CICIC Redesigns Website to Better Meet Needs of User Groups

Source: CICIC Website via Academica | December 16, 2014

The Canadian Information Centre for International Credentials (CICIC) has unveiled its newly redesigned website. The website offers resources to help students and education professionals find critical information on mobility and credential recognition. It offers specific information to users based on their situation and needs. For individuals, the site includes information on the credential recognition process to study or work in Canada or abroad, as well as directories of Canadian educational institutions, occupational profiles, Canadian offshore schools and international education resources, and international labour-mobility resources. Assessors can access a number of international academic credential assessment resources as well as information about important initiatives related to credential assessment. Education professionals, meanwhile, can find information on education systems and quality-assurance mechanisms in Canada. The site’s new “Connect the Dots!” feature helps users identify with a simple questionnaire the information most pertinent to their needs.

StatsCan Report Offers International Context for Canada’s Education Indicators

Source: StatsCan Daily via Academica | December 16, 2014

Statistics Canada has released a new report that puts Canada’s education indicators in an international context. According to the report, the proportion of Canadian adults aged 25–64 with college or university completion has risen from 40% in 2000 to 53% in 2012, the highest rate among Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) countries. 25% of Canadians aged 25–64 had completed non-university certificates or diplomas from community colleges, schools of nursing or university certificates below the bachelor’s level. The report also indicates that the 2012 employment rate among Canadians aged 25–64 who had completed a college or university program was 80%. Canada was found to have allocated 95.2% of the total expenditure per student to core services; the total expenditure per student at the university level was US$27,102, the highest among all OECD countries. StatsCan also notes that Canada allocates 6.4% of its GDP on educational institutions, just slightly higher than the OECD average of 6.1%. In 2011, the report says, there were 122,277 international students registered in college or university programs in Canada, accounting for 8.2% of all students enrolled in tertiary education; the highest proportion of those (27%) came from China.

HEC Montréal Receives $1M Donation to Create Professorship and Scholarships

Source: HEC Montréal News via Academica | December 15, 2014

Lallemand Inc has donated $1 M to HEC Montréal to create the Lallemand – Marcel and Roland Chagnon Fund. The donation will help establish a professorship in international business and international exchange and entrepreneurship scholarships to further strengthen HEC Montréal’s global business research and initiatives. Research conducted in the Department of International Business enables Quebec businesses to create and maintain global business networks. “By encouraging access to higher studies through scholarships, Lallemand is paving the way for international success for future managers fascinated by the interdependence of nations, the strategic issues related to internationalization and innovation, and global social development,” said HEC Montréal Director Michel Patry. The donation was made as part of the Campus Montréal fundraising campaign.

Ryerson Launches New Bridging Program for Internationally Trained Doctors

Source: Ryerson News Release via Academica | December 12, 2014

Ryerson University’s G Raymond Chang School of Continuing Education yesterday launched the new Internationally Trained Medical Doctors Bridging Program. The program will help integrate qualified, internationally trained doctors into non-licensed health-care employment. It will address a number of barriers faced by internationally trained doctors through an 11-week curriculum that will include sector-specific in-class training and 4-week practicum placements. The program is responding to an identified need for health professionals qualified to participate in and support non-clinical initiatives. Students will also develop their skills in areas such as health research, health informatics, data analysis, and health management. The first cohort of students will begin their studies in mid-January.

AUCC Report Shows That Internationalization Is A Priority, But Flow Goes One Way

Source: AUCC News Release via Academica | December 11, 2014

The Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC) has released a new report on internationalization at universities. According to the report, 89% of universities surveyed said that the pace of internationalization is accelerating on campus, 96% ensure internationalization is integrated in strategic plans, and 80% identify internationalization as being among their top 5 priorities. 97% of Canadian universities offer international experience, with nearly all allowing students to complete coursework abroad, 70% sending students to foreign field schools, 67% offering service work or volunteer opportunities abroad, 67% helping students do research abroad, and 66% offering foreign work experience. 53% of institutions said the most important reason for internationalization was to “prepare internationally knowledgeable and inter-culturally competent graduates.” However, the survey also shows that internationalization remains a largely unidirectional affair: just 3.1% of full-time undergraduate students had an international experience in 2012–13, with just 2.6% participating in a for-credit experience abroad. Cost and inflexible credit transfer policies were cited as particular concerns in this area. The report also found that China is the top focus of most universities’ internationalization activities, while students’ preferred destinations are primarily English-speaking and major western European countries.

5 Canadian Institutions Among Top 100 in Global Employability Rankings

Source: Times Higher Education via Academica | December 9, 2014

Times Higher Education has released its 2014 Global Employability survey rankings. The rankings are based on surveys of 2,500 international recruiters in 20 countries. The top Canadian university on this year’s list is the University of Toronto, which appears in 13th position, up one spot from last year. McGill University finished in 28th position, up 2 places from last year. HEC Montréal moved up 12 spots, from 59th in 2013 to 47th this year. UBC dropped 4 spots from 51st to 55th, and McMaster University dropped from 73rd to 80th. The University of Cambridge finished in first place overall, followed by Harvard University, Yale University, the University of Oxford, and the California Institute of Technology.

uSask Celebrates End of Construction on New Cyclotron

Source: The StarPhoenix via Academica | December 9, 2014

Researchers, politicians, and campus leaders gathered at the University of Saskatchewan [CIEC Academic Member] last Friday to celebrate the end of construction on the institution’s new cyclotron. The $25 M technology will be used beginning in 2015 to produce medical isotopes used in imaging to help diagnose and treat diseases including cancer. The isotopes will also be used to help develop new ways of diagnosing and treating a wide range of medical conditions. “This new facility will improve human, animal, and plant health through advanced molecular imaging research. Each and every day, we are going to be helping patients,” said uSask VP Research Karen Chad. Previously, Saskatchewan had been the only non-Atlantic province without its own active cyclotron.

WesternU to Open $5 M AIDS Research Facility

Source: WesternU News Release via Academica | December 4, 2014

Western University has announced plans to establish a new $5 M facility dedicated to the study of pathogens such as HIV/AIDS at the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry. Researchers at the facility, to be called The Imaging Pathogen and Knowledge Translation Facility, will use advanced imaging technology to track viruses, bugs, and treatments in lab animals without having to rely on dissections. “This type of facility doesn’t exist anywhere in the world,” said researcher Eric Arts. Arts added that he expects that the new building, which will replacing outdated existing pathogen containment facilities at WesternU, will enable the institution to attract more leading researchers. “We haven’t been able to do the imaging work,” said Greg Dekaban, who had been involved in the creation of a containment facility at WesternU in the late 1980s. “I’m really pleased to see this re-birth.”