Religious nations “likely” to perform worse in science and mathematics education
The Irish Times reports that religious nations are “likely to perform worse in science and maths.” 76 countries were examined by the researchers in the study. The “five least religious countries” were the Czech Republic, Estonia, Japan, Norway, and Sweden while the most religious countries were Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, Tunisia, and Qatar.
The “analysis allowed conclusions to be drawn about international levels of religiosity, schooling and educational performance.” The Daily Mail reports that Canada is in the upper end of the middle of the ranking at 36th, where 1st is the least religious and 82nd is the most religious.
The researchers combined a number of datasets from the OECD, PISA, TIMSS, the European Social Survey, and the United Nation’s Human Development Report to come to the conclusion of the higher likelihood of worse performance in science and maths in more religious countries.
Canadian education is great for business
Stu McNish in the Vancouver Sun reported on a Conversation That Matters (a partner program between Simon Fraser University and the Centre for Dialogue) feature with Diana MacKay, who is the executive director for the Global Academy of Carleton University.
MacKay argued for Canada being a place that offers a lot for students and educators from around the world. About 245,000 international students, MacKay says, have been attending Canadian universities at any one time with the targeted goal of 450,000 by 2020.
MacKay thinks Canada can do even more to make the educational system even more marketable. “What happens if we expand our offering, if we were to package up the expertise of our universities and colleges and start selling it to audiences around the world in the business sector for one?” MacKay asked.
Largest donation ever to an Alberta College
Canadian News Wire states, “Acclaimed Canadian entrepreneur, oilfield industry leader and dedicated philanthropist, David P. Werklund and his partner, Susan Norman, have gifted Olds College with $16M, the largest ever personal donation to an Alberta college or technical institution.”
Over time, as a “tiered donation,” the “cumulative impact” of the donation will be $32M. The first part of the donation is $2M in cash, “supplemented by a matching component where Werklund will provide one dollar for every three raised, up to $4M.”
Lastly, there will be a $10M “estate gift” for the institution’s sustainability. The point of the donation is to incentivize the donations from others. This donation will be used for the foundation of the Werklund Agriculture Institute (WAI).
Scott Douglas Jacobsen is an AUSU Councillor. He works with various organizations, and runs In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, and In-Sight Publishing.
