Saturday, 14 September 2019

Campus Corner

     Image result for "western university"
     Here are a couple of university-related items I will attempt to post quickly before the sun shines.

1. Retirement Communities on College Campuses

     You are correct, I have mentioned this subject before, but will do so again because there is a good article about one of the latest examples which will soon be found on the campus of Purchase College (SUNY). Why colleges would be interested in old codgers and why retirees would be interested in roosting on a campus are questions answered in the article and in my earlier posts. Among them:

"Purchase is one of a growing number of colleges sponsoring retirement communities on campus or thinking about it. It is a marketer’s dream, monetizing spare land, while milking the baby boom generation’s affluence by appealing to their obsession with staying forever young."

"The schools say their motive is more educational and social — encouraging intergenerational mixing — than financial. But the communities promise a new revenue stream for institutions that are coping with reduced state operating support and declining college enrollment in many parts of the country. They are bringing a new generation (or old generation) to campus to fill classes, eat in dining halls, attend student performances and become mentors."

     Among the other schools mentioned are Arizona State and Lasell University near Boston.  If you look at my old post you will see examples ranging from Cornell and Dartmouth to the University of Florida and the University of Michigan. Additional articles and Canadian sources are also provided. In short, if this subject is of interest see:

Sources:
"At Colleges, What's Old Is New: Retirees Living on Campus," Anemona Hartocollis, New York Times, Sept. 10, 2019.
To learn more about the Purchase College example see "Broadview - Senior Living at Purchase College.

2. Not A Touching Moment at Western

     You may recall that I posted about HEADLINES and how they can be misconstrued if not clearly written. The one that follows is fairly clear, but some readers could understand it to mean that London police were summoned because finally something less than crass happened on campus: "London Police Investigate Touching Incident."London Free Press, Sept. 8, 2019.

3. University Rankings

     The latest Times Higher Education rankings were released and there were many headlines such as this one in the Canadian papers: "Top Canadian Universities Rise in Global Rankings," The Globe and Mail, Sept. 11, 2019. There were many additional headlines issuing from those campuses that did well. Unfortunately Western did not. 
     Credit should be given to Western, however, since it was noted in a campus publication that the university had dropped out of the Top 200. Usually in such cases, universities only note the good news.
See: "THE [Times Higher Education] Reveals World University Rankings," Jason Winders. Western News, Sept. 13, 2019.

Post Script:
     There has been a lot of news from Hong Kong lately, but I have not seen any mention of the Ivey Business School Asia, which is located there. The times appear to be a bit rough for universities offering graduate business programs and surely the disruption there cannot be good for the School. I have seen no mention of it on the Ivey or Western websites. Years ago the local paper would have picked up on such a story, but, like most communities, we no longer have one. 

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