Students - Page 10 of 15 - Academic Matters

We all put too much emphasis on test scores

Liying Cheng, Queen's University, Ontario

We live in testing times. We also live in a time of globalization, immigration and the internationalization of schools and universities around the world. Our current obsession with school accountability and student learning outcomes has resulted in the increased use and abuse of test scores — in particular language test scores.

Equity and social justice, Students

For millennials, employment is a public health challenge

Arif Jetha, University of Toronto

Millennials now make up the largest share of the Canadian workforce and many are facing precarious working conditions. As a society, we have previously assumed that if young Canadians invest in formal training and “pay their dues” in poor quality jobs early in their careers, they will work their way into better quality employment. A recent report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) suggests a different reality.

Dangerous stereotypes stalk black university and college athletes

Joseph Cooper, University of Connecticut

If you go strictly by the official account, heatstroke was the cause of death for University of Maryland football player Jordan McNair. McNair died earlier this year following a grueling practice in which training staff failed to properly diagnose and treat his condition. But there’s another culprit – or at least a contributing factor – that should not be overlooked.

What universities and colleges must do to promote mental health for graduate students

Meghan Duffy, University of Michigan; Carly Thanhouser, University of Michigan, and Daniel Eisenberg, University of Michigan

Sara did not expect much to come from her visit to the university’s counseling center, but she was concerned enough about the dark thoughts she’d been having that she decided to go anyway. As she sat in the waiting room after turning in the patient questionnaire, she thought: “It’s probably not a big deal. I’m probably overreacting.” But she wasn’t. After reviewing her screening survey, staff at the counseling center didn’t want her to leave without speaking to a therapist.

Equity and social justice, International issues, Students

When race triggers a call to campus police

Brian N. Williams, University of Virginia; Andrea M. Headley, University of California, Berkeley, and Megan LePere-Schloop, The Ohio State University

On a beautiful spring afternoon on a picturesque college campus, two campus police officers responded to a black professor’s “good afternoon” with a request to see his identification. The professor paused for a moment but decided to comply. He wondered if perhaps his attire – slacks, a button-down shirt and loafers – didn’t signal that he belonged.

PhD completion: an evidence-based guide for students, supervisors and universities

Timothy Colin Bednall, Swinburne University of Technology

This discrepancy does not necessarily mean postgraduate research students “failed” their degree. Common reasons not completing a degree include changes of career goals, work-family conflicts, poor health or financial strain. Alternatively, some students remain enrolled in their degree for long periods without making significant progress.

Why there are so few Indigenous graduates at convocation

Veldon Coburn, McGill University

Convocation can be a very emotional occasion. Each year, it seems, the commentariat is whipped up into near hysterics over some honorary […]

Faculty associations, Students

Building solidarity on Ontario’s university campuses

Nour Alideeb

University administrations often seek to advance unpopular agendas by attempting to pit students and faculty against each other. Through campus alliances, we […]

Equity and social justice, Politics, Public policy, Students

The importance of international students to Atlantic Canada

Kelly Toughill, University of King's College

Anita faced a tough choice when she discovered she was unexpectedly pregnant. If she took a term off school to care for her newborn, her family would lose its dream of settling in Canada. So, eight weeks after the summer birth, with her diplomat husband away on a long-term work assignment in the Caribbean and two more children at home, the international student from Cameroon returned to class full-time.

Why some students are excluded from university later in their degree, and how to remedy it

Colin Jevons, Monash University and Sophie Lindsay, Monash University

Student attrition is of concern to universities and to politicians and, most importantly, costly for the students concerned, both financially and emotionally. […]

Topic: Students

We all put too much emphasis on test scores

PhD completion: an evidence-based guide for students, supervisors and universities

Building solidarity on Ontario’s university campuses

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