Daily Bulletin

Public funding for universities has gone up by an average of 28 per cent in the 50 American states over the past four years. In Ontario, there's been an 8 per cent drop. Ontario ranks 59th among 60 states and provinces, says the Council of Ontario Universities, source for the information on which this graph is based.

Fire drills start tomorrow

That's the idea of a fire drill: not just to test the equipment but to make sure everybody can quickly get to a building exit. "Under the revised Fire Code," says UW safety director Kevin Stewart, "UW is required to hold fire drills for most of our buildings at least once a year."

This week's experience, he said, will be "our first experience at running several alarm drills in faculty/administrative buildings. Our experience with residence buildings indicates that we should be able to complete the buildings as planned, other than for a reason such as the weather." The forecast: sunny and mild.

"I would like," Stewart adds, "to recognize the various groups assisting with the fire alarm drills. These include Plant Operations, UW Police, Safety Office, Waterloo Fire Department, Faculty/Building Evacuation Co-ordinators, Fire Wardens and each building's faculty, staff and students."

Here's the schedule:

Tuesday morning: PAS, Humanities, Modern Languages, Environmental Studies I and II, Needles Hall, Matthews Hall.

Tuesday afternoon: Engineering II and III, Carl Pollock Hall, Doug Wright Engineering, South Campus Hall, Student Life Centre, Optometry.

Wednesday morning: Health Services, Physical Activities, General Services, East Campus Hall, 156 Columbia, BFG.

Wednesday afternoon: Porter Library, Physics, Davis Centre, Chemistry II, Math and Computer, Earth Sciences and Chemistry, Biology I and II.

Any drills that have to be postponed from their scheduled time will be held on Thursday, Stewart said.

Network attracts international students

The March issue of the CEC newsletter reports on education fairs in Mexico and a Study in Canada web site designed for overseas students, among other CEC projects.

Says CECN president Rodney Briggs: "CECs were opened in India and Mexico in 1997, and both markets have shown exponential growth over the past three years. In 1999, 665 student authorizations were issued out of the Citizenship and Immigration Canada office in New Delhi -- an increase of close to 40 per cent over 1998 and more than 75 per cent over 1997. In Mexico, close to 3,300 student authorizations were issued in 1999 (+50% from 1997). CEC Mexico City also estimates that 3,000 students head to Canada each year for study of less than three months.

"Since CEC Sao Paulo was established two years ago, Brazil has emerged as an important market for Canadian education institutions. Approximately 1,326 authorizations were issued in 1999 (+19% increase over 1998; +44% over 1997), and 1,481 students were issued visitor visas for programs of less than three months (+50% over 1998)."

He notes that in 1998, the economic crisis in Asia "negatively impacted CECN markets such as Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and South Korea. However, I am pleased to report that Canada's ongoing commitment to these markets have resulted in swift turnarounds in 1999. . . . Singapore was only slightly affected by the economic crisis, and this country continues to be a reliable market for high quality, post-secondary students."

He also reports that the number of students coming to Canada from Hong Kong had been dropping, not so much because of the economic crisis as because Hong Kong is rapidly developing its own university system. "However, with local CEC promotions such as Information Days for Canadian Universities and Colleges and the increasing interest in studies abroad at the secondary level, numbers for Hong Kong are on the upswing once again, with more than 2,400 authorizations [for students to come to Canada] issued in 1999 (+16% over 1998)."

Taiwan was the only CEC market to report a slight decrease in the number of students coming to Canada; Briggs blames the drop on "the devastating September earthquake, which caused many students to cancel their plans to study abroad. The US and Australia have reported declining figures for similar reasons. Otherwise, this market continues to be a significant source of international students to Canada, with more than 2,150 authorizations issued last year. Also, thousands of students from Taiwan travel to Canada for short-term study each year."

The week that's between terms

The libraries will be open for only limited hours. The Dana Porter and Davis Centre libraries will be open 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday to Friday, with services at the information desk from 9 to 5. The University Map and Design Library will be open 8:30 to 4:30. All libraries will be closed next weekend.

Still, a few things are happening:

• A reception will be held this afternoon in honour of Susan Shantz, retiring after a long UW career including many years as assistant to UW's presidents; the party starts at 3:30 in the Laurel Room, South Campus Hall.
• Spring football camp has begun, based in the Village residences, under the watchful eye of coach Chris Triantafilou. Wold-be Warriors continue their sweating and stretching until Thursday.
• After that, the conference season starts in earnest in Ron Eydt Village, with the arrival of several hundred participants in the annual Women Alive convention, April 28-30.
• The Guelph-Waterloo Centre for Graduate Work in Chemistry will hold its annual seminar on Friday. This year UW is the site (Davis Centre room 1302, in particular). The star speaker is Nigel Bunce of the University of Guelph, talking under the title "Dances with Dioxins". His talk, at 3 p.m., will be surrounded by other events, including the annual meeting of GWC2 at 1:00, a graduate student poster session at 4:30, and the annual awards presentation at 5:30, followed by a reception.
• St. Paul's United College will hold its 10th annual fund-raising dinner and auction on Saturday (reception at 6, meal at 7). I believe there are still tickets, at $50 a head, available from the college office, phone 885-1460.

Finally, this note from Mary Stanley in the library office: "The Friends of the Library's Authors Event is less than three weeks away. This is the time on our campus when we celebrate our creativity. Since 1994, the Friends have displayed the published works of close to 200 UW authors, musicians and artists. We want to ensure that we include in this year's display all those on our campus who in 1999 wrote a book, composed a musical work, were recognised for their design or photography work, or mounted an art show. To participate simply send a copy of your book/works along with a brief biographical statement to Mary Stanley in the Dana Porter Library Office or e-mail her at mstanley@library."

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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