Tag: higher education

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Beyond strikes: next steps for anti-tuition hike mobilization

Hundreds of students marched against the tuition hikes on March 13 during Concordia's strike week from March 11-15. Photo by Joel Louiseize / The Concordian

In lieu of picketing, Concordia students organize demonstrations and events to mobilize students.

From March 11 through 15, Concordia saw 30,000 students across departments on strike. No strikes have continued past that week and no further strikes are being organized by Member Associations (MAs) at Concordia. However, mobilization in support of paid internships, anti-austerity actions and the ongoing strike of the teaching assistants at the Association of Graduate Students Employed at McGill (AGSEM) is still going strong.

Though the strikes are over, support for accessible and affordable education remains important to many students. Despite the lack of further strike action, those who have helped with the mobilization against tuition hikes are maintaining their support for common financial issues facing students.

The Coalition de Résistance pour l’Unité Étudiante Syndicale [Resistance Coalition for the United Student Union] (CRUES) is one key group organizing mobilization in support of students. CRUES aims to unite students across educational institutions to tackle issues faced by students.

At 12:00 p.m. on Friday, March 29, the student body at CÉGEP de Rimouski organized a demonstration against unpaid internships at the Émilie Gamlin Park. CRUES and the Social Sciences Student Association at Laval University have also expressed support for their own students’ access to paid internships. 

The momentum behind such rebuttals against internship conditions has been carried over from past student strikes in Montreal, like the 2019 and 2022 strikes at UQAM demanding internship remunerations. 

Jasper Cobb, an upper-year geography student at Concordia who helped organize picketing during the recent strike week, spoke to the importance of solidarity.

“It all boils down to austerity measures and capitalism, whether that’s making students pay insane amounts of money for tuition or doing unpaid labour,” they said. 

This sentiment was echoed by Mowat Tokonitz, a first-year urban planning student, who pointed out that increased tuition rates are “going to affect everyone’s university experience.”

While the complete extent of service cuts at Concordia is unclear, the university is already anticipating cuts on certain services such as Adobe. Last November, Concordia spokesperson Vannina Maestracci said in an interview that the university “was looking into what the total effects of the tuition increase will be on smaller programs like creative arts,” since the majority of its students come from outside the province.

Despite the dedication of those involved in mobilization, there are no further strikes planned at Concordia. “When the strike ended, we had a long talk and came to the conclusion that we don’t really have the capacity to extend the strike or have another strike this semester,” said Cobb. 

In lieu of picket lines, students have organized a demonstration on April 10 with a student mixer afterward, as well as a “DJs Against Austerity” event on May 2 at Reggies bar.

Further mobilization efforts will be planned over the summer, with further emphasis on anti-strike action being ingrained into next fall’s frosh events.

There are several opportunities for those willing to get involved in collective mobilization. Cobb and Tokonitz suggested that students reach out directly to their Instagram account (@tuitionstrikes) for general information.

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Rethinking our approach to learning

Graphic by Carleen Loney @shloneys

Higher education should be a blessing, not a curse. 

Learning often doesn’t feel as meaningful as it should. I am often frustrated by how easily my attention slips away from my academics and how little I retain after hours of class time. The reality for many students is a daily cycle of cramming information and then regurgitating it, only to forget or never fully understand said information. 

Because of the sheer volume of material we’re given to consume, we’re often unable to give it the attention and interest it deserves. Stress levels are ridiculously high with no time to breathe and sit with what we’re being taught. So many students are constantly in a frenzy, struggling to keep up with what is required of them to achieve high results. They aren’t enjoying their education, only doing their best to survive it. 

We’re in dire need of solutions. One such solution is creative teaching methods that emphasize genuine engagement. I spoke to Professor Norman Cornett, a former McGill professor who realized that the standard approach to learning was having a destructive effect on his students. These students were suffering, and falling through the cracks of a system that only pushed them down farther. 

Upon this realization, Cornett adopted what he refers to as the “dialogic” method, a method that spotlights engaging dialogue about educational material by encouraging stream-of-consciousness thought and unfiltered opinion. He allowed students to share uninhibited responses to works and invited creators to engage with these reactions, thus forming a dialogue between student and material.

This was often achieved through creative practices (such as making students listen to a symphony in the dark, to name one example) that sought to emphasize the individual needs and interests of the students, and to present material in a way that wasn’t the typical “read and regurgitate” practice. “Imagination represents one of the foremost assets human beings innately possess,” said Cornett. “To realize its full potential, higher education must therefore harness the imagination as an essential dynamic of learning.” 

But beyond professors reconsidering their own teaching methods, what can be done by students who are at the mercy of educational structures? Change is slow, and we’re subjected to degree requirements and rigorous curriculums. A few solutions can help you maximize your experience. 

Choosing courses whose content reflects your own interests whenever possible, as well as engaging more with professors and seeking out instructors that present material in a way that works for you, are just some of these solutions.

It’s also helpful to consider alternatives or supplements to higher education entirely. A degree doesn’t need to be the emblem of success—we’ve all seen those lists of successful figures who never graduated. The knowledge that comes from non-curricular books, interpersonal learning, and life experiences like traveling can be just as (if not more) valuable. I’m not saying you should drop out when school gets tough, only consider all the possibilities in your life’s trajectory.

It has already been said by many that the education system is deeply flawed. Students need more time to breathe and more space to actually absorb what is being taught. More than that, they need to be engaged more deeply with the material. This will require imaginative solutions, and the willingness to accept that learning could be so much more. 

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You do deserve to be here: Battling imposter phenomenon in university

Concordia counsellor hosts workshop on imposter phenomenon for students.

“I’m not supposed to be in this program.” “The selection committee must’ve made a mistake.” “I’m fooling everyone around me into thinking I know what I’m doing: that won’t last.”

These kinds of thoughts are typical of imposter phenomenon and all too common in university students, according to Camila Velez, Concordia wellness counsellor and psychotherapist. 

Imposter phenomenon is the belief that people falsely think you are more competent than you really are. It is accompanied by anxiety that you will be found out and exposed as a fraud. 

On April 6, Velez hosted a workshop exploring imposter phenomenon and how to deal with it.

Even though it is more commonly known as imposter syndrome, Velez prefers the term “phenomenon.”

“I think it really reflects the spectrum of imposter phenomenon,” she said. “How it’s multi-dimensional, and how it’s often influenced by external factors, not within the individual.” These factors include competitive environments or systemic barriers that can affect marginalized communities.

During the workshop, Velez explained that women and people of colour are more likely to experience imposter phenomenon. 

According to Velez, university structures are especially prone to contribute to students experiencing imposter phenomenon. Constant evaluations, feedback, new challenges, and the fear of failure contribute to students feeling incompetent. 

“Most of us experience those feelings, but we don’t share them [with others],” said Velez. “That’s also something that can be quite isolating as a university student.” 

During the workshop, Velez offered students an evaluation tool and several strategies to cope with imposter phenomenon. She advised students to normalize their feelings, to treat themselves with self-compassion, to practice a growth mindset and to say positive affirmations. 

Velez also warned against the culture that encourages students to let their mental health take the back seat. 

“We see our value tied to productivity, tied to achievements,” she said, “and we often neglect our mental health, our self-care. We neglect treating ourselves as human beings before students.”

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Quebec announces new Observatory on the well-being and mental health of students in higher education

Graphic by @sundaeghost

Concordia’s involvement in the project remains uncertain

On Tuesday Feb. 21, Pascale Déry, Quebec Minister of Higher Education, announced the creation of an Observatory to research student mental health in higher education. The Observatory will partner with researchers and students in various disciplines. Quebec will  invest $2.8 million over five years in the interdisciplinary project. The Observatory is part of the government’s Plan d’action sur la santé mentale étudiante en enseignement supérieur 2021-2026 (action plan for student mental health in higher education).

The research project will be co-directed by researchers from the Cégep de Jonquière and Université de Sherbrooke. The Observatory’s mandate will assess and monitor the state of mental health in higher education on a large scale. It will also link research to practice in the field by guiding educational institutions in the implementation of their mental health policies.

Scientific director of the Fonds de recherche du Québec en Santé, Carole Jabet, pointed out that the findings on the mental health of students were worrisome.

“We have talked about the pandemic, a health crisis that has affected all of us, but especially our students, and all this has definitely accentuated the problems of physical and mental health,” she said.

Jabet added that the Observatory wished to meet a great diversity of needs since any student in higher education is at risk of suffering from mental health issues.

“There is no correlation between mental health and the discipline in which one studies, the institution where one studies,” said Jabet. “Every young adult around us is likely to suffer from mental health issues.”

One of the cross-cutting objectives of the Observatory will be to train members of the student population to become mental health professionals. This idea fits in with one of the main goals of the Observatory, which is to decompartmentalize mental health research.

Neuroscience researcher Rémi Quirion said that despite the frequency of mental illnesses, they remain stigmatized.

“Mental illnesses are not rare. We estimate it touches 20 per cent, and in the student population it’s even 25 per cent,” said Quirion. “If you look around the room, one out of four people around you will suffer from a mental illness in their life.”

Concordia spokesperson Vannina Maestracci said that the involvement of the University in this project is still to be decided.
“Concordia would certainly be willing to be involved but it is too early to say in what role,” said Maestracci in an email to The Concordian.

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The means to an end

Photo by Madelayne Hajek

Photo by Madelayne Hajek

Quebec’s long-awaited summit on higher education came to a largely inconclusive end last Tuesday as students returned to flooding the streets in protest.

The two-day conference, intended to address unresolved and lingering issues from the student movement last spring, left a bitter taste in many student leaders’ mouths.

The Parti Québécois proposed an indexation of tuition fees by roughly three per cent annually for an indefinite amount of years much to the outrage of Fédération étudiante universitaire du Québec President Martine Desjardins.

The indexation, compared to former Premier Jean Charest’s proposal of $325 per year over a five-year period, hit a sore point for both university rectors and student leaders. Those governing universities feel it will only delve Quebec post-secondary education deeper into financial despair, while Desjardins cried foul on not providing accessible education.

“I’m telling you there will be an impact,” said Desjardins, who called the proposal “disappointing.”

However, Premier Pauline Marois simply stated that her hands are tied and that “a decision had to be made,” so she made one.

A new council

The summit, while still contentious in its final outcome, did shed some light on other issues concerning university governance and financing.

A formal council will be created to supervise and review the governance and financial management of universities. Minister of Higher Education Pierre Duchesne promised the Conseil national des universitiés would improve the efficiency of the universities while remaining independent and largely for consultation. However, details remain under wraps for now.

Investments and cuts

The provincial government also announced several investments including additional positions for staff. Additional employment will involve an extra 1,000 support staff, 2,000 teaching assistants and 1,000 professors.

Starting in 2014, Marois also promised that the provincial government would pump $1.7 billion into universities over seven years. The PQ stated that approximately $15 million would be invested into special projects between universities and CEGEPs.

However, universities will still suffer a loss of $250 million in funding cuts for the next two years — a decision that has become a source of stress for rectors who say Quebec’s institutions are already underfunded, overwhelmed and strapped for the future.

What’s next for Concordia?

According to a statement released by university president Alan Shepard, a main concern for Concordia is the slash to university funding over the next year including a shortfall of $26.4 million. Shepard emphasized that the cut put the university in a tight spot and forced administration to “make some difficult decisions.”

In an interview with The Concordian, Shepard said that what concerns him the most is ensuring that Concordia remains competitive and does not become a second-tier university despite the budget cuts.

“We want to provide a nationally competitive education,” said Shepard. “This can’t be done on the cheap.”

Shepard said that a two-day summit led him to a “complex reaction” because it was so intense. While Shepard said he was happy with some aspects of the summit, he added that two days doesn’t provide enough time to discuss the policy of higher education in Quebec.

“You can’t expect to get to the heart of the matter,” said Shepard. “No one walked away feeling like they won the lottery.”

Shepard added that while he believed the summit was well organized, there is still a much larger discussion to be had and that a plethora of issues were not addressed including e-learning and attracting older students who want to reshape their skills.

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