Formation Continue du Supérieur

By Alan MacEachern. It's time for a workout.
Most of the time I can manage my Truman Show delusion, my sense that I am the oblivious subject of a wildly popular television show capturing every moment of my existence (A+, maybe, or Best Prof Evs). But occasionally, when I walk across campus, it flares up. The extras – students – are just so suspiciously, uniformly good-looking. They have perfect skin, they carry themselves with such energy and poise, and even in shuffly boots, sweatpants and shapeless t-shirts they are well-proportioned, toned and fit. Did I just see a film crew reflected in that window?
I admit to occasionally being irritated by how much time and energy university students devote to working out, especially when another would-be Tatum Channing (or whatever box-headed, 12-packed football stripper the kids are watching these days) comes into my office to ask for an extension. More...

By Dominic Boyer and Imre Szeman. Breaking the impasse.
We’ve become all too familiar with bad news stories about the fate of the humanities. Whether as a result of student desires for an education that translates directly into a career or aggressive actions by governments that look only to the bottom line, many have begun to imagine that the 21st century might be the time when the humanities wither and disappear. More...

By Jennifer Lewington. Student-run fund pays an academic dividend.
Profit, curiously, is not what defines a student-run investment portfolio for the University of Saskatchewan’s Edwards School of Business. Sure, to the delight of its student managers, the $775,000-plus fund outperformed a key stock market index in 2013. But, in running the fund, undergraduate commerce students earn course credits for demonstrated leadership, teamwork, research and communication skills – not for the rise and fall of stocks and bonds. More...

By Peggy Berkowitz. Universities are pleased and grateful for research commitments.
University research was a big winner in a federal budget that kept its promise to offer modest spending increases overall at a time of restrained economic growth for Canada. The $1.5 billion awarded to a new research excellence fund over 10 years is the centrepiece of several research funding commitments in Finance Minister Jim Flaherty’s 2014 budget, tabled in Parliament Feb. 11. The budget also raised the base budgets of the three major federal research granting councils by $37 million, mainly for untargeted research, and gave a $9-million boost to the program that contributes to universities’ indirect costs of doing research. More...

By Rosanna Tamburri. Universities and other charities received a limited exemption to the law. 
Universities are grappling with how to comply with provisions of Canada’s new anti-spam law that will prohibit unsolicited electronic messages such as emails and texts. The law, set to come into force on July 1, is meant to crack down on unwanted spam and to protect consumers from harassment, identity theft, spyware and fraud, said Industry Minister James Moore when he announced the regulations. Parliament passed the bill in 2010 and the federal government announced final regulations implementing the law this past December. More...