The second Senate meeting (Feb 28th) of the year occurred later in the month compared to usual meetings because of reading week. There weren’t too many decisions but there was some intriguing discussions that I’d like to share with you.
1) Waterloo Works, the system being designed for the past 4 years to replace our current JobMine system has been completely scrapped. Provost Geoff McBoyle cited major issues with usability and scalability while indicating that a lot had been learned from the letdown that Waterloo Works shutdown brought. He gave an insightful breakdown of costs associated with the program, $500 000 spent on IT infrastructure, $1 000 000 spent on co-op students, and another $1 200 000 spent on full time salaries associated with the project. None of the employed personnel were fired or laid-off, they were simply relocated into other IT groups. The situation appears to be extremely fluid, and few details have emerged thus far, however the Provost has stated he will follow up with more details and a subsequent course of action going forward. Student senators stressed that this let down was a considerable blow to the expectations of having Jobmine replaced with a system much more versatile in the near future. For the short term, Jobmine will be upgraded on the backend as it is now out of its service lifetime. My best optimistic guess for when an appropriate (read: better) replacement may be ready is 2 to 3 years – I challenge the administration to prove me wrong on the shorter side ;).
2) Student senators have met with the Registrar’s office and members of the Communications and Public Affairs group to continue input and discussion on the evolution of UWaterloo’s diploma. The guiding principles have been laid out, and it pleases me to inform you that the Registrar (Ken Lavigne) has been extremely supportive of maintaining a highly transparent and inclusive process. If students decide we like the current diploma and don’t want a new one, he is not bent set on changing it. An email is planning on being sent out to all UW students, showing them the current diploma and asking some simple questions regarding what you would like to see in a potentially new diploma, and what you like/dislike about the current one.
3) Lastly, the President of UW, Feridun Hamdullahpur reported that national Canadian Student Loan delinquency rates in Canada have risen and now sit at 13%. This is concerning for two reasons, firstly it means students are not getting enough wealth creating value out of their education (or are spending too much). Secondly it means that loans to students could become harder to get and more expensive as banks and other agencies attempt to adjust for the increased risk. There is a total of $100+ million injection needed into the Student Loans program to shore up the ‘extra’ (above average) delinquencies. On the bright side, UWaterloo’s delinquency rate is ~2%, so we’re well ahead of the game!
4) I’d like to congratulate Ben Selby, Engineering Senator-Elect for putting up a great campaign and soliciting the greatest number of votes! His very capable hands will be taking over when my 2 year term ends on April 31st, 2011.
Feel free to email me at senate@engmail. Good luck on the final stretch of the term!
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