Daily
Bulletin

They're here: About half of this fall's first-year students will take an early look at UW today as they attend the annual one-day Student Life 101 open house. The 2,500 new students will be accompanied by more than 3,000 parents and siblings as they look the place over and get briefings about student services and the transition to university life. Information tables will be in Federation Hall, and campus tours leave from there throughout the day. A keynote session starts at 11 a.m. in the Physical Activities Complex main gym.

Research funding up by 10 per cent

As always, the money came in as grants ($55.5 million this year), contracts ($22.4 million), licence fees and royalties ($1.0 million), and "other special research" ($4.9 million).

The financial statement shows grant income up by 26 per cent for the year, and contract income down 19 per cent, but a note explains that several million dollars' worth of funding from the Ontario Innovation Trust was previously classed as contracts and now counts as grants. OIT funding was up to $7.2 million this year, to match the $7.2 million received from the Canada Foundation for Innovation.

Contract income actually went up by 7 per cent this year, the note explains, with much of that money coming from the Ontario Centres of Excellence and other government agencies.

Over the past five years, the CFI, OIT and other recently created government research programs have grown steadily in importance. In 1996-97, they sent UW $6.5 million; in 2000-01 it was $25 million, almost a third of the university's total research revenue.

The largest single source continues to be the federal research granting councils, which this year provided $23.5 million, most of it from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council. Industry provided $5.7 million in grants and $8.1 million in contracts. A myriad of other sources, in government, foundations and elsewhere, accounted for the rest of the money spent on "sponsored research" at Waterloo.

The department with the most grant income was computer science, at $6.6 million, followed by chemistry at $6.0 million. Electrical and computer engineering and mechanical engineering each accounted for $4.5 million.

CS also had more contract revenue than any other department, with $3.7 million. E&CE was next with $3.3 million, followed by mechanical with $2.7 million and earth sciences with $2.6 million.

The faculty of science had a total of $30.5 million in research funding; engineering $26.5 million; and mathematics $15.9 million. Figures for the other faculties: applied health sciences, $5.3 million; arts, $3.2 million; environmental studies, $2.0 million.

All these research funds are administered by the UW office of research, headed by a vice-president. Research funding does not appear in the university's operating budget and can only be spent for research work. Usually that means equipment, supplies, technicians' salaries, and stipends for student assistants. In a few cases, as with some of the government programs, money for a faculty member's salary is also provided as part of a grant.

University leaders meet in Japan

Twelve Canadian university presidents and vice-presidents -- including Paul Guild, vice-president (university research) at UW -- met their counterparts at the Canadian Embassy in the Japanese capital. The event was part of the embassy's current "Think Canada" campaign to translate the positive image that Japanese have of Canada into cultural and economic opportunities for both countries.

The conference was chaired by Lorna Marsden of Canada's York University and Yoshiyuki Naito, president of the Tokyo Institute of Technology. Susan Bigelow of York, who attended the conference, reported in York's Gazette:

The meeting came during a period of economic deflation in Japan and intense political speculation about the ability of new Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to steer the country through the next phase of economic and political reform. Education reform in Japan is perceived as key to fostering the creative thinking required to transform the economy. But there is staunch resistance among bureaucrats and conservative politicians to reforms that put greater responsibility and accountability in the hands of ministers.

The meeting assessed the demands on educational institutions in the 21st century. Participants agreed that progress had been made in internationalizing the university, but more work was needed to standardize course credit systems and smooth the way for deeper international exchanges among students, faculty and management.

"Canada is a pluralistic, multinational society and has achieved a great deal, in spite of, and also because of this, and I am deeply impressed," said Mineo Nakajima, president of the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. Nakajima said Japan is committed to broadening the international intellectual contribution at its universities, with an emphasis on developing strong graduate programs and improving the mastery of technical and language skills. "What good is an expert on Shakespeare who can't speak English," he said, adding that information technology and distance education would assume increasing importance in the university of the future.

The meeting allowed university presidents to directly assess where joint opportunities lie in helping them shape their institutions to meet the demands of postsecondary education in a global environment. Japanese participants were particularly interested in how Canadian institutions have fared in a climate of reduced public funding, as they themselves face a broad range of system reforms, from the privatization of national universities, to an increased emphasis on private-sector partnering in research.

Nakajima said Japan would be changing its semester system (Apr-Jan) to a western model (Sep-Apr) to allow smoother exchanges with North American universities, and is considering a new entrance examination for international students that can be written anywhere in the world. He noted that Japan was beginning to break down the barriers between its publicly funded universities, particularly the prestigious 99 national universities, and the 457 private institutions.

Geometers gather at UW today through Wednesday for this year's Canadian Conference on Computational Geometry. About 80 participants from around the world are expected, says Therese Biedl of the department of computer science. Conference sessions will be held in the Davis Centre.

A little more of this and that

UW libraries will also have limited hours for the rest of August, and until September 9. Both the Dana Porter and Davis Centre libraries will be open Monday to Friday 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday and Sunday noon to 6 p.m. (It's the first time in recent years that the libraries have been open on weekends during the between-terms period.)

Electrical power will be shut off in South Campus Hall from 6 to 7 a.m. tomorrow, as power connections are installed for the new co-op and career services building. Result: people in SCH are advised that computer equipment "should be shut down in an orderly fashion" as they leave tonight.

An invitation from the local Volunteer Action Centre: "Childcare volunteers with K-W Crisis Pregnancy Centre spend time playing with young children while their mothers are in a parent support group. Activities include music, finger plays and storytelling. The emphasis of this program is Christian and Biblical. The assistance of volunteers who enjoy spending time with children and are available Wednesday mornings from 9 a.m. to noon is greatly appreciated. The program is located on Westheights Drive in Kitchener, between Highland and Queen Streets." More information is available from the VAC at 742-8610.

CAR

Editor of the Daily Bulletin: Chris Redmond
Information and Public Affairs, University of Waterloo
credmond@uwaterloo.ca | (519) 888-4567 ext. 3004
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