By David Kent. As our readers know, we ran a panel discussion last month in Toronto at the 5th Annual Canadian Science Policy Conference. It was a packed room and the panel featured heated exchanges at some points (even between panellists!). Many diverse opinions were shared, pointing to a clear need for academic-training reform. Chris Corkery began by representing the Canadian Association of Postdoctoral Scholars and their recent survey findings from ~20% of Canadian postdoctoral scholars. This launched the panel discussion by showing that early career researchers in the postdoctoral stage were a growing cohort of young bright minds in their mid-30s who aspired to becoming career researchers, but found themselves in a temporary holding zone when it came to career options. More...

By Léo Charbonneau. The OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment, or PISA, released today the results of its fifth survey of the competencies of 15-year-olds in reading, mathematics and science (with a particular focus on mathematics this time around) in 65 countries and economies. The 2012 survey tested over half a million students, including 21,000 Canadians from 900 schools. It’s a heck of a lot of data to wade through and no doubt policy analysts will be doing just that for weeks, combing through the results in detail and pondering their implications. How did Canada do? It depends on who you ask. According to the Council of Ministers of Education Canada, this latest report “shows high levels of achievement by Canadian students.” (For more detail, the CMEC has prepared an entire 89-page report on the latest findings, Measuring up: Canadian Results of the OECD PISA Study.) More...

By Nicholas Dion and Vicky Maldonado. While the benefits of strong literacy skills are well established, there is growing concern that Canadians’ reading and writing skills, including those of students attending postsecondary institutions in Ontario, are not meeting expectations. This is especially worrisome given that strong literacy skills are critical to students as they graduate into a highly competitive and increasingly globalized labour market. More...

By Alan MacEachern. It turns out that reinvention is hard. You’d think I would have known that, since I teach at Western. In 2012, “the University of Western Ontario” rebranded to “Western University.” It was a change that seemed destined to satisfy everyone. Teenage would-be students from around the world would find it sleeker and easier to Google. Sentimental centenarians would be impressed that we were reclaiming the name we had held until 1923. Everyone in-between would be fine. More...

By Jesse B. Staniforth. Universities are centralizing libraries and weeding out collections as they save space with digital collections and make more room for people to work together. McGill University says it didn’t close its Life Sciences Library. Instead, it says that it simply moved its low-use physical collection to other areas of campus. According to numerous librarians and other members of library staff who opposed the change, however, the relocation of physical holdings to another library 10 minutes away (and also to the university gymnasium building) is tantamount to closure. Three weeks before the September 1 start date for the move, administrators of the Facebook group “Save the McGill Life Sciences Library from closure” (with over 1,500 supporters) published a eulogy for the library that ended, dramatically, with “Rest in Peace.” More...

By Marie Lambert-Chan. A culture of philanthropy takes root in Quebec’s francophone universities. 
Five hundred million dollars. This figure represents Université de Montréal’s ambitious objective for its major fundraising campaign, undoubtedly the loftiest goal in the history of Quebec’s francophone universities. For its part, the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières collected $27 million in donations, $7 million more than its target; and Université de Sherbrooke expects to exceed its internal fundraising campaign objective of $10 million, or fully 40 percent more than the sum of donations collected only five years ago. More...