Daily Bulletin

Blood: if not you, then who?

Many places in the world, if you get a blood transfusion you have to pay for it. Not in Canada, where the Red Cross can still take some pride in providing "all Canadians with ready access to some of the safest and highest-quality blood products and services available anywhere in the world. The goal of Blood Services is to provide blood and a complete range of blood products for Canadians in need. Over 95 per cent of blood collected across the country is separated into components such as red blood cells, platelets, cryoprecipitate and plasma. This means that each donation can be used to its maximum potential -- often helping up to four people."

The clinic at the Student Life Centre will be open today, tomorrow and Thursday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Blood donors need "photo/signature identification", and the usual advice applies, such as having something to eat before you come to give blood.

"Help ensure that there is enough blood for area hospitals this summer!" the Red Cross urges.

Out-of-province universities feared

A faculty member at Nipissing University in North Bay, Flynn makes her comments in the current issue of OCUFA's Forum, previously a newsletter but now reborn as a magazine. She writes in part:

Not only do we have competition for students among the universities in Ontario but increasing numbers of out-of-province universities are seeking permission from the Minister of Education and Training to offer university degree programs to Ontario students. The original intent of the ministerial consent policy was to allow out-of-province degree granting institutions to offer in exceptional cases "niche" university programs in Ontario where Ontario universities were unable to meet student demand.

Current requests for ministerial consent, however, are not for "niche" programs but for mainstream programs in areas such as business, nursing, and education which are also offered by Ontario universities. At present, 12 out-of-province institutions have asked for consent to offer 16 degree programs in Ontario. The private, for-profit University of Phoenix, for example, has requested permission to offer various undergraduate and graduate degrees in business. The University of Calgary has asked to offer a one-year post diploma degree in nursing at Centennial College. Some proposals envision faculty from the out-of-province university teaching in the program, some would have only the Ontario college faculty teaching, and others would be a combination of faculty.

The wholesale granting of ministerial consent could adversely affect Ontario universities in a number of ways, the most obvious being a decline in program quality, enrolment and consequently, funding.

These other notes and events

As the spring term winds down, more and more co-op students know where they'll be going for work in the fall. Posting #8, the last in the "continuous phase" of placement will expire tonight at 8, the co-op department advises. And this note for students about to leave for work term: "Students are encouraged to get Work Report Writing Guidelines before leaving campus."

There was a splendid map in last Friday's issue of a mathematics student newsletter that shall remain nameless. It took the idea of university-corporate links to a logical conclusion: what if all UW's buildings got new names to reflect sponsorships? Among the proposals were the Microsoft Mathematics and Computer Building (of course), Chapters Library, St. Paul Newman's Spaghetti Sauce College, Hooters Tutors Houses, Fisher-Price Engineering III, and the I Can't Believe It's Not Butter Grad House.

What's happening on other campuses

Redeemer College, a "Christian university college" in Ancaster, Ontario, has been authorized to grant BA and BSc degrees. The new powers for Redeemer, which has about 500 students, were approved by the Ontario legislature June 25, after a three-person panel of academics "unanimously concluded that the College's programs are of an Ontario university standard". Redeemer says it will not be looking for Ontario government funding.

The University of Ottawa law school, which already offers a common law program in both English and French, and civil law in French, will complete its hand this fall by launching an English-language civil law program. No other Canadian university teaches both kinds of law in both official languages.

Ryerson Polytechnic University is proposing to launch its first two graduate programs next year: one in communications and culture, in partnership with York University, and one in spatial analysis, in partnership with the University of Toronto.

The University of Toronto has ended a program that provided medical care to the mostly native population around Sioux Lookout in northwestern Ontario. The program had operated for twenty years. U of T's dean of medicine says the difficulty is money: Sioux Lookout is starting to run deficits, and the provincial government wouldn't guarantee funding from the Ontario Health Insurance Program to balance the budget.

Campus security is being tightened at the University of Guelph in the wake of recent vandalism attributed to animal rights activists. Earlier this month, the car of a pathobiology graduate student had a brick thrown through the windshield and tires slashed. The letters "ALF" were spray-painted on the car, and slogans painted on roads near the researcher's home. The Minnesota-based Animal Liberation Front has claimed responsibility for the attack.

UW web site of the day

Note-taking . . . cramming . . . writing exams . . . what more is there to academic success? Well, just a bit, says this eight-part web site from UW's counselling services department:

Before you even begin with this package, consider the most effective, efficient, and, yes, obvious thing you can do to enhance your study skills. TRY Attending all classes and labs (if you don't already manage to do so). WHY? You hear information from the person who will be testing you on it; you will take much longer to gather it from other sources; classes offer an opportunity to ask questions about difficult material; and you won't miss extra information (clues for tests and assignments, for e.g.).

"The tips and strategies suggested are divided into eight of the most common areas that students struggle with in their studies," he says. They include learning and remembering, time management, listening and note-taking, reading, concentration and distraction, preparing for exams, cramming, and writing exams.

"A feature of the page that we receive positive feedback about is its 'TRY-WHY' format. That is, this page not only suggests what to try, it explains to the user why this strategy can work. It is our experience that university students are more likely to follow through with a suggestion or tip if they are told how and why it works."

Most of the material on the site was prepared by Sally Melville, Mackay's predecessor as study skills advisor.

CAR

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