Canada Housing/Debt: Trust me, I'm a landlord.

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etalian: Mar 20, 2006

Throatwarbler posted:

Isn't Montreal a center of government corruption and organized crime? Or is that just more Anglo propaganda.

it's more along the lines of mafia finding out no-bid government contracts are better money makers than drugs or strip clubs.

etalian fucked around with this message at 02:51 on Nov 8, 2014

# ? Nov 8, 2014 02:49

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# ? May 21, 2024 14:43

Dreylad: Jun 19, 2001

Throatwarbler posted:

Isn't Montreal a center of government corruption and organized crime? Or is that just more Anglo propaganda.

That's pretty accurate yeah.

# ? Nov 8, 2014 02:51

JawKnee: Mar 24, 2007; You'll take the ride to leave this town along that yellow line

etalian posted:

it's more along the lines of mafia finding out no-bid government contracts are better money makers than drugs or strip clubs.

you don't even need to burn everything down at the end of each scheme, you just have budget over-run

# ? Nov 8, 2014 03:03

Lexicon: Jul 29, 2003; I had a beer with Stephen Harper once and now I like him.

Throatwarbler posted:

Isn't Montreal a center of government corruption and organized crime? Or is that just more Anglo propaganda.

That is Anglo propaganda, but it had the benefit of being largely accurate.

Still. Great town.

# ? Nov 8, 2014 04:23

namaste friends: Sep 18, 2004; by Smythe

Back in undergrad I had this friend who grew up in the arrow lakes area. He could never understand what was so great about Montreal and never grew to like the place. On the other hand I had a friend from Charlottetown who had a bit too much fun. The former embraced country music and I use that attribute as the ultimate judge of someone's character.

# ? Nov 8, 2014 06:12

namaste friends: Sep 18, 2004; by Smythe

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/economy/housing/watchdog-releases-mortgage-rules-for-insurers-banks/article21479335/

quote:

Canada�s banking and insurance watchdog has made some changes to the rules that mortgage insurers and banks must follow to minimize their risks from homeowner loans.

The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions on Thursday released a final set of rules that mortgage insurers must follow to minimize their risks, making some small changes to the draft rules it had released earlier this year. It has also made some minor changes to the rules that banks must follow when selling mortgages.

One of the most notable changes is that the regulator is now spelling out criteria banks must meet to verify the income of borrowers, especially those who are self-employed.

OSFI has waded into the country�s mortgage market in recent years as part of a global effort to prevent another crisis like the one that occurred in the U.S. with subprime lending. Global bodies like the Financial Stability Board, which gets its mandate from the G20, recommended that all countries review their mortgage rules.

As a result OSFI released a set of rules in 2012 that spelled out for the first time the basic steps that it expects banks and other federally-regulated mortgage lenders to take when they underwrite mortgages. That set of rules, which is collectively called �guideline B-20,� pushed lenders to be more cautious in areas such as credit checks on borrowers, document verification and appraisals. It also capped the amount that any individual can borrow on a home equity line of credit at 65 per cent of the home�s value.

Because the guideline had a slight tightening impact on the mortgage market, observers say that it contributed to the decline of Canadian home sales that occurred in late 2012 and early 2013. This latest changes are not expected to have any noticeable effect on the housing market.

In April of this year OSFI released a draft set of rules for mortgage insurers (�guideline B-21�). The draft, which spells out what mortgage insurers must do to minimize their risks, was open for public consultation. A big part of it essentially said that mortgage insurers are responsible for double-checking the steps that banks take when they are assessing borrowers.

Having received and digested comments from the industry about the draft rules, OSFI is now releasing the final version. And it has made some changes, not only to its draft rules for mortgage insurers but also to its rules for banks, as a result of the feedback it received, including the new specifications on income verification.

It has also clarified its position on cash-back payments. OSFI received some resistance from the industry about the rules that limit �cash-back� incentives on mortgages. Some players told the regulator that borrowers with cash-back mortgages do not have a higher default rate than others, and some argued that eliminating the incentives could hurt some mortgages that qualify for government-funded housing affordability programs.

OSFI says that it does not prohibit the use of cash-back incentives and rebate payments, but it does not want those payments to count toward down-payments unless they are related to government-backed affordable housing programs.

It also added language that suggests mortgage insurers should look beyond a mortgage borrower�s income and ability to service debt and also consider their assets or savings.

# ? Nov 8, 2014 06:40

namaste friends: Sep 18, 2004; by Smythe

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/ubc-s-vantage-college-canadians-need-not-apply-1.2826142

quote:

The University of British Columbia is building an exclusive new college at a cost of more than $127 million, but Canadian students need not apply. The college will house only high-paying international students, most of them from China.

It may only be a big hole in the ground right now, but the Vantage College project has already angered many university students who say the money could have been better spent to improve student housing and limit tuition increases.

"It's very disrespectful, said UBC student Aspen Dirk, "and a bit of a slap to the face."

Students say UBC is spending $127.5 million at a time when money is tight to build a stand-alone college complete with its own residential tower for 1,000 international students.

The website for the college, which targets wealthy overseas Asian students, promises "round the clock support," a "custom curriculum," and lower class sizes.

It allows students whose English-language test scores don't meet UBC's standards (but whose academic standards do) to enter a special first-year program designed just for them. If they complete the first-year program successfully, then they are able to continue into their second year at UBC.

Students will pay more than $50,000 a year for the privilege which includes tuition, accommodation and health care.

International students only

Even domestic students with English-as-a-second-language needs who can afford it, still aren't welcome.

"You can only apply to Vantage College if you are an international student, not a Canadian citizen or a permanent resident," says the Vantage College website.

The Canadian Federation of Students says trying to make up funding shortfalls by building an elite college for wealthy students is backwards thinking.

"Vantage College is one instance of where the funding priorities are wrong and what we need to be doing is looking at where we're failing current and existing students and Canadians who are in the system right now," says spokesman Zachary Crispin.

While UBC pours money into Vantage College and its 1,000-room tower, it faces a student housing shortage with 5,200 people on the waiting list. Students are also looking at a 20 per cent increase in housing fees.

Next year's regular international students, whose fees are more than double those of domestic students, are facing a 10 per cent tuition fee increase.

UBC students worry about creation of elite class

UBC's student association worries Vantage College students will be living a segregated, privileged existence.

"It really is a big worry that they're not going to be fully integrated and they're going to be separate and continue to be friends with each other, but maybe not the wider community," said Alma Mater Society vice-president Anne Kessler.

"I think there's kind of a sense that, what are these students doing here? Are they really going to be integrated into campus? Are they getting better services?"

UBC says it is building Vantage College to provide better support to students whose second language is English, but admits it can also use the revenue.

Angela Redish, the university's associate vice-president of enrolment, says Vantage College will help alleviate financial pressure on the university, which also benefits students.

"UBC is facing financial pressures as are public institutions across the continent, maybe across the globe, and this is one of the ways are trying to deal with that," she said.

But that still doesn't sit well with some students.

"UBC is becoming more and more an elitist school," says Dirk, "...the poor need not apply."

Even without a bricks-and-mortar building, there's already been an initial intake of 200 Vantage College students in September. Those students displaced a number of regular UBC students from existing campus housing as the Vantage College residential tower isn't ready yet.

Also included: on-site Ferrari mechanic and valet, catering from kirin, luxury UBC bookstore selling UBC x Burberry special edition sweatpants

gently caress UBC. Over my loving dead body will my children ever go there.

# ? Nov 8, 2014 07:02

Ming the Merciless: Aug 10, 2005; You're a beard with an idiot hanging off of it.

I'm new to the thread, so sorry if this a dumb question. With all the bellyaching about the housing bubble, wouldn't there be some indication in the mortgage arrears statistics that things are about to go bad? If people are keeping up with their payments, what difference does it make?

# ? Nov 8, 2014 08:44

Freakazoid_: Jul 5, 2013; Buglord

Cultural Imperial posted:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/ubc-s-vantage-college-canadians-need-not-apply-1.2826142

Also included: on-site Ferrari mechanic and valet, catering from kirin, luxury UBC bookstore selling UBC x Burberry special edition sweatpants

gently caress UBC. Over my loving dead body will my children ever go there.

That settles it. B.C. is not allowed in the cascadian alliance.

Who's going to bail out the college when none of the chinese immigrants show up?

# ? Nov 8, 2014 09:01

Buskas: Aug 31, 2004; ?

Ming the Merciless posted:

I'm new to the thread, so sorry if this a dumb question. With all the bellyaching about the housing bubble, wouldn't there be some indication in the mortgage arrears statistics that things are about to go bad? If people are keeping up with their payments, what difference does it make?

Many of those people are taking on unsustainable non-mortgage debt to be able to afford homes.

If interest rates rise a huge percentage will no longer be able to afford their payments.

Whether or not owners can meet their payments doesn't really have anything to do with the fundamental value of a home.

# ? Nov 8, 2014 09:58

Saltin: Aug 20, 2003; Don't touch

Ming the Merciless posted:

I'm new to the thread, so sorry if this a dumb question. With all the bellyaching about the housing bubble, wouldn't there be some indication in the mortgage arrears statistics that things are about to go bad? If people are keeping up with their payments, what difference does it make?

Recent studies have revealed that something near half of Canadian home owners would be in serious trouble financially if interest rates were to rise 2 points. Interest rates would still be historically low if they did. A lot of people are living with debt they won't be able to afford, inevitably.

# ? Nov 8, 2014 13:33

ascendance: Feb 19, 2013

Lexicon posted:

That plus the food, beer, nightlife, bakeries, neighbourhoods, and general affability of its denizens, it's one of my favourite cities in the world, and easily in Canada.

Pity about the mediocrity of its job market. Le sigh.

my plan is to retire to Montreal, wake up every morning, and go get a fresh bagel.

Hopefully by that point, I can get a coat and boots with a safe integrated heater.

# ? Nov 8, 2014 14:12

ascendance: Feb 19, 2013

etalian posted:

it's more along the lines of mafia finding out no-bid government contracts are better money makers than drugs or strip clubs.

see, they actually did some serious investigation into the Mafia in Montreal and this poo poo came out.

In Toronto, the N'drangheta are probably worse, but since they are an established part of the Ontario political machines, we will never know the true extent of the crimes.

# ? Nov 8, 2014 14:13

MickeyFinn: May 8, 2007; Biggie Smalls and Junior Mafia some mark ass bitches

Ming the Merciless posted:

I'm new to the thread, so sorry if this a dumb question. With all the bellyaching about the housing bubble, wouldn't there be some indication in the mortgage arrears statistics that things are about to go bad? If people are keeping up with their payments, what difference does it make?

You can't look at correlated risks on the individual level (i.e. what the mortgage payers are doing), you have to look at the whole of the money ecosystem.

# ? Nov 8, 2014 14:52

namaste friends: Sep 18, 2004; by Smythe

Buskas posted:

Many of those people are taking on unsustainable non-mortgage debt to be able to afford homes.

If interest rates rise a huge percentage will no longer be able to afford their payments.

Whether or not owners can meet their payments doesn't really have anything to do with the fundamental value of a home.

Agreed. What's ominous is that this housing bubble is really transforming itself (or has already) into a crisis of household debt.

# ? Nov 8, 2014 16:21

etalian: Mar 20, 2006

Cultural Imperial posted:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/ubc-s-vantage-college-canadians-need-not-apply-1.2826142

Also included: on-site Ferrari mechanic and valet, catering from kirin, luxury UBC bookstore selling UBC x Burberry special edition sweatpants

gently caress UBC. Over my loving dead body will my children ever go there.

let's apply the whole horrible condo bubble concept to university housing!

# ? Nov 8, 2014 16:32

on the left: Nov 2, 2013; I Am A Gigantic Piece Of Shit

Literally poo from a diseased human butt

Cultural Imperial posted:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/ubc-s-vantage-college-canadians-need-not-apply-1.2826142

Also included: on-site Ferrari mechanic and valet, catering from kirin, luxury UBC bookstore selling UBC x Burberry special edition sweatpants

gently caress UBC. Over my loving dead body will my children ever go there.

This is perfect for the legions of retard f2dai kids in China. UBC should just outright open an office in Beijing where you can pay tuition in discreet unmarked suitcases full of rambos.

# ? Nov 8, 2014 17:21

etalian: Mar 20, 2006

on the left posted:

This is perfect for the legions of retard f2dai kids in China. UBC should just outright open an office in Beijing where you can pay tuition in discreet unmarked suitcases full of rambos.

well at least they finally took kicking out local students while catering to rich foreign students to its obvious conclusion.

# ? Nov 8, 2014 23:57

Isentropy: Dec 12, 2010

Dreylad posted:

That's pretty accurate yeah.

our provincial liberals in NS once forced out a sitting premier with a majority government because he wasn't giving them enough kickbacks

e: point being, while Quebec is corrupt, there are many places out of the public eye in Canada that give them a good run for their money

Isentropy fucked around with this message at 04:12 on Nov 9, 2014

# ? Nov 9, 2014 04:09

I would blow Dane Cook: Dec 26, 2008

on the left posted:

This is perfect for the legions of retard f2dai kids in China. UBC should just outright open an office in Beijing where you can pay tuition in discreet unmarked suitcases full of rambos.

f2dai? rambos?

# ? Nov 9, 2014 05:41

on the left: Nov 2, 2013; I Am A Gigantic Piece Of Shit

Literally poo from a diseased human butt

etalian posted:

well at least they finally took kicking out local students while catering to rich foreign students to its obvious conclusion.

Canada has the program that allows graduates a 3 year visa that can feed into permanent residency. UBC is basically just participating in immigration arbitrage by allowing a backdoor for wealthy students who don't know english to still benefit from this.

Jumpingmanjim posted:

f2dai? rambos?

f2dai = 'fu er dai' or second generation rich

rambos = RMBs, or the monetary unit of China.

# ? Nov 9, 2014 05:45

I would blow Dane Cook: Dec 26, 2008

on the left posted:

f2dai = 'fu er dai' or second generation rich

rambos = RMBs, or the monetary unit of China.

thanks

# ? Nov 9, 2014 05:48

Rime: Nov 2, 2011; by Games Forum

on the left posted:

Canada has the program that allows graduates a 3 year visa that can feed into permanent residency. UBC is basically just participating in immigration arbitrage by allowing a backdoor for wealthy students who don't know english to still benefit from this.

So it's a highly obvious scheme to bypass the investor visa getting axed, effectively. Awesome.

# ? Nov 9, 2014 05:52

Lead out in cuffs: Sep 18, 2012; "That's right. We've evolved."

"I can see that. Cool mutations."

on the left posted:

Canada has the program that allows graduates a 3 year visa that can feed into permanent residency. UBC is basically just participating in immigration arbitrage by allowing a backdoor for wealthy students who don't know english to still benefit from this.

To be fair, they still have to actually graduate, which, unless UBC's standards have slipped further than I thought, does require the ability to string a coherent sentence together in English. There are also limits on how many immediate family members you can sponsor for visas even after you get citizenship (which takes forever under the new laws), so sending an "anchor student" has some severe limitations. Given all that, I don't know that it's really much of an alternative to the investors' visa.

E: I'm not defending UBC's behaviour here, just pointing out that it's wrong to say it's a replacement for the investor visa. \/\/\/

Lead out in cuffs fucked around with this message at 20:38 on Nov 9, 2014

# ? Nov 9, 2014 09:09

etalian: Mar 20, 2006

Lead out in cuffs posted:

To be fair, they still have to actually graduate, which, unless UBC's standards have slipped further than I thought, does require the ability to string a coherent sentence together in English. There are also limits on how many immediate family members you can sponsor for visas even after you get citizenship (which takes forever under the new laws), so sending an "anchor student" has some severe limitations. Given all that, I don't know that it's really much of an alternative to the investors' visa.

lol

While UBC pours money into Vantage College and its 1,000-room tower, it faces a student housing shortage with 5,200 people on the waiting list. Students are also looking at a 20 per cent increase in housing fees.

Next year's regular international students, whose fees are more than double those of domestic students, are facing a 10 per cent tuition fee increase.

Even without a bricks-and-mortar building, there's already been an initial intake of 200 Vantage College students in September. Those students displaced a number of regular UBC students from existing campus housing as the Vantage College residential tower isn't ready yet.

The website only has a Chinese language version for some unknown reason:

etalian fucked around with this message at 16:24 on Nov 9, 2014

# ? Nov 9, 2014 16:21

Lexicon: Jul 29, 2003; I had a beer with Stephen Harper once and now I like him.

As an alumnus, I often feel disgusted with UBC's constant money-grubbing and empire building behaviour. But then I think "maybe all universities are like this".

I genuinely don't know. But I can't shake the feeling that UBC is uniquely awful.

# ? Nov 9, 2014 18:46

sat on my keys!: Oct 2, 2014

Lexicon posted:

As an alumnus, I often feel disgusted with UBC's constant money-grubbing and empire building behaviour. But then I think "maybe all universities are like this".

I genuinely don't know. But I can't shake the feeling that UBC is uniquely awful.

UBC didn't try to build a satellite campus in Dubai, at least.

# ? Nov 9, 2014 18:59

MickeyFinn: May 8, 2007; Biggie Smalls and Junior Mafia some mark ass bitches

Lexicon posted:

As an alumnus, I often feel disgusted with UBC's constant money-grubbing and empire building behaviour. But then I think "maybe all universities are like this".

I genuinely don't know. But I can't shake the feeling that UBC is uniquely awful.

Why would everyone's participation in lovely behavior make it better?

# ? Nov 9, 2014 19:16

etalian: Mar 20, 2006

Lexicon posted:

As an alumnus, I often feel disgusted with UBC's constant money-grubbing and empire building behaviour. But then I think "maybe all universities are like this".

I genuinely don't know. But I can't shake the feeling that UBC is uniquely awful.

In the US it's a big problem since the uni can always make more money from rich foreign students due to the much higher tuition rates.

# ? Nov 9, 2014 20:01

Shifty Pony: Dec 28, 2004; Up ta somethin'

Lexicon posted:

As an alumnus, I often feel disgusted with UBC's constant money-grubbing and empire building behaviour. But then I think "maybe all universities are like this".

I genuinely don't know. But I can't shake the feeling that UBC is uniquely awful.

In the states similar things are happening (although not quite as blatant) and the student body makeup at many of the big universities is starting to shift to be much more international. State schools in particular are being really bad about it because despite their charters generally being aimed at to educating in state kids they make more money on out-of-state students and even more on out of country. Professors are starting to squawk about having a ton of students that can't speak or write passable English despite acing the TOEFL, but the admissions departments smell money and are going full steam ahead recruiting students from China and Korea.

# ? Nov 9, 2014 20:10

Lexicon: Jul 29, 2003; I had a beer with Stephen Harper once and now I like him.

MickeyFinn posted:

Why would everyone's participation in lovely behavior make it better?

Um, it wouldn't.

# ? Nov 9, 2014 20:20

etalian: Mar 20, 2006

Shifty Pony posted:

In the states similar things are happening (although not quite as blatant) and the student body makeup at many of the big universities is starting to shift to be much more international. State schools in particular are being really bad about it because despite their charters generally being aimed at to educating in state kids they make more money on out-of-state students and even more on out of country. Professors are starting to squawk about having a ton of students that can't speak or write passable English despite acing the TOEFL, but the admissions departments smell money and are going full steam ahead recruiting students from China and Korea.

rich foreign students can basically get same treatment as college athletes in the USA.

# ? Nov 10, 2014 01:57

Isentropy: Dec 12, 2010

Shifty Pony posted:

In the states similar things are happening (although not quite as blatant) and the student body makeup at many of the big universities is starting to shift to be much more international. State schools in particular are being really bad about it because despite their charters generally being aimed at to educating in state kids they make more money on out-of-state students and even more on out of country. Professors are starting to squawk about having a ton of students that can't speak or write passable English despite acing the TOEFL, but the admissions departments smell money and are going full steam ahead recruiting students from China and Korea.

It's annoying for the professors but deadly for the other students. Group projects in engineering become nightmares when half the group submits their portion via Google Translate. I know this from personal experience. For those who don't want to try, they can always claim that they didn't understand the plagiarism rules (even if, say, they copied entire sections word for word from Google results). For those from the Gulf states there's always the option of paying someone's rent money for a month or two to get the whole paper researched and written for them. And as for enforcement of academic standards?

etalian posted:

rich foreign students can basically get same treatment as college athletes in the USA.

# ? Nov 10, 2014 02:44

PT6A: Jan 5, 2006; Public school teachers are callous dictators who won't lift a finger to stop children from peeing in my plane

At least UBC and these US universities are getting some benefits monetarily. One of my buddies at McGill was a French/American dual citizen who came to McGill because they give "Francophone" students a sweet deal on tuition. Never mind that he was going to an English university, spoke both languages fluently, and had no plans to stay -- he said he paid less in tuition than I did as an out-of-province student.

That's really the worst of all worlds, and confirms why Quebec is the dumbest province. They can't even write proper laws to encourage the idiotic goals they have.

# ? Nov 10, 2014 03:23

computer parts: Nov 18, 2010; PLEASE CLAP

Isentropy posted:

It's annoying for the professors but deadly for the other students. Group projects in engineering become nightmares when half the group submits their portion via Google Translate. I know this from personal experience. For those who don't want to try, they can always claim that they didn't understand the plagiarism rules (even if, say, they copied entire sections word for word from Google results). For those from the Gulf states there's always the option of paying someone's rent money for a month or two to get the whole paper researched and written for them. And as for enforcement of academic standards?

I had more issues with graduate students teaching classes to be hardly intelligible in english tbh.

# ? Nov 10, 2014 03:28

namaste friends: Sep 18, 2004; by Smythe

When I was doing undergrad in the mid 90s, the joke was that mandarin was a pre-req for for cal 1. A friend of mine walked into a tutorial for cal 1 and no joke, the TA was teaching in mandarin.

So man the gently caress up. If you're doing undergrad in a Canadian university, consider it a nietzchean rite of passage with glorious riches in reward for your tenacity to endure the suffering. My friends and I all failed at least one class (we all did some form of STEM) and we're all making well within the 97th percentile in salaries, globally.

# ? Nov 10, 2014 05:32

LemonDrizzle: Mar 28, 2012; neoliberal shithead

Cultural Imperial posted:

When I was doing undergrad in the mid 90s, the joke was that mandarin was a pre-req for for cal 1. A friend of mine walked into a tutorial for cal 1 and no joke, the TA was teaching in mandarin.

So man the gently caress up. If you're doing undergrad in a Canadian university, consider it a nietzchean rite of passage with glorious riches in reward for your tenacity to endure the suffering. My friends and I all failed at least one class (we all did some form of STEM) and we're all making well within the 97th percentile in salaries, globally.

Uh... to be in the 1% globally, you only need an income of ~$35k. Do you mean you're all in the 97th percentile in Canada/the US/the developed world?

:thejoke:

# ? Nov 10, 2014 09:01

swagger like us: Oct 27, 2005; Don't mind me. We must protect rapists and misogynists from harm. If they're innocent they must not be named. Surely they'll never harm their sleeping, female patients. Watch me defend this in great detail. I am not a mens rights activist either.

Pretty much all University undergrad programs are just one pyramid scheme of bullshit, especially in any arts department. "Oh we're giving you a wide breadth of skills that many employers want! Its not about specific job skills, its about teaching you how to learn" Give me a break.

Considering that what counts for "teaching methodology" in most universities is having some minimum wage paid TA teach your class, then once or twice a week you get some lovely lecture read off some lovely powerpoint, then you do readings, do a final paper, midterm and final exam and then your done. Its a loving joke from top to bottom.

I had big reservations about switching to a polytechnic, because I thought I was switching from some "prestigious" institution of academia to downgrade to the DeVry institute or Sprott-Shaw community college. In reality, most of the "prestigious" institutions are just bullshit branding used for the University to secure funding.

swagger like us fucked around with this message at 10:00 on Nov 10, 2014

# ? Nov 10, 2014 09:54

blah_blah: Apr 15, 2006

Cultural Imperial posted:

When I was doing undergrad in the mid 90s, the joke was that mandarin was a pre-req for for cal 1. A friend of mine walked into a tutorial for cal 1 and no joke, the TA was teaching in mandarin.

So man the gently caress up. If you're doing undergrad in a Canadian university, consider it a nietzchean rite of passage with glorious riches in reward for your tenacity to endure the suffering. My friends and I all failed at least one class (we all did some form of STEM) and we're all making well within the 97th percentile in salaries, globally.

A lot of graduate students with shaky english end up TAing instead of teaching courses because, well, the harm is less there. It's rare that a graduate student with really bad english gets to teach a math undergrad course now (they have to take a course to be able to teach courses, and part of the reason for that is to weed out grad students with bad English-language communication skills.

I'm kind of conflicted -- I think I'm more tolerant of using foreign students as a cash grab than most people, but Vantage College is definitely a step too far. But charging international students 40k a year so domestic students don't have to pay as much?* Sure, go hog wild.

UBC has a pretty weird relationship with Chinese money but on balance it's done pretty amazing over the past 20 or so years. It's pretty clearly the second best research institution in Canada now and a top 30-40 school in the world. It has lots of research groups that are absolutely world class. I think that would have been hard to imagine 20 or 30 years ago.

*in practice I know this doesn't happen

# ? Nov 10, 2014 10:41

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# ? May 21, 2024 14:43

Precambrian Video Games: Aug 19, 2002

blah_blah posted:

A lot of graduate students with shaky english end up TAing instead of teaching courses because, well, the harm is less there. It's rare that a graduate student with really bad english gets to teach a math undergrad course now (they have to take a course to be able to teach courses, and part of the reason for that is to weed out grad students with bad English-language communication skills.

Wait, what do you mean instead of teaching courses? Does UBC rely on grad students to teach courses regularly?

# ? Nov 10, 2014 16:55

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > Canada Housing/Debt: Trust me, I'm a landlord.

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