Russ! How can you be so suspicious?!?
On the other hand, you're right: there were no standards before 2003
because the BC government didn't certify degree-granting institutions. I
was president of the BC Confederation of University Faculty Associations at
the time, so I had a close up view of the creation. The primary motive for
the new standards, I firmly believe, was to enable businesses to sell
certified degrees in markets such as China. The definition of the term
university was particularly contentious (perhaps because that term fetches
the highest price on the Asian market) and the "stringent" standards was
extraordinarily vague, usually turning on words like "appropriate." One of
the first "universities" certified offered only business degrees (though
they presented to add liberal arts degrees later), had faculty that did no
research, and had no meaningful faculty governance. But apparently it did
have appropriate breadth, faculty, and governance to justify the term
university in the opinion of the politically appointed certifying board.
I wonder how many tenure-track faculty FDU will have on its Vancouver campus.
At 06:15 PM 16/08/2007 -0300, you wrote:
>This is amazing. From _New Jersey_ to beautiful BC? Sure looks
>like it:
>
>http://view.fdu.edu/default.aspx?id=4003
>
>On their web site, this gem: "We are the first non-Canadian
>institution to gain approval under the new more stringent
>standards adopted by British Columbia in 2003." Were there
>others before these, um, "more stringent" standards were
>introduced? The whole page, a triumphal note by the FDU
>president, is worth reading. Another sample: "I´m confident
>that we will attract international students from throughout the
>world, many of whom are unable to obtain visas to study in the
>United States, but seek the rigor of an American university
>degree program."
>
>Rigor?
>
>I confess to being alarmed by this: it sure looks like the
>beginning of the Walmartization of postsecondary education to me
>. . .
>
>-- Russ
>
> > This may of interest to some CASLL readers in Metro Vancouver. (I didn't
> > know FDU was opening a branch in Vancouver)
>
>St. Thomas University
>http://www.stu.ca/~hunt/
>
> -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
> To leave the list, send a SIGNOFF CASLL command to
> [log in to unmask] or, if you experience difficulties,
> write to Russ Hunt at [log in to unmask]
>
>For the list archives and information about the organization,
> its newsletter, and the annual conference, go to
> http://www.stu.ca/inkshed/
> -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
To leave the list, send a SIGNOFF CASLL command to
[log in to unmask] or, if you experience difficulties,
write to Russ Hunt at [log in to unmask]
For the list archives and information about the organization,
its newsletter, and the annual conference, go to
http://www.stu.ca/inkshed/
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
