Dubai progress: enrolment now past 80

The first-year class at Waterloo’s United Arab Emirates campus this fall is three times as big as last year’s, provost Feridun Hamdullahpur told the university senate on Monday.

In fact, it could have been four times as big, but a number of students who were admitted and confirmed their registration didn’t actually arrive at the campus in Dubai’s Academic City district, he said. “A great majority” of the no-shows were from Pakistan, he said. “You are all aware of the flooding there . . . some weren’t able to come.”

Altogether 78 new students confirmed their registration for this fall, and 61 arrived, the provost said. Half of them (24 men and 8 women) are in engineering programs, and half (24 men and 5 women) in mathematics.

It’s the first year for the math programs at Dubai, including Financial Analysis and Risk Management and Information Technology Management. Last year, the only programs at the Waterloo campus in Dubai were chemical and civil engineering, and first-year enrolment was a total of 21.

“I will tell you what happened to those students,” Hamdullahpur continued in  his report to the senate (after a brief digression in praise of the cookies, right, that were served in honour of David Johnston, chairing his last senate meeting as president of the university).

Of the students who entered engineering in Dubai in 2009, “nineteen have reached second year, one has been required to repeat some courses, and one student had to withdraw, he said. “And all of them had co-op placements.”

This year there were 201 applications for first year, coming from 21 countries, he said. The students who actually began classes this month represent 15 countries, with half coming from the UAE itself and the other half from Pakistan, several African and Asian nations, Spain, the United States and even Canada.

This fall there are nine faculty members at the Dubai campus, Hamdullahpur said, as well as four locally hired staff, three teaching assistants (two from Waterloo and one from the Emirates), and a co-op student. A co-op coordinator is about to join the crew.

“Various student services are now established,” the provost added. “Overall, there has been significant progress from last year to this year, and we hope that next year will be another great year for the campus.”

Michelle Burlock of the marketing and undergraduate recruitment office is in Dubai today, using the campus as a base for trips to Abu Dhabi, Kuwait and Qatar over the next couple of weeks. Staff from Waterloo UAE will join her on the tour, part of the Middle East Education Initiative, organized by the Canadian government. She'll also make a side trip to Jordan along with representatives of two other universities, Ryerson and Dalhousie. "The Dubai campus will then be participating on behalf of both campuses for the remainder of the MEEI tour," says Burlock, "visiting Egypt, Syria, Tunisia and Lebanon."

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Cultural notes, and a few others

Homecoming, today and tomorrow, is neatly scheduled to coincide with the Canada-wide Culture Days promotion, which involves something like 4,500 free activities from sea to sea to sea. "Canadians can get their fix by searching on the Culture Days website," a news release says. But around here they can get their fix without ever leaving campus — dropping in, particularly, at Renison University's College's East Asian Festival (left) tomorrow, or the open rehearsal of Orchestra @ UWaterloo that's scheduled for 3:00 Saturday in the Student Life Centre. Both are on the official Culture Days list along with flamenco in Dartmouth and a colouring contest in Estevan. "The Culture Days movement has resonated with the arts and cultural community right across the country, beyond our wildest expectations," says Antoni Cimolino, chair of the national steering committee and director of the Stratford Shakespeare Festival — and thus one of the begetters of Waterloo's Stratford campus. Meanwhile, a full list of Homecoming events appears in the column at right.

Says a memo from May Yan, the director of retail services: "The Book Store launched a pilot project offering new textbook rentals this September as an alternative to purchasing the book. Rental offers significant savings for students. Ten titles are available for the pilot project and more will be added subject to the demand for textbook rentals. Students will save 40% off the new price, when renting a new book from September through to December 2010. The last day to return the fall rental book is January 7, 2011. During the first three weeks of September, students will pick up their textbook rentals from Campus Copy at Dana Porter Library. After September 27, textbook rentals will be available for pickup in the Book Store."

The 8th annual WatITis (that’s Waterloo Information Technology and Information Systems) conference’ will be held Tuesday, December 7, says a memo issued this week. Co-chairs for this year’s conference are Kevin Paxman (of the creative services unit) and Bernie Rutter (of the faculty of environment). They write: “Our theme this year is ‘The Sky’s The Limit’. This one-day conference brings IT professionals from across campus, face-to-face to exchange knowledge and experience. We would like to invite you to actively participate as a speaker/presenter or panellist for one or more of our sessions in the areas of Teaching, Research, Institutional Support, ‘Green’ initiatives or General Interest. We also invite you to submit your ideas for session topics which you feel would be of interest to other IT professionals. From last year's survey, we heard a strong desire to see presentations about tools and techniques that some of you have developed that may not have had wider campus exposure and may be of use to the rest of us. We also invite you to submit your ideas for session topics which you feel would be of interest to other IT professionals.” Proposals are due by October 15.

The School of Environment, Enterprise and Development isn’t limiting itself to running academic programs on campus, but is also developing “sustainability practice” seminars for professionals. Next in the series is a one-day event — jointly sponsored by law firm Bennett Jones LLP — in Toronto on the morning of October 14. The title: “Sustainable Development: Value Creation and Due Diligence Protection”. Says Shelley Knischewsky, the school’s executive training coordinator: “In the aftermath of such events as the BP oil discharge into the Gulf of Mexico, we believe this seminar should be of interest to any organization that needs to better understand how environmental, social and economic practices translate into value creation and enhanced due diligence protection for corporate directors and senior officers.” Speakers include SEED faculty members Olaf Weber and Blair Feltmate as well as Gray Taylor of the law firm. Waterloo students, staff and faculty are invited to take a 50 per cent discount on the fee for the seminar, which runs $495 plus tax; details are online.

A recent analysis of psychology departments at Canadian universities finds Waterloo's ranked number one in the country in terms of citations (the frequency with which faculty members' writings are footnoted in subsequent research). • Waterloo has joined the list of universities, now totalling 20 across Canada, that will webcast select varsity games on the Streaming Sports Network this year. • The Centre for Family Business, based at Conrad Grebel UC, is holding its program launch, annual general meeting and presentation, “CFIB's Take on Small Businesses in Ontario”, this morning at Bingeman Conference Centre in Kitchener.

Cambridge Galleries opened a printmaking studio a while back as part of its Design at Riverside gallery in Waterloo’s Architecture building on Melville Street. Classes were offered, and “a small group of people took an etching course from instructor Brian Musson,” says a news release now from the Galleries. “They enrolled again and again, developing in the process their their own little atelier or workshop, and continuing to learn from Musson and from each other. They became a group of artists and friends that enjoy exploring the almost infinite variety that this ancient art form offers.” And now they have an exhibition; an opening reception was held last night. “The ‘12 x 12’ exhibition,” says the release, “showcases eight very different and personal perspectives. Techniques include drypoint, etching, monoprints, chine collé, aquatint and multiple-plate printing. Chosen subjects are also quite diverse, from figurative to abstract or whimsical, from simple black and white to multiple vibrant colours. All printmakers agreed to restrict themselves to images 12 inches by 12 inches, matted and framed exactly the same.” The show continues through November 7 at the galleries’ Preston branch at 435 King Street East, Cambridge.

And . . . "It’s a whole new day" at the Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery in central Waterloo, with changes that go into effect today. A news release announces “a new logo, highly visible signage on the building, a more welcoming environment for our visitors, as well as free admission to our exhibitions from now on. The Gallery is committed to being a fully accessible gathering-place for people celebrating the beauty of clay and glass creation. Visitors will be able to explore both the Gallery Shop and the exhibitions free of charge. They will also be able to relax with friends while enjoying a coffee or tea in our reconfigured foyer. To serve more students and teachers in our region, the Clay & Glass committed itself to offer French-language programming to complement our highly successful English programming for elementary school students. In order to achieve this goal, the Clay & Glass formed a partnership with the University of Waterloo’s Department of French Studies. Guy Poirier from the university states: 'The art education programs in French will provide our French Teaching Specialization students with a wonderful opportunity to use their skills, work in a dynamic and creative environment, and know what experiential learning is all about.'" The gallery opens its new show, "Glass Factor: Luminaries in the Canadian Art Glass Scene", from 5 to 8 this evening.

CAR

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