Amit Chakma
University presidents’ houses scrutinized from Western to Winnipeg
Some top administrators get free homes while others have to pay
The flap over the fluency gap
As schools turn to international students to fill chairs and coffers, concerns grow about English proficiency
Making Canada’s universities the world’s universities
Today in Halifax, Trade Minister Ed Fast officially received a report from Western University president Amit Chakma and the rest of Chakma’s panel on internationalizing Canadian higher education. Here it is, under the horse-tranquilizer title “International Eduction: A Key Driver of Canada’s Future Prosperity.” It’s worth a read, but here’s the short version.
Reinforcements
I finally got around to reading Patrick Deane’s installation address as President of McMaster University, which came highly recommended for its defense of the campus as a bastion of values more universal and durable than we usually read about in the morning papers. The whole speech is worth reading. Deane doesn’t just offer ringing endorsements of grand principles, but acknowledges that worthy goals can conflict. But I stopped short after the first sentence — “In 1975 I was an undergraduate at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg” — because it suggests a trend.
The best opportunity for a better future
Young Canadians need sound info to make informed choices about their education