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News briefs—November 10, 2011

November 10, 2011
By Gazette News

University not good for learning

According to McLean’s Magazine, “big box” universities with large class sizes are not servicing students who choose university for the sake of learning, rather than a stepping-stone to employment.

In response, some schools have started offering boutique programs, such Guelph’s first-year seminars for tiny groups of motivated students. This has brought up the question of a two-tiered education—one for degree-seekers and one for the academically inclined.

“I don’t see it as a two-tier thing, I see it as meeting the needs and aspirations for a diverse group of students,” Benedikt Hallgrimsson, senior associate dean of education in the faculty of medicine at the University of Calgary, said. “As the demand for a university education has increased we’ve gone from educating something like five per cent of the population to close to 30 per cent.”

Halgrimsson explained the increase in undergraduate students changes their educational needs, and universities need a multi-pronged solution to cater to those students with professional aspirations, enlightenment aspirations and skill-seeking aspirations. In the current one-size-fits-all model, he claimed all students are being compromised.

According to Halgrimsson, the answer is not a two-tier system, but a more diverse approach to an undergraduate education. The needs of the much larger modern student population are very different from the traditionally educated minority.

“We need to do a better job of determining what it is that students that will go out to perform diverse roles in society actually need to know, and provide it to them in an effective way.”

—Megan Devlin

 

 

Sausages for students

Students who aren’t quite ready to let go of their meat have a new option for lunch.

On Monday, a hot dog stand opened on Concrete Beach in front of D.B. Weldon Library. While the stand may not see much business from more health-conscious students, Frank Miller, director of hospitality services at Western, said he thought the outlook was good.

“We don’t really offer a hot dog anywhere [on campus]—even though it’s certainly not the most healthy product, it’s still a product that I think we all like from time to time in cold weather,” he said.

Though Western has had hot dog stands in the past, it has been several years since students have had that option.

“We had one years ago, and it was very successful. I guess we never got around to replacing that,” Miller explained. “The person actually sort of became the hot dog legend, and we got around to looking at that possibility again. I think we’ve probably got one of the busiest hot dog people in town, and we thought we’d give it a test to see what students feel about it.”

Because the stand is so new, it is still unclear whether hot dogs will become a permanent Concrete Beach fixture once more—it all depends on students’ reaction. According to Miller, after a month, hospitality services will evaluate the stand’s performance to determine whether or not it will remain during the winter months.

—Julian Uzielli

 

Giving is better than receiving

For Jane Tucker, president of the London Transplant Gift of Life Association, tonight marks the beginning of what she hopes will be an important step forward for organ donation awareness and advocacy for both Western and the London community as a whole.

Tucker hopes to attract students, faculty members, corporations, and community members alike to an information session scheduled for 7 p.m. tonight at the Windermere Manor’s Convergence Centre. Featuring a transplant recipient as well as a presentation by Mac Quantz, the chief of cardiac surgery at London Health Sciences Centre, the session will focus on educating guests about organ donation and will present fundraising initiatives for Impellas and other similar cardiac devices not currently covered by OHIP.

According to Dr. Quantz, there are a couple of goals for the session. “The ultimate goal is to make the public aware of what’s going on with the transplant program at LHSC,” he said. “We are also working towards some fundraising.”

Tucker said she hopes students and community members alike will leave engaged and educated. Stressing that people check out and register online at beadonor.ca, the new method for designating oneself as an organ donor, she said the issue is relevant and worth getting involved in.

“Every three days, provincially, one patient dies on the waiting list. As a community, we can do better with more donations,” she said. We can help change those statistics and more people can get those transplants in time.”

The information session is at 7 p.m. at the Windermere Manor’s Convergence Centre, 999 Collip Cir.

—Cheryl Madliger

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