December 13, 2002

Friday, December 13, 2002

UW courses listed on job web site
Ministry sums up its year
Some notes and weekend events

Editor:
Chris Redmond
credmond@uwaterloo.ca

Friday the 13th -- great day for an exam

[Two packing boxes of files]
Last day in NH: Kristine McGlynn and Christine Prashad, seen packing some of the files from UW's co-operative education and career services, will be unpacking them next week in a new place. Central stores trucks will be on the move, starting tonight and continuing tomorrow, to carry CECS's worldly goods from Needles Hall -- the department's home since 1972 -- to the new CECS building on the east side of the arts quad. Staff are expecting to be working (and, mostly, unpacking) there on Monday morning.

UW courses listed on job web site

Waterloo is among seven educational institutions in Ontario taking part in a new service offered through Workopolis, "Canada's leading provider of Internet recruiting and job search solutions".

The web site has added what it's calling the Workopolis Canadian Education Centre, which "enhances job listings by providing details of the skill set required for the job, the specific education programs that can deliver those skills, and linking to Canadian education institutions that offer those courses. As a result, employees can roadmap their careers by better understanding not only the skills they need to do their job today, but the skills they will need in order to land the job they want tomorrow."

UW joined in at the launch of the new service, a news release says, along with the schools of business at Queen's and Western, Sheridan and Seneca colleges, and two private sector colleges. "Additional educational institutions are joining on an ongoing basis," says the news release.

For UW, it's a way of advertising non-credit skills-related courses, says Maureen Jones, manager of continuing education. She said there was rejoicing in the CE office when the first student registration came in from the Workopolis site, even before the new service had been officially launched.

So far Waterloo has paid fees to have twelve courses listed, on topics ranging from Java programming to project management. All are on-line courses offered by UW in partnership with the American firm Education To Go.

Individuals don't pay to get access to the listings, Jones pointed out. She said people may look at Workopolis thinking not just, "I'd like a new job," but "I'd like a job in this particular field -- what skills are they looking for?" The "Education Centre" listings help answer that question.

"The old model was to get all your education and professional training at the beginning of your career," says Kim Peters, president of Workopolis. "But that world is gone. Today, workers need to up-date their skills and knowledge continually in order to remain competitive and valuable in the workforce. This is as true for senior executives as it is for technical workers and skilled trade workers."

The company points out that "by 2004, more than 70 per cent of all new jobs created in Canada will require some post-secondary education. . . . Yet currently, less than one third of adult Canadian workers participate in continuous learning activities."

Workopolis says it has already linked more than 25,000 online job postings to specific education classes and courses.

Ministry sums up its year

Spending is up and so is quality, says the 2002-03 'business plan' issued by the Ontario ministry of training, colleges and universities. Here's some of what the plan document says:

"High school dropout rates are decreasing as more and more students complete their high school programs. Increasingly, these secondary school graduates are going on to college and university and into skilled training. This is a tremendous opportunity for Ontario as these young people will be the backbone of Ontario's workforce for decades to come.

[Graph]
'University Key Performance Indicators' -- from the government's business plan
"This year, the ministry made the following positive contributions toward ensuring a place in a college or university for every willing and qualified student, and providing high-quality and relevant training programs for workers, where and when they need them.

"The government continued to implement its plan to prepare colleges, universities and Ontario's training system to meet the increased enrolment expected when the first students in the new four-year high school program graduate at the same time as the last students in the old five-year program. The double cohort, demographic change and increased interest in postsecondary programs, is significantly increasing enrolment demand at colleges and universities.

"About 434,000 students are currently enrolled in Ontario’s postsecondary system. The ministry is continuing to work with universities and colleges to respond to the changing needs of students, including monitoring enrolment to ensure there is a place for every willing and capable student.

"SuperBuild projects now under way will see 79,000 new student spaces created in 61 projects at colleges and universities throughout Ontario. The $2.2 billion investment in public-and-private-sector-supported construction launched the single largest capital expansion in 30 years in the postsecondary sector. Since SuperBuild was established in 1999, more than $337.5 million has been committed to colleges and universities to modernize existing buildings and to accommodate additional students.

"The 2001 budget committed $293 million in additional operating grants by 2003-2004 to accommodate increased enrolment. This multi-year funding enables the hiring of additional faculty and support planning for the expected increase in student population.

"The proclamation of the Post-secondary Education Choice and Excellence Act, 2000, positioned the province to expand the range of educational choices for students of all ages. A new Postsecondary Education Quality Assessment Board (PEQAB) was created to assess and make recommendations to the Minister on proposals for new applied degree programs to be offered by Ontario colleges and new institutions wishing to offer degrees in Ontario.

"In March 2002, the Minister announced approval for 12 applied degree programs at nine colleges under a pilot project. These programs are tied directly to the workplace and cover a range of fields including financial services management, information technology, electronic business, automotive management and environmental site remediation.

"The ministry is also working with the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care to ensure community needs are met through expanded enrolment in health professions. In 2001, the government announced the creation of a Northern Medical School.

"As part of a $60 million capital commitment in Ontario’s 2001 Budget, the ministry initiated steps to establish the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT) at Durham College. UOIT aims to provide a mix of academic and hands-on experience. The government also introduced a bill to give the Ontario College of Art & Design (OCAD) the authority to grant Bachelor and Masters degrees in fine arts and design."

Some notes and weekend events

Christmas is the drinking season, statistics would suggest, but Bud Walker, UW's director of business operations, is warning that there are limits. He sends a reminder of a memo he issued last year about UW's alcohol rules, Policy 21, and this point in particular: "With the exception of specific venues listed in the Policy, only UW Catering is allowed to serve alcohol on campus. An event such as a wine and cheese reception not served by UW Catering is contrary to policy. If a civil action arose from such an event, the organizer and/or department head could be found personally liable."

[Hammar House] Another piece in the student housing puzzle is in place, as Waterloo city council has approved a zoning change for the Hammarskjöld House co-operative residence (left) at 139 University Avenue West. Plans are to build a seven-storey addition to the building. Its owner, Waterloo Co-operative Residence Inc., has even bigger plans for the co-op's larger facility on Phillip Street: tear the whole thing down and build a new complex that would increase the co-op's total size. (Not officially connected to UW, the co-op was established by students looking for good housing as early as 1963.)

We have a winner: the recent Keystone Campaign online quiz, which involved looking closely at photos of profiled staff members, has been won by Shawn Mathers of the office of development. He collects a $100 gift certificate from Conestoga Mall.

Today: blood is wanted in this season of Christmas and traffic accidents. "The sign-up is doing well," Sharron Cairns of Canadian Blood Services wrote earlier this week, "but we could use a few more donors if possible." There's a sign-up sheet at the turnkey desk, and the blood donor clinic itself runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. (not just 2 p.m. as I said yesterday) in the Student Life Centre. CBS sends a reminder that people who gave blood at the October clinic aren't able to give blood again today; their next chance will be a clinic in the last week of January.

The key control office will be closed from noon to 2 p.m. today. . . . A group from the staff association is off to see "Amahl and the Night Visitors" at the Church Theatre in St. Jacobs tonight. . . .

Electrical power, heating, cooling and ventilation will be shut down on Sunday, 8 a.m. to 11 a.m., in the Physics Building, Rod Coutts Engineering Lecture Hall, and the CIM wing of the Davis Centre. The plant operations department advises that people in those buildings shut down their computers "in an orderly fashion" before going home for the weekend.

That historic and melodic group, the Waterloo Concert Band, will give a concert Sunday night, and there will be one or two UW people involved, says James Harynuk, graduate student in chemistry and the band's publicity director. The performance runs from 6 to 8 p.m. in Waterloo Park as part of the Wonders of Winter festival there. "A portion of our membership will be performing some favourite Christmas carols as we wander around the displays," says Harynuk. "We will also be collecting food and cash donations for the regional food bank while we are there."

The library's Trellis computer system will be out of operation Thursday evening, December 19, through Monday noon, December 23, for a software upgrade, with a partial backup system available instead. . . . Former prime minister John Turner will speak in the Theatre of the Arts on January 9 at 4 p.m., about one of his predecessors, John A. Macdonald. . . .

CAR

TODAY IN UW HISTORY
December 13, 1989: Seven days after the "Montréal massacre", a memorial service for the 14 women killed at the Ecole Polytechnique is held in Federation Hall.