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My Fair Tradey USC calls for Western to go fair trade >> pg. 4
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TUESDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2013
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CANADA’S ONLY DAILY STUDENT NEWSPAPER • FOUNDED 1906
VOLUME 107, ISSUE 30
Stats say int’l efforts divisive Big Purple Couch to Students said int’l teachers hindered learning
become Purple TV Iain Boekhoff NEWS EDITOR
Naira Ahmed GAZETTE
Jeremiah Rodriguez NEWS EDITOR Many universities, including Western, trip over themselves as they fight to brand their schools as hubs of internationalization, but a new report looking directly at how domestic students view their international counterparts seems to show mixed results. One third of students felt that having international students hindered their classroom learning experience, but 64 per cent of respondents also said that they knew international students boosted the prestige of their schools. The report by Higher Education Strategy Associates wanted to delve into the perspectives of domestic students experiencing the increasing internationalization of their campuses, as opposed to how international students adjust to Canadian academic life, which is primarily where research is done. To do so, they surveyed 1,400 students from campuses across Canada. Roughly 30,000 international students are expected to enroll in Ontario universities each year. “Internationalization has been growing since 1992 with the share of international students basically doubling [to 12 per cent] over the past 20 years,” said Jacqueline Lambert, research associate and co-author of the report.
Schools have been hiring more international professors and faculty, so there’s been other ways that domestic students are experiencing international education outside of studying abroad.” — Jacqueline Lambert
report co-author
“Schools have been hiring more international professors and faculty, so there’s been other ways that domestic students are experiencing international education outside of studying abroad or co-ops in universities around the world.” But the inclusion of international professors may be having an adverse effect on the students they’re teaching. Seven out of 10 respondents said that they had an instructor or teaching assistant whose English was difficult to understand, and 32 per cent reported that their instructor’s official language ability negatively affected their ability to be successful in a course. Piling onto the bad news was how four out of 10 domestic students perceived that increased flow of international students created definite competition for campus
jobs. This is in part due to the federal government requiring international students to pay $150 if they want to work off-campus. Lambert said that despite that perception of competition, that view may not be entirely accurate. “The way that Ontario workstudy program has been set up, lots of schools have a separate set of jobs for international students. So to some extent, that perception might not meet the reality of what the on-campus job market is like.” With all that being said, there are definite silver linings listed. Six in 10 students said their perspective on the world was deeply enriched by having international students learning on their campuses and that having them around increased their own curiosity to learn about other cultures. An overwhelming majority of 75 per cent of domestic students said they felt international students were welcome and felt included in their schools. At least 43 per cent said they befriended at least one international student. “I was disappointed to read the results of the survey that were headlined in the [report],” Julie McMullin, Western’s vice-provost international, said. “But, when I read further I was encouraged to learn that many students feel that diversifying university campuses enriches their experiences. This is exactly the point.”
Not sure what Big Purple Couch is? That’s why it’s getting re-branded. At the University Students’ Council meeting last Wednesday, it was announced that BPC will be renamed Purple TV and a promotional campaign will start in January to advertise the change. Jasmine Irwin, vice-president communications for the USC, said the name change was necessary to communicate what BPC is and to reflect the content of the show in its current form. “The re-branding is mostly a name change but we’re also looking to have a name change that reflects the content that has shifted over the last few years. It has been in the past primarily a talk show — the show in its current iteration still has that element but it has a lot more individual reporters, different stories and diverse segments that make up the show now,” Irwin explained. “So ‘big purple couch,’ which was more specifically in reference to the talk show aspect, isn’t as relevant.” Irwin said it was unclear that BPC is a USC television show unless someone had previous knowledge of
it, and many people may miss out on an opportunity to be involved in television and campus media. The show can currently be watched online at bigpurplecouch.ca. “Primarily I think it’s the awareness piece of, unless you are intimately acquainted with BPC it would be hard for a layperson on campus — a first-year student or someone outside the Western community — to understand that it was a television show. Something as simple as a name change could do a lot to help illuminate what a phenomenal opportunity it is for students to participate if they’re interested in television and also how fun it is to watch.” Jessica Liske and Taylor Simmons, coordinators of BPC, concurred with Irwin, and said this new name will help with visibility on campus. “We hope that more people will recognize that we are a talk show and a ‘TV station’ at the university. By having ‘TV’ in the name it’s more clear as to what we’re providing students,” Liske said. Simmons said to expect a launch event and a big presence >> see BPC pg.3
Kelly Samuel GAZETTE