创全国先河 有利专上教育发展 怀大爱德华王子岛大学交换学生
星报通讯社电/多伦多怀雅逊大学(Ryerson University)和爱德华王子岛大学(University of Prince Edward Island，简称UPEI)率加国之先，开展学生交换项目，并希望更多大学加入。教育专家纷纷叫好，称此举将有益加国专上教育的发展。
怀雅逊大学校长列维(Sheldon Levy)和UPEI校长麦洛伦(Wade MacLauchlan)一起，发起这个加国国内的学生交换项目。他们希望，这个交流项目逐渐会吸引各个不同地区，不同语言文化背景的学校参加，最终发展成全加范围的专上学院的交流合作。
当然，这是他们的长期梦想。目前两校间仅作8名3年级学生的交换-他们可在对方学校学习一个学期，而生物、化学、商科、电脑及文科的学分亦获得承认。
21岁怀雅逊生物学生嘉艾美(Amy Clarke)，从小在多伦多生长，已习惯了都市的生活。但她钟情于海洋研究和海洋食品，并有意从事环境科学，因此她觉得她可能会非常喜欢UPEI，并可能留在那里。她还从来没有去过加东。
同样，对于20岁的UPEI历史学生金马伦(Bobby Cameron)来说，能到多伦多学习一个学期，简直是如鱼得水，因为他打算在移民安顿领域工作，多伦多的多元环境实乃不可多得。
学生可从迥异环境获益
列维希望将来数年间，会有数十乃至数百学生都能参加这个计划，在两个学校各完成一半的学位-2年在怀雅逊，2年在UPEI，尤其在城市规划和建筑等方面，因为学生们将从两种迥异的环境中获益。但他更大的目标是，全加范围内能有6、7岁大学结成的联盟，让学生们在各个校园渡过一个学期。
他已悄悄与新斯高沙、魁北克和北安省的大学进行商谈，经希望接洽卑诗省的学校。他说：“我相信创造一个学位，自始就让学生经历加国的不同地区，将有助加国更为强大，增强公民意识。”他表示，许多加国学生在第2、3年级已到海外交流学习，“为何不在自己的国家里交流”？
麦洛伦表示，爱德华王子岛省省会查洛城Charlottetown)是加拿大的发源地，在这里获得真正的加国学位，再好不过，能增强学生对加国的理解。
但是，虽然加国学校与海外学校合作已司空见惯，但两所加国大学在本科课程上这样的交流，尚属罕见。
加拿大学问理事会(Canadian Council on Learning)主席、前加国教育部、厅长理事会(Council of Ministers of Education of Canada)总干事卡邦医生(Dr. Paul Cappon)指出，交流项目在欧洲和美国早已风靡，许多学生在其它学校完成部分学位，以丰富他们的教育经历。他说：“如果这两位校长还将朝更大梦想迈进，真是可喜可贺。”
两校暂互派8名学生交流
两校间的这个试行交流项目名为EDGE(Experiences Diversity Growth Exchange，意为体验，多元，发展，交流)，各方选派8名学生到对方学校渡过秋季学期。一个是每平方公里仅有人口约80人的查洛城，另一个是人口密度50倍于它的多伦多，这批学生出现文化休克现象，也许不足为奇。
该项目的协调员、物理教授韦兰(Bill Whelan)将作为两校共享的教授，穿梭两校授课。他表示，他将努力消除学生转学通常会碰到的瓶颈，并希望为这些学生争取到一些津贴和补助。
加拿大大学教师协会(Canadian Association of University Teachers)执行总监图尔克(Jim Turk)认为，两校有相关的课程，双方教务主任均认可它们的可比性，因此交流的学生不应有教学质素上的担忧。他说：“当然，没个学校都有长处和短处，甚至哈佛和剑桥(他本人在这两所大学都获得学位)。但这是个好主意…我对此感到振奋。”
安省教育学院(Ontario Institute for Studies in Education)教育学教授兼多伦多大学新任的学生活动副校监钱伯斯(Tony Chambers)亦持相同看法。他说：“不论逻辑上还是现实上，这都是一件特大好事…我想其它院校也应进行某种形式的参与。”
Six degrees of education
Undergrads sign up for rare cross-Canada degree
Mar 24, 2007 04:30 AM
Louise Brown
Education Reporter
They’re a bit like Country Mouse and City Mouse, these two Canadian students hoping to trade places for a semester.
Amy Clarke says she’s a “big city girl” who grew up in Toronto. “I’m comfortable downtown,” she shouts over the rumble of the Queen streetcar after biology class at Ryerson University.
Four provinces away, not far from his grandparents’ potato farm, Bobby Cameron crams for history mid-terms at the University of Prince Edward Island and suggests, “You can’t get much more rural than me.”
Both have applied for an unusual exchange program meant to build bridges between two very different universities – and offer a sense of Canada to boot.
In time, it is hoped this two-way swap will grow into a full Maple Leaf Major; a sort of academic railroad with stops in the worlds of Corner Gas and Corner Brook, the wild west and the northern wilderness, French Canada and little India.
That’s the long-term dream of Ryerson President Sheldon Levy, who came up with this “in-Canada exchange” with friend Wade MacLauchlan, president of UPEI.
For now, the two schools are starting small, with eight third-year students from each school swapping campuses for a semester as they earn credits in biology, chemistry, business, computer science and arts.
“I’m so enticed by the idea of ocean studies and hands-on labs in things like `food from the sea’ – I’m leaning towards environmental science, so maybe I’ll like it so much, I’ll stay!” says Clarke, 21, who has never been out east.
“Of course, another attraction is being able to talk long walks along the beach.”
For Cameron, who plans to work in the field of immigration settlement, coming to Toronto for a term would be a gift-wrapped peek at the world he hopes to work in.
“Prince Edward Island is not that diverse. It has the average white makeup of population. So the biggest difference I expect will be all the different languages in Toronto and different religions and ethnic backgrounds and overt signs of poverty, like homeless people, that we don’t really see in Charlottetown,” says Cameron, 20.
Levy would like to see dozens, even hundreds of students in the next few years spend up to half their degree on each campus – two years at Ryerson, two years at UPEI – particularly in programs like urban planning and architecture where students would benefit directly from two contrasting settings.
But one day, he’d like to see six or seven universities from coast to coast build what he calls a “truly Canadian degree in the spirit of Confederation;” a joint program where students would spend semesters on many campuses.
He has begun talking quietly to universities in Nova Scotia, Quebec and northern Ontario, and hopes to approach schools in British Columbia.
“I do believe that to construct a degree designed from the start to let students experience different parts of the country would build a stronger Canada and contribute to good citizenship,” said Levy.
“A lot of Canadian students already study abroad during second or third year – but why not do it in your own country?” Levy asks.
And why not make it easy?
“We’re the birthplace of Canada here in Charlottetown,” boasts MacLauchlan. “What better place to start putting together a real Canadian degree and give students the kind of understanding of this country that Canada needs?”
It’s unusual for two Canadian universities to work together on an undergraduate program this way, although partnerships with schools overseas is common, and community colleges offer more and more joint programs with universities.
Yet exchange programs are all the rage in Europe and the U.S., where many students expect to take part of their degree on another campus as a way to enrich their education, says physician Dr. Paul Cappon, president of the Canadian Council on Learning and former director-general of the Council of Ministers of Education of Canada.
“If these two presidents want to dream even bigger, that’s commendable.”
Under the pilot project this fall, called EDGE (Experiences Diversity Growth Exchange), eight Ryerson students in programs from business to arts will switch to UPEI for the fall semester and continue their studies on the scenic Charlottetown campus.
Likewise, eight senior UPEI students will move to Ryerson for the term to study in downtown Toronto – just steps from the Yonge St. strip, Eaton Centre and the gay village – and experience moving from a city of roughly 80 people per square kilometre to a throbbing metropolis 50 times as dense.
Physics professor Bill Whelan, co-ordinator of the program, knows about back and forth: he works for both universities as a shared professor. He’s tried to eliminate the red tape a student might encounter in switching schools. Tuition is paid at their home university and credits will be fully transferable. He’s hoping to arrange a stipend of $1,150 for each student through a research job on campus, and possibly a $750 bursary.
