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University of Waterloo -- Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

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Thursday, July 24, 1997

Makes the world go around

And how much month do you have left at the end of your money? Well, tomorrow is payday for most people who work at UW, including faculty members, teaching assistants, and non-union staff. A total of $7,476,847.59 is moving from UW's bank account, via the CIBC branch in the Student Life Centre, into the accounts of employees, says Catharine Scott, associate provost (human resources and student services).

Nearly everybody is getting a pay increase this summer, with scale changes that were negotiated -- retroactive to May 1 -- for staff, faculty and TAs. But not everybody is seeing the full increase in tomorrow's pay, which covers the month of July:

New pay levels for staff start tomorrow, but a lump sum representing retroactive pay for May and June will wait until the August payday.
New pay levels for TAs begin in August, when they will also see retroactive pay for May, June and July.
New pay levels for faculty start in September, when they will also see retroactive pay for May, June, July and August.

There are other reasons for changes in people's take-home pay this month too -- including a reduction in Ontario income tax rates that took effect July 1. The whole thing has been a big project for the payroll department, and Scott notes that she, her payroll staff, and the rest of human resources "would like to thank the campus for their patience. Everyone has been very understanding of the demands on HR at the moment, and we appreciate the support." (Among the demands: development of the Human Resources Management System and training on its PeopleSoft software.)

British students face tuition fees

An end to free higher education in Britain is expected after the publication yesterday of the Dearing report and the government's immediate statement that it will take the report's key advice.

At present, tuition fees for full-time university and college students in Britain are paid by the government. (Part-timers pay their own.) The National Committee of Inquiry into Higher Education, chaired by Sir Ron Dearing, has recommended that fees be increased and be covered by government loans, which students would have to repay after they graduate and find work.

"Those with higher education qualifications are the main beneficiaries, through improved employment prospects and pay," says the official summary of the Dearing report. "As a consequence, we suggest that graduates in work should make a greater contribution to the costs of higher education in future. . . . The state should also remain a major source of funding for higher education. . . .Over the long term, public spending on higher education should increase with the growth in Gross Domestic Product."

The report says the amount charged to students should be "a flat rate one and not varied by subject of study so that access to expensive or prestigious programmes is by academic merit not financial means". The student contribution, through income-contingent repayments, should be about 25 per cent of the cost of their education, the report suggests.

Among other matters in the Dearing report:

A larger number of British young people need to go to university and college -- "a rise must be envisaged from the present 32 per cent to a national average of 45 per cent, more more. Within such a total, we believe that much of the expansion should be at sub-degree level."
"Projects and programmes funded by the Research Councils meet their full indirect costs and the costs of premises and central computing."
"We recommend that by 2000-01 higher education institutions should ensure that all students have open access to a Networked Desktop Computer, and expect that by 2005-06 all students will be required to have access to their own portable computer."
"Recent evidence suggests that the majority, but by no means all, of staff in higher education are paid substantially below comparable private and public sector rates."
"We have considered the case for establishment of additional universities, and concluded that there should be a systematic decision-making process for deciding whether individual cases are reasonable."
"It should become the norm for all permanent staff with teaching responsibilities to be trained on accredited programmes."

University presidents said they "welcome the call for urgent action to tackle the immediate funding crisis" and support the Dearing recommendations. The Association of University Teachers was also supportive, but warned; "It will be unacceptable to those who have to pay for their higher education if that money is siphoned off by government to pay for pre-primary schools or building roads." But the National Union of Students continues to oppose tuition fees.

What's happening today

The "student art and other stuff sale" continues in the Student Life Centre, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Mature students have their "summer celebration" at 12 noon at the University Club. (Last-minute information: ext. 2429.)

The physics department presents Rul Yang of the Space Vacuum Epitaxy Center -- now there's a title! -- at the University of Houston, at 3:00 in Physics room 308. He'll talk about "Mid-IR Semiconductor Lasers: Physics and Applications".

The chemical engineering department has a talk at 3:30 (Engineering I room 2517) by Rafael Diaz-Real of Santa Fe, speaking on "Development of a New Approach to Producing Sol-Gel Materials".

"Into the Woods", produced by the separate school board's Performing Arts Summer School, has another performance tonight (and also Friday) in the Humanities Theatre. Their news release doesn't mention time or ticket prices.

Wilfrid Laurier University has been running Arts Express '97, "an integrated arts camp for children with special needs", this week, and will present "Under the Sea" Friday at 1:30 at WLU's Maureen Forrester Recital Hall. All are welcome at the performance.

Waterloo Web site of the day

HISTORY 263
http://arts.uwaterloo.ca/HIST/263out.html

From Napoleon to Stalin, not to mention the potato famine: History 263 is the study of "Europe in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries", and this site is an extensive resource for students taking it this term. The instructor, David Schweitzer, explains:

It contains copies of the course outline, the essay handout for the course, and copies of all teaching overheads used in the course which contain the lecture outlines and important names and terms the student should know from each lecture.
The page was developed by me as a teaching aid, and is administered by the history department secretary, Donna Lang. Its intended audience includes not only those who are taking the course now, but students who might be interested in taking the course in the future, letting them know what sort of assignments they can expect and what the contents of the lectures might be.
I am a part-time instructor for the department, and this is the first course I have taught for Waterloo, so it is a little early to tell how many of the students are referring to the page. The page is designed to help the student organize and revise their lecture notes when studying. Its design is simple and it is meant as a reference guide to studying the course.

History 263 is, of course, listed on the index of UW Courses with Web Home Pages as maintained by the teaching resource office.

CAR

TODAY IN UW HISTORY July 24, 1995: Elaine Koolstra moves into the long-vacant position of manager of UW's parking services.

Editor of the Daily Bulletin: Chris Redmond
Information and Public Affairs, University of Waterloo
credmond@watserv1.uwaterloo.ca -- (519) 888-4567 ext. 3004
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