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Most Don’t Make It, Says Prof

CALGARY (CUP) - If you’re starting your post-secondary education or entering a certifi- cate program, chances are you won't graduate, according toa Mount Royal College Business Administration professor.

Tom Diamond estimates of the approximate 320,000 stu- dents that returned to com- munity colleges last fall, only 30 per cent will graduate. Dia- mond used Statistics Canada reports from 1983 to 1985 to find that less than 50 per cent of all students who enroll in community colleges are des-

_ tined to drop out of their pro- grams.

Diamond’s report, however, does not consider those who return to finish their programs ata later date, or students who transfer to other programs or institutions.

“This report isn’t a real ac- curate report,” says Diamond. “T just wanted to show people getting involved with educa- tion what a problem it can be.”

Diamond sees a need to exa- mine the issue more thorough- ly, and suggests mandatory first-year courses on time man-

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agement, study skills, budget- ing, and handling inter- personal relationships. He also proposes co-operative work programs, which combine school and hands-on experi- ences as solutions to the drop- out problem.

At the university of Prince Edward Island, the registrar’s

office reports that 51 students dropped out between when fall registration was completed on Oct.lst, and Dec.1 1986, just slightly over 1% of the total full-time population. However,

this number does not take into account students switching to part-time studies, and is not seen as significant.

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English department, and in History, a grant was awarded for a study of PEI’s rural so- ciety during the first half of the century.

And the list goes on. Over 44 separate research and devel- opment projects have been awarded funding at UPEI in the past year, a good total for auniversity as small as UPEI. However, the university may see increased difficulties in funding more projects. The federal governmentis the prin- ciple source of grants for R&D at UPEI and general policy has been slowly turning away from funding the smaller uni- versities to concentrating on

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larger research centres. The government’s attitude towards the importance of research overall was demonstrated lately with the cutbacks the

' National Research Council in

Ottawa received. If the agency

‘closest to the government can

be subjected to such cutbacks, a university such as UPEI could possibly suffer more.

The Gem will feature a series of articles focusing on some of the research at UPEI in the next few issues, plus alook ata computer network the univer- sity recently joined linking us with research centres all over North America and Europe.

The Teadeuni

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MUN Recognizes Gays & Lesbians

ST. JOHN’S (CUP) - An association for gay and lesbian

students, faculty and staff of.

,Memorial University has been unamimously ratified by stu- dent council.

Association president Ron Knowling welcomed the unani- mous decision, saying “It shows (council) is concerned about the issues and problems of gay students.”

The Memorial University association was ratified on the condition thata non-student

of the Field and Stream Club» CHARLOTTETOWN’S

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Ladies Night: You could

executive member must be re- placed by a student. New coun. cil by-laws require all execu. tives to bestudents to be eligible for council funding.

Knowling said the associa- tion, which has about 25 members, has a primary goal of education. “We're trying to discourage’ ignorance about

gays and lesbians,” he said.

He said university officials are among those needing to be informed of gay and-lesbian needs.