Students happy with degrees, survey says

Statistics Canada releases new figures

BY MICHAEL MAINVILLE (CUP) INITIAL RESULTS FROM A STATISTICS Canada survey indicate that Canadian university graduates seem reasonably satisfied with their education.

StatsCan is currently analyzing data from a 1992 survey of nineties university graduates, which will be released in its entirety next fall.

Part of the survey asked around 53,000 graduates across Canada about their level of satisfaction with teaching, class size and preparation for future careers. The rest of the survey has to do with their employment histories since graduation.

“| would say students are reasonably satisfied with the skills they are learning,” said Doug Lynd, chief of post-secondary education studies at Statistics Canada. He says the central focus of the survey is students’ transition from university to the job market.

The satisfaction portion of the survey was released in advance of the rest of the report for use by. MacLean’s magazine in its annual

ranking of universities last November. Responses were ranked from zero (very dissatisfied) to three (very satisfied) according to major fields of study. For instance, the satisfaction with class sizes for students in

“I would say students are reasonably satisfied with the skills they are learning...”

humanities and arts scored a 2.26 out of three, about average for programs surveyed.

The rating for how well universities prepared graduates for jobs was somewhat lower, with scores ranging from 1.81 in the social sciences to 2.25 in prgnecring and appre sciences.

Unlike the annual MacLean’s survey, Statistics Canada will not rank individual universities. Instead, it will concentrate on the satisfaction of graduates in general, Lynd said.

“The sample methodology is geared toward process, not institutions,” he said. “The sample would have to be larger for a reliable sample of institutions.”

Lynd said the survey is conducted every four years by Statistics Canada and funded by the federal government.

A number of organizations use the results, including provincial education and labour ministries, the Canadian Manufacturers’ Association and the Canadian Labour Commission.

Lynd said future surveys may have increased sample sizes, which would allow ranking of individual institutions, Statistics Canada is currently working with the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada, a national organization for administrators, to accomplish this.o3

Some results from the survey

(CUP) The final question of the statistics Canada survey of Nineties Bachelor's Degree recipients asked:"Would you have gone to the same school or institution?”

The responses are listed by university type, the programs the graduates took and the percentage of “yes” responses.

Type of university Percentage Total (all universities) 79.8 Primarily undergraduate 79.2 Medical/doctoral 80.6 Comprehensive 78.6

jor f

Agriculture & biological sciences 77.2 Commerce, management & administration 81.6

Engineering & applied science 83.2 Fine & applied arts 70.8 General arts & science 82.7 Health professions 83.5 Humanities 80.4 Mathematics & physical sciences 82.3 Social Sciences 76.7

i

All it took

Just one broken heart, battered and broken,

too tired of sadness to last.

One human being, clouded by darkness,

haunted by the past.

Things kept changing- bad to good to worse,

until things were at the darkest dim.

That one Human being, drained of all Hope,

Finally gave up; gave in.

In the final night, filled with desperation,

The last lone survivor

She searches the Yellow Pages, using a magnifying glass to look

But the heading “Sexual Abuse” just isn’t in the book. It has been several decades since the world laid to rest

The terms she so longs to find: Rape, assault, incest.

After centuries of ignoring them, people finally started talking about

The crimes against women and children; Now they are all wiped out.

The justice system got tougher, and education created new men Humans are seen as equal (How things have changed since “then”).

She dropped to her knees on the ground.

And, with a shattered heart and waterfall of iearé

She fell on her face...and drowned. —Janette Callbeck

Destiny

I'm so scared. I’m trembling

To think

That if | told, You might say

| need to know

¥ Whenever | feel

Way down deep inside,

Never come back. | couldn’t handle that.

\ That | can see you,

No one on Earth understands her fear; No one feels the same.

She is the only abused woman anywhere; The only one in pain. This is what all survivors wanted; For the world to unite in healing. But, now, she is all alone- No one believes what she is feeling.

‘

The problems haven’t changed, but she’s the only one facing the issues. Her information is from history books; Her comfort is from tissues. Even professional counsellors tend to look the other way.

“The problem is one of the past, Dear; It doesn’t exist today”.

She is glad that such horrible things have vanished from Earth forever. till, she longs for one more victim (Then they could heal, together). She whispers “The end of child abuse is surely a victory.

Now all the dead can rest in peace. But where does that leave me?”

Her father had abused her. She's the very last child to survive. She’s now nearly thirty-six (and a half)- The only victim alive. Her friends don’t understand all the pain she holds inside.

The time is right.

| love you.

That is my destiny, And my curse.

| love you.

But | am not allowed. ~Alice L. Gallant

“Oh, why”, she asks, with tears in her eyes, “Can't | join those who died?”

She wonders where she'll find support. It is Hope that she will need. (If she lived a century ago, would this still be the life she’d lead?) She closes the phone book quietly (She is the ultimate Death before Birth) This Heaven is Hell for her- The Last Lone Survivor on Earth. ‘ —Viki Hope Gouchatie

[ x.press january eighteenth 1994 page 8 |