U of W gets new chancellor

Local businessman Robert Silver has been elected by the University of Winnipeg’s Board of Regents and Senate as the university’s seventh chancellor.

Silver is the co-owner of the Warehouse One retail chain, the Winnipeg Free Press and Brandon Sun. He is also the president of Western Glove Works.

Silver is also active in the Winnipeg community. He was the chair of last year’s United Way campaign, the co-chair of the Winnipeg Library Foundation and the Premier’s Economic Advisory Council.

He also served as a board member for the Canadian Apparel Federation and Destination Winnipeg.

Silver will begin his position on July 1, 2009, taking over for H. Sanford Riley, who served three terms as chancellor.

Academics staying up north

A wave of American academics who moved to Canada in 2005 during the Bush administration have no plans to return now that Barack Obama is in office.

Citing job opportunities and a more liberal world view, many American academics are getting Canadian citizenship and enjoying rights not available in their former country, such as same-sex marriage, reported University Affairs.

Earlier in February, United Kingdom-based Times Higher Financial magazine predicted American academics may return down south after President Obama committed to funding science research.

Yet the American recession also stopped hiring in many major U.S. universities. Many academics feel there are more opportunities here, despite the uncertain research funding situation in Canada.

Canada did not renew funding for the Genome Canada project and provided little new research incentive in the latest budget.

Recession hits universities

Canadian universities will need to significantly increase tuition fees to compensate for revenue losses caused by the recession, a recent report suggests.

These increases may start in Manitoba. Earlier last year, the provincial government commissioned the advice of Benjamin Levin, the Canada Research Chair in Educational Leadership and Policy from the University of Toronto, on its post-secondary education costs.

Students might face a pay hike of up to 25 per cent over the next few years.

According to CBC News, the report by U.S.- based Educational Policy Institute (EPI) suggested this change could create a domino effect across Canada.

Students pay too much

According to a study released by The Canadian Council on Learning, Canadians are dissatisfied with the level of accessibility to university education.

As reported by Maclean’s OnCampus, the report found that while Canadians are generally happy with post-secondary institutions, they are worried there is not enough aid for low-income students and that students are expected to borrow too much money to pay for school.

The survey, conducted with Statistics Canada, collected Canadians’ opinions on learning of all stages – from childhood to post-secondary.