News
Read the latest news in BC post-secondary education.
Election campaigns shine a light on training
BC’s provincial election campaign may only be days old, but skills training and post-secondary education have quickly emerged as priority issues. Both of the major parties—the BC Liberals and the BC NDP—have released platform information on where they intend to put resources and policy change to work to improve conditions when it comes to skills…
International Women’s Day 2013
On March 8, we mark International Women’s Day. It’s a moment of both reflection and solidarity. Yes, what women have been able to achieve in terms of equality needs to be celebrated, but not as a static point. Truthfully, it’s simply one step on a long march to real equality. It’s also important to remember…
Unbelievable, but not in a good way
Post-Secondary Education loses more ground in 2013 BC Budget VICTORIA: —“The Minister of Finance has acknowledged what just about every reporter in the budget lock-up is saying,” said George Davison, Secretary Treasurer of the Federation of Post-Secondary Educators, “his government’s credibility on budget issues is in terrible shape and this budget does little to change…
FPSE supports students’ plan to “Get Out The Vote”
Speaking before an assembly of post-secondary student activists drawn from across BC, Cindy Oliver, President of the Federation of Post-Secondary Educators, applauded plans by the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) to organize a massive voter registration campaign targeting post-secondary students in advance of the May 2013 provincial election. “Voter turnout is going to be a…
ITA funding raises governance questions
Since its inception in 2003, the Industry Training Authority (ITA) has been a source of great concern for many. Advanced by BC’s employer lobbyists as a so-called “new model” for trades training and apprenticeships in BC, the ITA began by reversing many of the practices put in place by its predecessor, the Industry Training and…
"Why I’m supporting Jim Sinclair and Irene Lanzinger": FPSE President Cindy Oliver
Next week, over 2,000 delegates will gather in Vancouver for the 55th Constitutional Convention of the BC Federation of Labour. Like every BC Fed Convention, this one will give union activists the opportunity to debate the critical issues facing the labour movement in BC. As well, it will provide a forum for delegates to assess…
Minister’s “Tone it down” attitude doesn’t square with public’s priorities for post-secondary education
“If the Minister were tracking the same polling information that we are, I’m not sure he would be telling people to tone it down,” said Cindy Oliver, President of the Federation of Post-Secondary Educators. Oliver was referring to a letter sent by Advanced Education Minister John Yap to the Leader of the Official Opposition, Adrian…
New skills announcement offers more questions than answers
Premier Clark has spent much of the last year focusing on a jobs strategy. When she first launched that initiative in September of last year, it was difficult to sort out what was truly new in her government’s strategy. In a number of announcements, for example, she was either ribbon-cutting something that was already in…
Minister Yap, we need to talk
Faculty and staff from across BC’s public post-secondary education system call on new Minister to convene a summit to deal with the funding crunch at colleges, universities and institutes. The representatives of close to 30,000 faculty and staff who work and teach in BC’s colleges, universities and institutes along with the representatives of BC’s post-secondary…
Labour Day 2012
Monday marks a special day across Canada. Many think of it as the last weekend of summer, the last day before the start of the Fall semester in our post-secondary institutions or the start of school for kids in K-12. But Monday is far more important than that. It’s Labour Day, a time to pause…