Hey Everyone,
I hope you’ve had a great 2.5 weeks back. Things have been busy the for past 5 months on the VP-Education front. I’ll do my best in this article to catch you up on the important issues. I wanted to mention 3 main goals of mine for this term (out of my total of 12 goals).
My first goal is to ensure that the faculty Vision 2015 Plan serves the interest of undergraduate students by actively participating in the Undergraduate Planning Committee. My second goal is to investigate the issue of differential course fees for part-time engineering students taking courses in other faculties (i.e. paying ~$1000 for CSEs taken in other faculties during work terms). My third goal is to work with CECS to make short-term improvements to Jobmine while creating a long term plan at the same time. The other EngSoc Executives and I published our goals for the term about a week and a half ago. You can find them all on our website (“Engineering Society A Goals S11.pdf” on engsoc.uwaterloo.ca/society-documents).
There has been a lot going on in terms of co-op over the last few months. The Waterloo Works project was cancelled, Vision 2015 has been ramping up, and CECS has started to address concerns regarding unpaid work terms. After the cancellation of Waterloo Works, it became apparent that some resources would need to be devoted to addressing shortcomings in Jobmine. CECS is undertaking an investigation to determine which improvements are feasible to implement and to prioritize them. CECS is also looking to support student made add-ons for Jobmine, and they are doing this by piloting the initiative with one add-on this term (Jobmine Plus). This will enable CECS to better understand how to manage these add-ons in the future.
Furthermore, our engineering specific co-op department (CEPA) has been developing its plan for Vision 2015. Two things CEPA is looking to include is the possible introduction of an 8 month work term later in the degree. Department chairs have expressed interest in this and an investigation in feasibility will be done over the next while. Furthermore, CEPA is investigating returning to a norm that used to be present in the faculty in the early 90’s (and before). Back then, it was the norm for first year students to return to their first employer for their second work term. This enabled employers to give younger students more technical jobs since employers could be sure it was worth their time to train them. CEPA believes that returning to this norm would help alleviate the problems younger students are having in getting jobs for their first work term. I am looking for input on this issue, and a forum post has been created where students can comment (engsoc.uwaterloo.ca/coop-norm).
The last item on the go is seeking alternative remuneration for students working unpaid jobs. It is an accreditation requirement for CECS that their co-op students are paid. CECS will be speaking to employers to suggest alternative ways to remunerate students for their contributions.
There will be an interview skills workshop happening tomorrow (May 19th) from 5:30 – 7:30 pm. The room is expected to be CPH 3607 (to be confirmed). Come on out and learn some interview tips and tricks from upper year students!
Vision 2015 is well into the planning stages and draft plans should start to come out soon. I was chosen as the A-Soc student member on the Undergraduate Planning Committee (UPC) for the faculty. This committee’s role is to discuss and make recommendations on issues regarding undergraduate students. So far, we have focused on teaching issues and the student experience. If you are interested in these issues, please don’t hesitate to speak with me.
The faculty is working with the Alumni Network to create a portal website where they may mentor students. This is progressing along quickly, and the launch is planned for September. The website is at a stage now where it needs beta testers to ensure it will function efficiently and meet the needs of stakeholders. 500 P**5 points will be awarded to beta testers, so email me to sign up!
Lastly, I wanted to mention a few small things: the first Academic Rep Meeting of the term is today, May 18th, from 5:30 – 7:00 pm, and the others are on June 1st and July 13th. Resume Critiques happened last week on Tuesday and Thursday; there was a great turnout with over 150 students showing up on Thursday. EngSoc has a new service called Scholarship Bank where you can find a list of external scholarships all in one place (Check it out: engsoc.uwaterloo.ca/scholarships)! Thanks to my Scholarship Director Angela Stewart for her time and effort in setting this up! The May Senate Undergraduate Council meeting happened on May 10th. However, there was nothing of consequence to engineering students that was discussed. There hasn’t been a WatPD Engineering Curriculum Committee meeting yet this term, but I should have more to tell you about this in the next issue.
As always if you have any questions, concerns or feedback, please don’t hesitate to fire me an email! asoc_vpedu@engmail.uwaterloo.ca
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