Research universities promote the social sciences and humanities
A network of global research universities, including the U15 Group of Canadian Research Universities, has come together to discuss the important role of the SSH in tackling the world’s most pressing challenges. The initiative, kickstarted by the League of European Research Universities (LERU), calls for an expanded role for the social sciences and humanities in tackling problems through interdisciplinary research.
Humanities degrees provide great return on investment
According to an article by Jeffrey Dorfman in Forbes, undergraduate humanities majors will see 300% to 700% returns on their education investment over the course of their lifetimes, varying by field of study. Using data collected by PayScale.com, the author makes the case for the humanities BA as a sound financial investment. Extra earnings over the course of a lifetime were highest for philosophy majors.
Humanities students less vulnerable to job-market booms and busts
A study released by the Education Policy Research Initiative at the University of Ottawa shows strong and positive labour market earning patterns for University of Ottawa graduates from 1998 through to 2011, for all areas of study. In her coverage of the report in The Globe and Mail, Simona Chiose highlights the report’s finding that students in the humanities and social sciences have more stable career earnings than their peers in other disciplines, such as computer science. She also makes note of the income disparity between men and women in fields such as computer science and engineering.
Official launch of the Federation’s Impact report now available on video
The Federation’s Impact report, a policy initiative to establish metrics for measuring the impact of social science and humanities research beyond the confines of the university, was officially launched in French on October 6, 2014 at Concordia University in Montreal. The launch took place as part of a colloquium organized by Fonds de recherche du Québec. The launch panel featuring Federation Executive Director Jean-Marc Mangin and Board Member Lyne Sauvageau can now be viewed online.
Other interesting news stories:
Ottawa gives $15M boost to college research (Winnipeg Free Press)
Canadian Employers Need to Prepare and Plan for Changing Business and Workforce Landscape (The Conference Board of Canada)
Where the Time Goes (a closer look at PhD completion times, Inside Higher Ed)
Library and Archives buried under 98,000-box backlog, AG finds (iPolitics)