The Academic Senate and University Governance in Canada

This study examines the academic senate within the context of university governance in Canada. Data were obtained from a survey of university senate secretaries on senate structure, composition, and operation, and from a survey of senate members on their perceptions of the senate, their role as senate members, and the nature of their work. The study raises concerns over the effectiveness of the senate and suggests a need to review the senate and its role in contemporary university governance within the context of the current Canadian higher education environment.La présente étude examine le sénat académique dans le cadre de la gouvernance des établissements universitaires au Canada. Des données ont été obtenues à partir d'une enquête menée auprès de secrétaires de sénats universitaires sur la structure, la composition et le fonctionnement des sénats ainsi qu'à partir d'une enquête menée auprès de membres de sénats sur leurs perceptions du sénat, leur rôle en tant que membres de ce dernier et la nature de leur travail. Cette étude soulève des préoccupations sur l'efficacité du sénat et propose la nécessité de réexaminer celui-ci ainsi que le rôle qu'il joue dans la gouvernance des établissements universitaires contemporains, etce dans le contexte de l'environnement actuel de l'enseignement supérieur au Canada

Amplitude Reduction and Phase Shifts of Melatonin, Cortisol and Other Circadian Rhythms after a Gradual Advance of Sleep and Light Exposure in Humans

Background: The phase and amplitude of rhythms in physiology and behavior are generated by circadian oscillators and entrained to the 24-h day by exposure to the light-dark cycle and feedback from the sleep-wake cycle. The extent to which the phase and amplitude of multiple rhythms are similarly affected during altered timing of light exposure and the sleepwake cycle has not been fully characterized. Methodology/Principal Findings: We assessed the phase and amplitude of the rhythms of melatonin, core body temperature, cortisol, alertness, performance and sleep after a perturbation of entrainment by a gradual advance of the sleep-wake schedule (10 h in 5 days) and associated light-dark cycle in 14 healthy men. The light-dark cycle consisted either of moderate intensity ‘room ’ light (,90–150 lux) or moderate light supplemented with bright light (,10,000 lux) for 5 to 8 hours following sleep. After the advance of the sleep-wake schedule in moderate light, no significant advance of the melatonin rhythm was observed whereas, after bright light supplementation the phase advance was 8.1 h (SEM 0.7 h). Individual differences in phase shifts correlated across variables. The amplitude of the melatonin rhythm assessed under constant conditions was reduced after moderate light by 54 % (17–94%) and after bright light by 52 % (range 12–84%), as compared to the amplitude at baseline in the presence of a sleep-wake cycle. Individual differences in amplitude reduction of the melatonin rhythm correlated with the amplitude of body temperature, cortisol and alertness

The Academic Senate and University Governance in Canada

This study examines the academic senate within the context of university governance in Canada. Data were obtained from a survey of university senate secretaries on senate structure, composition, and operation, and from a survey of senate members on their perceptions of the senate, their role as senate members, and the nature of their work. The study raises concerns over the effectiveness of the senate and suggests a need to review the senate and its role in contemporary university governance within the context of the current Canadian higher education environment.La présente étude examine le sénat académique dans le cadre de la gouvernance des établissements universitaires au Canada. Des données ont été obtenues à partir d'une enquête menée auprès de secrétaires de sénats universitaires sur la structure, la composition et le fonctionnement des sénats ainsi qu'à partir d'une enquête menée auprès de membres de sénats sur leurs perceptions du sénat, leur rôle en tant que membres de ce dernier et la nature de leur travail. Cette étude soulève des préoccupations sur l'efficacité du sénat et propose la nécessité de réexaminer celui-ci ainsi que le rôle qu'il joue dans la gouvernance des établissements universitaires contemporains, etce dans le contexte de l'environnement actuel de l'enseignement supérieur au Canada

The Political Economy of Post-Secondary Education: A Comparison of British Columbia, Ontario, and Québec

A policy sociology approach is taken to examine the connections between neo-liberalism, post-secondary provincial education (PSE) policy in Canada and the impact of those policies. Our thesis regarding the broad political economy of PSE is that over the last two decades the adoption of this ideology has been a major cause of some dramatic changes in these policies and has brought about a fundamental transformation of PSE in Canada. The discussion builds on a comparative, multiple, nested case study conducted at the provincial (Quebec, Ontario and British Columbia) and national level. Through the analysis of key provincial and federal documents, the team concludes that five themes dominated the PSE policy-making process. These themes are Accessibility, Accountability, Marketization, Labour Force Development and Research and Development. In discussing these themes, we illustrate their impact on and within the three provincial PSE systems: BC, Ontario and Quebec. In the conclusion, we place the changes in their political and economic contexts and explicate the intended and unintended consequences of these policy priorities. We argue that the pressure for access has led to the emergence of new institutional types, raising new questions about differentiation, mandate and identity and new lines of stratification. A trend toward vocationalism in the university sector has coincided with ‘academic drift’ in the community college sector, leading to convergences in programming and institutional functions across the system, as well as competition for resources, students, and external partners. Unprecedented demand has made education a viable industry, sustaining both a proliferation of private providers and a range of new entrepreneurial activities within public institutions. Levels and objectives of public funding have swung dramatically over the period. Public investments in PSE, in the form of capital grants and tuition subsidies, have alternately expanded and contracted, being at some times applied across the board and at others targeted to specific social groups or economic sectors. Likewise, policymakers have treated PSE at times as a mechanism for social inclusion and equality, at others as an instrument for labour force development, and at yet others as a market sector in its own right

Amplitude measures of circadian markers.

<p>Amplitude measures for melatonin (Mel), cortisol (Cort), core body temperature (Temp), alertness (Alert) and performance (Perf) on D2 and the CR separately for the moderate light and bright light treatment group. Melatonin height: pmol/L; Melatonin area under the curve (AUC) nmol/L*min; Melatonin width: h:min. Cortisol measures are in µg/dL, temperature measures in degrees Celsius, Alertness in mm and Performance in number of additions attempted.</p>##<p>p<0.01 CR vs. D2 per treatment group (see text for overall statistical significance for effect of Day (i.e. CR vs. D2). For core body temperature, alertness and performance data were not available (NA) during D2.</p

Timing of circadian phase markers.

<p>Timing [h:min (n;SEM)] of Dim Light Melatonin Onset (DLMO), melatonin-upward, melatonin midpoint, and melatonin downward crossing, cortisol minimum, cortisol maximum, core-body temperature minimum, alertness and performance minimum at baseline (D2) and during the Constant Routine (CR) in the Moderate Light and Bright Light condition. Minima for Alertness and Performance are the minima of the circadian component.</p>###<p>p<0.001: D2 vs. CR;</p>§§<p>: p<0.01;</p>§§§<p>:p<0.001 Moderate Light vs. Bright Light during CR.</p><p>P values were derived from two factor Mixed Model ANOVA for those variables for which estimates were available at Baseline and During the CR or Students t-test for those variables for which estimates were available during the CR only.</p

Examples of amplitude reduction.

<p>The plasma melatonin (filled symbols) and cortisol rhythm (open symbols) during the baseline day and SP2 and the constant routine (Day 9–10) in a bright light (1134) and moderate light (1141) treated subject. In both participants a reduction of the plasma melatonin amplitude as well as changes in the cortisol rhythm can be observed.</p