News from the social sciences and humanities: OECD, copyright and comic book heroes

Blog
June 21, 2012

Milena Stanoeva
Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences

In its latest Economic Survey of Canada, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) outlined several recommendations for Canada to boost innovation and improve the quality and accessibility of higher education. Margin Notes has a brief summary of the OECD’s recommendations, including reducing financial barriers for low-income students and encouraging differentiation between institutions focusing on teaching and those that engage in research.

Bill C-11, the Copyright Modernization Act, passed in the House of Commons this week. Michael Geist summarized how thousands of Canadians worked to shape copyright legislation over the past few years. CFHSS was part of this effort, writing submissions and appearing before the House of Commons legislative committee to discuss recommendations. These efforts clearly paid off – CFHSS is pleased that fair dealing has been expanded to include education purposes, while also cautious about the stringent digital locks provisions that appeared in the final iteration of the bill. 

Simon Fraser University launched its new strategic vision this week, with a greater emphasis on community engagement and campus-community collaboration. The statement also includes SFU’s commitment to student engagement and knowledge mobilization.

Check out Memorial University’s first volume of Illustrating Memorial: The League of Extraordinary Researchers, which features MUN researchers as comic book heroes.