By Robie Liscomb
At its regular meeting on Nov. 5 the UVic Senate approved the establishment of a new MA program in the School of Child and Youth Care. Currently, there are no specific graduate degree programs in child and youth care offered in Canada. For the past 10 years, the UVic School has offered master's and doctoral degrees by special arrangement only. The new degree program was developed in consultation with practitioners, employers, child and youth care graduates and faculty in allied provincial education programs. The program will feature a flexible delivery model using a combination of off-campus and summer institute courses to enable practitioners working in the field to participate, and all courses will be available in a distance education format. The program is designed to be financially self-supporting, with a steady state of 25 students pursuing course work and 25 completing thesis or project work.
Senate also approved revisions to guidelines for participation in international activity prepared by UVic International Liaison Officer Dr. John Schofield. In June this year, the Board of Governors discussed principles against which proposed UVic international activities could be judged in order to determine whether they are appropriate. The board then requested a revision of the existing guidelines, which had been approved by Senate in March 1994, in light of the discussion and in consideration of subsequent expansion of international activities at UVic. The revised guidelines specify criteria upon which to evaluate international initiatives according to the following categories: academic issues, cultural/social issues, ethical issues, legal issues, and financial issues. There was much debate concerning the wording of elements of the section dealing with ethical issues, with senators moving amendments&emdash;one of which was passed&emdash;intended to strengthen the language relating to human rights.
In response to a question from a student senator on steps the University is taking to address large wait lists for courses in some departments, Vice-President Academic and Provost Dr. Penny Codding outlined a list of problems affecting departments across the University caused by the goverment-mandated increase in enrolment of nearly 12 per cent since 1992 accompanied by little or no increase in funding. The list included cuts to labs, the loss of graduate programs due to lack of faculty, the loss of optional specializations in undergraduate programs, increases in class size, the inability to replace faculty members, and long wait lists in several faculties. She pointed out that the University has allocated more than $900,000 this year in sessional funding to help address needs caused by increased enrolments.
Rick Zanatta was elected student senator to replace a student who resigned last summer. He holds a UVic BA in political science and is pursuing a BA in sociology.