire 3D TV/Film production industry in Toronto. Word is jobs might start coming back in June. I went to a job fair back in February, waited with about 4000 people outside for 2 hours for crappy jobs just for them to cancel the job fair. If I don't find something soon I'll be forced to leave my home of 15 years in Riverside and move in with family on the Sunshine Coast. I love to visit their I do not want to live there. It's like Ft Lauderdale, nothing but seniors.

[YOWetal]

Ontario has completely thrown Universities under the bus in favor or Colleges who will get 80% of the study permits. Classic anti-elitism couched as priority for in demand occupations when colleges are the cause of the problem with fake students the bulk of their registrations.

More here (Paywall)
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/poli...blic-colleges/

[Bishop2047]

Originally Posted by YOWetal

Ontario has completely thrown Universities under the bus in favor or Colleges who will get 80% of the study permits. Classic anti-elitism couched as priority for in demand occupations when colleges are the cause of the problem with fake students the bulk of their registrations.

More here (Paywall)
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/poli...blic-colleges/

I can't see the whole article but aren't the study permits going to public colleges and public universities?

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by Bishop2047

I can't see the whole article but aren't the study permits going to public colleges and public universities?

But 80% of those are going to the community colleges, which I assume is what he was concerned about. In fact, I think it lines up well with the province's priorities, assuming many of these students will become permanent residents. Universities, however, will take a serious financial hit, I should think.

[Truenorth00]

Originally Posted by YOWetal

Ontario has completely thrown Universities under the bus in favor or Colleges who will get 80% of the study permits. Classic anti-elitism couched as priority for in demand occupations when colleges are the cause of the problem with fake students the bulk of their registrations.

More here (Paywall)
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/poli...blic-colleges/

Why do you believe this is a problem?

There's a number of statements in the article that seem like responsible policy.

...
Private career colleges, which provide vocational courses that are often shorter than diploma programs at public colleges, will not receive any applications, the government said.
...
The provincial government said it will prioritize allocating permit applications to institutions that emphasize high-demand areas of study such as skilled trades, health human resources, STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math), hospitality and child care.
...
The government also said no institution will be allowed to exceed its 2023 international permit levels, and that the ratio of permits at each school can’t exceed 55 per cent of its 2023 first-year domestic enrolment – although there will be exemptions for high-demand fields of study. French language enrolment will also be prioritized.
...
Ontario’s universities had asked that the province grant them 35 per cent of the study permit applications, but they emerged with less than 20 per cent. The provincial government estimates that 22 of the province’s 23 public universities will keep international applications at 2023 levels, with only Algoma University, based in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., seeing a decline.
...

Archive link: https://archive.is/20240328200815/ht...blic-colleges/

[acottawa]

Very well done video.

• Video Link

[cranes]

Any thoughts from the SSP whores on this?

https://kitchener.ctvnews.ca/conesto...suit-1.6855489
Conestoga College and John Tibbits named in defamation lawsuit
Published April 20, 2024 3:09 p.m. EDT

Conestoga College and its president John Tibbits have been named in a defamation lawsuit.

The statement of claim filed in Sault Ste. Marie on April 11 lists Sault College of Applied Arts and Technology and school president David Orazietti as the plaintiffs. Conestoga College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning and school president John Tibbits are listed as the defendants.

The document claims the plaintiffs are seeking “an order requiring the Defendants to publicly retract and apologize for having defamed the Plaintiffs.”

They are seeking $150,000 in general damages for defamation, $50,000 in punitive damages, plus interest and court costs.

...

Reputation worries
The statement of claim filed this month reads:

“During the event, in his capacity as President of Conestoga College, Mr. Tibbits made false, malicious and defamatory statements about Sault College and Mr. Orazietti, including the following:

(a) Stating Mr. Orazietti had only been on the job as President with Sault College for a few months and needed to learn to “shut his mouth”;
(b) Stating “Like Orazietti, why are his goddamn students in Toronto? Why not up there? Talk about a whore, I mean, he's taking a percentage of the profits of an operation," followed by "I can't stand the guy by the way.";
c) Referring to colleges in Northern Ontario, such as Sault College, as outsourcing their academic programs to places like Toronto and handing out diplomas like “puppy mills”;
(d) Stating "You should ask Orazietti what he's doing up in Toronto. Ask him how many beds he built in Toronto? How many beds have they got in Toronto? Zero,"; and
(e) Stating, "This guy has been on the job eight bloody months up there and he's offering project management in a couple of programs like that in Toronto and he's offering no services.”

The claim alleges Sault College and Orazietti suffered damage to their reputations as a result of Tibbits’ comments.

[acottawa]

I don’t see anything there that is defamatory in a legal sense. It is also not obviously false. Impolite perhaps.

[kwoldtimer]

The University of Waterloo broke ground today on a new $55 million dollar Eye Institute. UofW is home to Canada's only School of Optometry outside Quebec.

This from the Record's report on the groundbreaking:

The institute, encompassing 68,000 square feet of new and renovated space, will build on Waterloo’s history of incorporating co-op style learning, allowing students to work in the new, modernized clinic with other health professionals.

It will also be a hub for research, using the eye as a window to the brain, leveraging expertise in biomedical sciences, artificial intelligence and imaging to study and create treatments for vision, diabetes, macular degeneration, glaucoma, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.

[cranes]

https://www.therecord.com/news/water...113b097fb.html
Conestoga College surplus swells to $252M
The college has led the nation in recruiting foreign students who pay much higher tuition.
Aug. 1, 2024 Jeff Outhit Reporter

Conestoga College amassed a remarkable $252 million surplus this past year after recruiting more foreign students than any school in Canada.

The surplus is revealed in financial documents released Wednesday for the fiscal year of 2023-2024 that ended in March.

The windfall amounts to one-quarter of the $1-billion surplus generated this past year by all of Ontario’s 24 community colleges, which also led the nation in recruiting and enrolling international students...

Conestoga College The Cowan Welcome Centre at Conestoga College’s Doon campus in Kitchener. Brent Davis/Waterloo Region Record

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by cranes

Any thoughts from the SSP whores on this?

https://kitchener.ctvnews.ca/conesto...suit-1.6855489
Conestoga College and John Tibbits named in defamation lawsuit
Published April 20, 2024 3:09 p.m. EDT

I hope he wins. Conestoga College casts a stain on higher education. Sorry for anyone who got a diploma there now that it has been so devalued by these actions.

[kwoldtimer]

Speaking of Conestoga, the Record reports today that the college posted a $252million dollar budget surplus in FY 2023-24. That's a quarter of the total surplus generated by all Ontario's 24 community colleges.

It will be interesting to compare this with the FY 2024-25 results, which should start reflecting a significant reduction in the number of international students.

[jonny24]

Originally Posted by whatnext

I hope he wins. Conestoga College casts a stain on higher education. Sorry for anyone who got a diploma there now that it has been so devalued by these actions.

I graduated from Conestoga in 2014, right when these charts start swooping upwards. The 3 year ACET program with coops (Architecture Construction Engineering Technology).

While it was (and I believe still is, having spoken to some of my teachers at retirement program) an excellent program, it was very obvious that it was driven by the program chair and all the teachers. They were all either formerly or currently still in the local construction industry, many of them had side businesses in the subjects they taught, a focus on actually being well prepared for immediately working in the construction industry after grad. In my year only 1 person didn't already have a job at grad, and that's because he was going backpacking.

We were in a bit of a bubble from the rest of the school. I was at the new Cambridge Campus, which is a single building on the opposite side of the 401 from the main Doon Campus. The entire building was technology and trades programs, and only about 1000 students. Us, Civil, a combo degree/diploma Architecture / Project Management, welding, I think MEP trades.... I think the only trades left at Doon was the woodworking centre.

Since it was brand new campus we had to go over to Doon for the bookstore, administration, gym, sports, etc. And the last bus that crossed the highway was at 6:30, so by then you had to decide if you could get a ride, walk 20 minutes over the bridge (the wind howled over it in the winter), or relocate to Doon and find a computer to keep working - lots of CAD drawings, Revit models and renderings made it very hard to do some things at home.

Those trips over to Doon were the only time you could see that the rest of the school was very different from our tech building. It wasn't that uncommon to look around the bus on the way to my apartment and realize I was the only white guy. Whereas our building was very much the more common local mix i.e. mostly white people, a few of most other backgrounds, and in my program anyway I think everyone was Canadian.