News

Sad news.

            Last week CUE lost a major supporter in Sid Braaksma who passed away following a short battle with cancer. Sid was the recipient of a Distinguished Service Award from Concordia in 2016. He felt a strong connection to CUE, donating $150,000 to save our Thunder hockey team in 2015. A minute’s silence was held in his honour at our most recent Thunder home hockey game, and representatives from our School of Music will sing at his funeral tomorrow. Our condolences go out to his wife Nellie and family.

Alberta budget consultations.

            As I reported at our last GFC meeting, I was invited, along with other Alberta post-secondary presidents, to participate in consultations on the next provincial budget on January 15. This was the first time we had been invited to participate in such consultations. The meeting with our Minister Hon. Marlin Schmidt ran for approximately two hours, during which time we advocated for a budget that supported increased student access through student bursaries, enhanced support for research and innovation, and the provision of more post-secondary seats to meet the needs of Alberta’s learning population.

Campbellsville University partnership.

Last week we hosted a visit of senior administration from future partners at Campbellsville University in Kentucky. Campbellsville runs a very successful Masters level degree in Information Technology and they were here to discuss links for their students who are interested in pursuing our MIMMS and MISSAM programs. We believe that we can offer an attractive pathway for these potential students and are currently examining the viability of various models with respect to how this might be best accomplished.

Revenue generation

The term ‘revenue generation’ often receives a muted reception at post-secondary institutions. However, without generating revenue CUE (and all universities) will continue to face limitations with respect to the education and services that we can offer our students, along with research, service, and other opportunities for faculty (including increasing our faculty complement). Concordia’s senior administration is currently working on a revenue generation plan, designed to take advantage of opportunities to turn a profit; a profit that can then be applied to the advancement of our institutional mission and vision. While the strategic revenue generation plan is still in development one thing that has become clear is that revenue generation is the responsibility of every individual in our community. The plan will articulate the sorts of activities and supports available to individuals and teams as we work together to support our university.

Great opportunities in China for students and faculty.

Happy year of the Pig! Thanks to recent intensive and successful visits to Chinese partner universities, CUE has received some nice collaboration opportunities from partner universities. A total of 20 students from QLNU, EDUHK, and SWU have applied for summer programs at CUE, and CNU will also send an additional 20-30 students for summer program at CUE. SWU has offered 3 scholarships for CUE students to take summer camp at SWU in Chongqing for 2 weeks from June 12, 2019. Everything is covered except air tickets. SWU is also offering a teaching grant for CUE faculty to teach there for 2 weeks from July 8 to 19, 2019. Everything is covered including air tickets and a stipend. Details can be found on homepage. A total of 3 students submitted their application for the Chinese Government Scholarships to study at BFSU for 2 years. It is part of the 1+2+1 Dual Degrees Program on Management. Results will come out in May 2019.

International update.

Over the past month CUE has been invited by the following partners to submit proposals for Erasmus + : Finland- Seinajoki University of Applied Science; Spain- Pontifical University of Salamanca; Greece- Athens University of Economics and Business; Bulgaria- Varna Free University. One scholar from University of Szczecin is currently visiting CUE and another one arrives early February.

The International Office has experienced high demand for Study Abroad. As of January 31, we registered 5 applications for Fall 2019. Additionally, one of our students was accepted into an internship in genetics at the University of Bielefeld, Germany, starting May 2019.