Source: ICEF
Reports continue of increasing foreign student numbers at Canadian universities for the coming academic year.
canadian
International Students Praise Canada’s Openness & Affordable Fees
Source: The PIE News
Competitive fees and attractive post-study work options are some of Canada’s most magnetic features drawing international students to its shores. Word of mouth recommendations, however, remain powerful influences when students are choosing a study destination.
For the complete post, please visit The PIE News.
Canada Seeks Input for New Science, Technology and Innovation Strategy
Source: Government of Canada News Release, Courtesy of Academica | January 8, 2014
The Canadian government is seeking public input on a new federal Science, Technology and Innovation Strategy, with the launch of a discussion paper to guide the dialogue. The paper asks how Canada can “continue to develop, attract and retain the world’s top research talent at our businesses, research institutions, colleges and polytechnics, and universities” as well as “Is the Government of Canada’s suite of programs appropriately designed to best support research excellence?” Submissions will be accepted until February 7, and then the government will release an updated strategy “in the months following the consultation phase.”
TCS Insights: The Government of Canada indicated in 2013 that it would update their Science, Technology and Innovation Strategy while continuing to invest in research. This revision will be finalized after reviewing public input and is expected to continue the trend of recent achievements that have lead to greater funding of research.
Research Infrastructure Receives $63-million Boost From the Government of Canada
Source: CFI News Release, Courtesy of Academica | January 8, 2014
The Canadian government has announced a $63-million boost for research infrastructure under the Canada Foundation for Innovation’s John R. Evans Leaders Fund. Currently, the fund is contributing to research equipment, laboratories and tools at over 250 facilities at 37 universities across Canada. “Our government believes significant investments in Canadian research are essential to sparking innovation, creating economic prosperity and improving the lives of Canadians,” says Minister of State (Science and Technology) Greg Rickford.
TCS Insights: The CFI awarded $48.4 million through their John R. Evans Leaders Fund in order to help Canadian universities attract top available research talent. This increase in funding will enable researchers, such as Ryan D’Arcy of Simon Fraser University, make use of portable technologies at sporting events, hospitals and homes.
2013 Developments in Ontario Online Learning
Source: Contact North News Release, Courtesy of Academica | January 8, 2014
A research associate for online education network Contact North has released a review of the developments in online learning in Ontario in 2013. In the review, Tony Bates focuses on: what happened to the MOOC this year, the increasing number of online learning strategies at Ontario’s universities and colleges, the transition of online learning being the responsibility of a few to being included in most departments and faculties, the increased use of hybrid learning, a greater push from government to use online learning to enhance teaching and learning, and the rise of open educational resources. “Let’s hope 2014 will see a more focused approach on using online learning and learning technologies in general to improve productivity while maintaining or increasing the quality of postsecondary education,” concludes Bates.
TCS Insights: This article outlines the rise in online learning in Ontario colleges and universities and the goals of the government continue this trend. Indian institutions can look to this example to continue their effort to make educational resources more accessible to students.
Engaging Canada: Emerging priorities for sustainable partnerships
CONFERENCE ON
ENGAGING CANADA:
EMERGING PRIORITIES FOR SUSTAINABLE PARTNERSHIPS
To be organized by Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute
at the India International Centre in New Delhi
June 1, 2013
The Institute
The Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute is a bi-national organization that promotes understanding between India and Canada through academic activities and exchanges. Its broad-based initiatives support the creation of bi-national links between academia, government, the business community and civil society organizations by funding research, faculty and student exchange, conferences, workshops and seminars. With a membership of 93 leading Indian and Canadian universities and research institutions, the Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute has facilitated greater collaboration between Indian and Canadian institutions in the humanities, social sciences, arts, science & technology, legal education, and management studies. The Institute, as part of its mandate, has also supported research on sustainable development and other United Nations Millennium Development Goals.
The Conference
The Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute is organizing a Conference at the India International Centre, New Delhi on June 1, 2013, to present collaborative research that has been completed, or is currently being undertaken, by Indian and Canadian universities/research institutions in four focus areas.
- Energy & Environment
- Public Health
- Food Security & Sustainable Development
- Bi-lateral Trade and Investment
Objectives
Emerging opportunities and strategies to address challenges in these four areas that have been identified as priority sectors by both the Indian and Canadian governments will be the themes of this Conference. One of the objectives of this Conference is to gather experts and a new cadre of researchers to discuss their contributions to higher learning while weaving academic and institutional collaborations between Canada and India. It is expected that strategic recommendations will be derived from the Conference that will contribute to sustained academic and institutional partnerships.
Call for Papers
Papers are invited from faculty, post-doctoral researchers, and doctoral students from Shastri member institutions, as well as faculty/researchers from non-member institutions to present and share work that has been completed or is currently progressing in these four areas. The papers could be the outcome of research funded by the Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute or by other agencies, universities or research institutions. We particularly encourage submissions that develop inter-disciplinary themes.
Abstract of Papers must be submitted by April 30, 2013, to Dr. Prachi Kaul, Programme Officer, Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute by email at [email protected]. Authors must indicate the focus area for which they would like their paper to be considered.
Important Dates
April 30, 2013: Deadline for Submission of Abstracts
May 15, 2013: Acceptance Notification
June 1, 2013: Conference
Travel and Accommodation
Economy class air-fare within India, and local accommodation in New Delhi, will be provided to out-station scholars whose papers have been selected for presentation at the Conference. Travel and accommodation arrangements/ reimbursements will be done according to the travel and accommodation policy of the Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute.
Conference Coordinators:
Dr. Biju Paul Abraham, IIM Calcutta, and Dr. Ravishankar Rao, Mangalore University
Executive Council
Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute
5 BhaiVir Singh Marg,
New Delhi – 110 001, India.
Telephone: 91-11-2374-6417/3114, Fax: 91-11-2374-6416.
Website: www.sici.org.in
Email: [email protected]
Canada gets an ‘A’ in education, but needs to fix links between post-secondary schooling and workforce
Source: Canada Newswire
OTTAWA, March 27, 2013 – Canada’s system of education and skills remains one of the best in the world, but needs to do much better at matching what Canadians learn to evolving labour market needs.
Canada ranks second only to Finland among 16 developed countries in The Conference Board of Canada’s Education and Skills report card. As part of its overall “A” grade, Canada earns “A”s on seven of 20 indicators – including the second-highest rate of high school completion, and the top rate of college completion.
“Canada gives its students a first-rate education at the primary and secondary levels,” said Daniel Muzyka, President and CEO, The Conference Board of Canada. “Our priority must be to build on this strong foundation to make Canada more innovative, competitive, and dynamic.”
“A pressing need is to strengthen the links between high school and the post-secondary system. Within the post-secondary system, we must improve coordination among offerings, thereby creating better pathways to workplaces, jobs and careers. And Canadian employers need to step forward with increased resources for education and retraining of their workers.”
| HIGHLIGHTS |
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Canada’s university completion rate is a “B” grade. In the United States, which gets an “A” grade on this indicator, people may be more motivated to compete university because of the high returns on their university investments.
Canadian university graduates get a comparatively lower payback for their educational investment, according to two new indicators. Canada gets a “B” for return on investment in post-secondary education (women), and “C” for return on investment in post-secondary education (men). On another new indicator, Canada has relatively significant gender gap in tertiary education – for every 100 women who graduate from universities and colleges, only 83 men do so.
And Canada continues to get a “C” grade for percentage of university graduates in science, math, computer science and engineering, and a “D” in the number of PhD graduates.
“Even though the number of PhD graduates has grown by three per cent annually over the past decade, we are still second-to-last among our peers on the PhD graduate rate, and our share of graduates in math, science, computer science and engineering is declining,” said Muzyka.
The Conference Board of Canada is launching a Centre on Skills and Post-Secondary Education to investigate how Canada can meet its rising skills needs through broad changes to its post-secondary system.
Canada earns an “A” grade on two other new indicators to the report card:
- the difference in reading test scores between 15-year old students in the most and least disadvantaged schools; and
- equity in learning outcomes in reading between Canadian-born students (who speak the language of the test at home) and the children of immigrants (who do not speak the language of the test at home).
The final two new indicators are the foreign student index, where Canada gets a “B” grade; and adult participation in non-formal job-related education, where Canada gets a “C” grade and ranks 10th of 15 countries.
This relatively low grade on non-formal job-related training illustrates how Canada lags in workplace skills training and lifelong education. Canadian employers’ investments in workplace training programs lag far behind European and U.S. competitors, and only a very small percentage of what they do invest—less than two per cent—goes to basic literacy skills.
How Canada Performs is a multi-year research program at The Conference Board of Canada to help leaders identify relative strengths and weaknesses in Canada’s socio-economic performance. The How Canada Performs website presents data and analysis on Canada’s performance compared to 16 peer countries in six performance categories: Economy, Innovation, Environment, Education and Skills, Health, and Society.
UK, U.S., Canada universities to invite Indian students
Source: India Blooms News Service via Indian Economic Business News
Over 35 leading universities from the UK, U.S. and Canada would come together to woo Indian students to their countries for higher education. IDP Education, the world’s leading student placement service provider and co-owner of IELTS examination, hosted the second edition of its multi-destination education fair in India from Feb 15. Spread over a period of two weeks, the fair will kick-start from Chandigarh and conclude in the southern city of Kochi on Feb 25. The fair will see over 40 universities, and colleges from the UK, U.S. and Canada hold dialogue with Indian students aspiring to pursue higher education in internationally acclaimed institutions. IDP’s Education Fair will offer students the opportunity to explore under one roof, various study options available across the three western nations. The fair will be held in the cities of Chandigarh, Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Pune, Hyderabad, Chennai, Bangalore and Kochi. Close to 80,000 Indian students go abroad for higher studies every year to the five English speaking countries, namely Australia, UK, U.S, Canada and New Zealand.
Imax sets its sight on Bollywood and India’s audiences
Source: BBC News via Indian Economic Business News
With 689 movie theatres in 52 countries, the large-screen cinema operator Imax has emerged as a truly global player in the world of films. The Canadian company has yet to conquer India, home to the world’s second largest film industry after Hollywood. More than a decade after first entering India, there are still just four Imax theatres in India. And even as the company guns for growth, their number is expected to barely hit double digits by the end of this year. Mr Gelfond said it is difficult to compete in a country with as strong a cinema culture as India’s In India, Bollywood films that are often low-budget are shown all over the country, often in small, local cinemas where tickets cost $2-3. This makes it much harder to sell an altogether different entertainment proposition that costs five times as much or more, he says. Imax’s latest India strategy is much more comprehensive than its previous ones. At its core is a partnership with Bollywood production company Yash Raj Films Studios to shoot Dhoom 3 in the Imax format, in an effort to build on the success of blockbusters Dhoom and Dhoom 2.
InterGlobe to open varsity
Source: Mint via PwC – EdLive
In a bid to diversify, InterGlobe Enterprises Ltd, which runs budget carrier IndiGo, plans to launch a university with a Canadian partner. The 1.09 billion USD Company, which also sells business jets, operates hotels, runs an airline distribution system, and supplies travel software, will launch a university in Delhi in collaboration with the Ontario-based University of Waterloo. The university will be located on a 100-acre campus for which land has already been acquired along the Dwarka expressway in south Delhi, close to the Indira Gandhi International Airport. It will follow the Waterloo model of work- integrated studies in which students attend a university programme for one term of three to four months and acquire paid practical experience by putting in one term with an employer.
The university, a name is yet to be decided is expected to open for students by 2016, offering programmers in engineering and technology.
Langara College
Established in 1970, Langara College aimed to become a community leader for accessible, quality education. Decades later, Langara ranks among the top undergraduate institutions, delivering exceptional learning opportunities through a wide range of certificate, diploma and degree programs. With the contributions of staff and faculty, their programs and services continue to grow while continuing to meet the needs of the community.