Chinese billionaire seeks input for education prize
The Globe and Mail reported on a Chinese billionaire and entrepreneur, Charles Chen Yidan (45), who is seeking ideas for his education prize from Canadian universities. He assisted with the creation of Tencent Inc., which is an Internet instant messaging platform, and founded “the most lucrative annual prize for educational development in the world and donated $320-million (U.S.) for an endowment.” Which will be provided as two $5-million dollar awards each year for projects related to educational research and development.
“For me, education is extremely important…It propels humankind, but also it will be a tool to resolve the problems society is facing,” Yidan said, “?if you talk to educators, they are talking about some common issues.?
Aims to increase opportunities for University of Saskatchewan students abroad
CBC News reports that University of Saskatchewan (U of S) “officials” want to increase the opportunities for its students greater to be able to study abroad. However, only 3.5% of students took part in the programs to study abroad.
One Canadian Bureau for International Education report found, even with the 2.3% of Canadian university students participating in study abroad programs in the 2014-15 academic year, 86% of students had an explicit interest in studying overseas.
Derek Tannis, of the U of S International Student and Study Abroad Centre, said, “Our way of talking to students, or the way we campaign, is that everyone can go abroad.”
University of Saskatchewan announces tuition rate hike
According to Thomas Piller of CBC News, the University of Saskatchewan (U of S) will be hiking tuition for students in the next academic year by “an overall weighted average of 2.3%.”
“U of S Board of Governors approved increases ranging from zero to five per cent for undergraduate and graduate programs in 2017-18,” Piller said.
Lee Ahenakew, Board Chair for U of S, said, “We understand overall affordability is a significant consideration for our students and their families,” Ahenakew said, “and we strive to keep tuition increases manageable, while still ensuring the quality of our programs remains high.?
Scott Douglas Jacobsen is an AUSU Councillor. He works with various organizations, and runs In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, and In-Sight Publishing.
