Wednesday, June 26, 2019

Supporting transition for the 2019 incoming class

A message from the Student Success Office (SSO).

The SSO and many campus partners are busy planning pre-arrival programs and orientation programs for the 2019 incoming undergraduate and graduate students.

Throughout July, there are six faculty 101 Days for incoming undergraduate students:

• Engineering 101 Day - Saturday, July 6
• Applied Health Sciences 101 Day - Saturday, July 6
• Science 101 Day - Wednesday, July 10
• Arts 101 Day - Tuesday, July 16
• Mathematics 101 Day - Thursday, July 18
• Environment 101 Day - Wednesday, July 31

As September approaches, all incoming undergraduate students are invited to First Year Orientation – a partnership between the SSO, the Waterloo Undergraduate Student Asssociation (Feds) and the faculties. There are also special Orientation programs for international students and for graduate students:

• International Undergraduate Orientation: Thursday, Aug 29 – Saturday, August 31
• First-year Orientation: Saturday, August 31 – Saturday, September 7
• Graduate Orientation: Saturday, September 7

Beyond the above events, there are new initiatives to support our incoming students including International Student Live Chats throughout July and a new Countdown to Campus video outlining the differences between highschool and university. Enhanced initiatives include the Grad Live Chat on July 24, email campaigns, social media (#UWready, #UWOW19) and updates to uwaterloo.ca/orientation.

Learn more about how you can help support the incoming class of 2019 by visiting our Orientation Here to Help page and order buttons for yourself, your office, or team.

Please join us in offering a welcoming start at Waterloo for our new students.

Funding opportunities available for hiring students

by Cassie Harrison.

There are a number of grants, tax credits and funding programs available that subsidize, and sometimes completely cover, the cost of hiring a co-op student.

Any employer who hires a student from the Co-op or Work Placement programs, may also be eligible for a number of tax credits and incentives. Large corporations can claim 25 percent of expenditures and up to $3,000 per work term. Small businesses can claim 30 percent, up to $3,000. UWaterloo provides employers with a letter and tax receipts to make the process easier.

There are also research funding grants available for those looking to hire help for their current project or need. The University of Waterloo has established their own Undergraduate Research Internship (URI) for faculty members to hire undergraduate students to work on research under their supervision.

For those planning or currently working on green initiatives, there are green funding opportunities including Project Learning Tree Canada, Career Focus Green Jobs, and the United Nations Association in Canada: Green Spaces.

Employers can save up to $8,000 for hiring a full-time student in the summer. Summer 2020 funding applications are due in early 2020.

The largest source of funding currently comes from the Government of Canada’s Student Work Placement Program (SWPP). The SWPP program provides a variety of funding opportunities for employers to hire students for the purposes of experiential and work-integrated learning. This funding is administered by Employment and Social Development Canada, and allows employers to receive up to a maximum of 50 – 70 % in wage subsidies for every student hired. SWPP funding opportunities can be found on the UWaterloo funding web page.

“The Student Work Placement Program is the biggest pool of money available to employers hiring co-op students," says Carolyn Lee, business development in Co-operative and Experiential Learning. "The Government of Canada has identified specific industries with talent needs, and has provided subsidies for organizations in these industries to build talent pipelines through experiential and work-integrated learning.”

To learn more about funding opportunities, please visit the UWaterloo employer funding webpage. Additional questions may be sent to employerfunding@uwaterloo.ca.

Waterloo, Microsoft partner on AI for Good

The University of Waterloo's Artificial Intelligence Institute, Waterloo.AI, has announced a partnership with Microsoft. 

The announcement of $300,000 in funding, made on Tuesday, is part of Microsoft’s broader AI for Good initiative, an investment of $115 million over five years that provides funding, technology and expertise to individuals, non-profits, academic institutions and organizations so they can tackle some of society’s big challenges.

This effort includes aiding in humanitarian efforts through AI for Humanitarian Action, improving accessibility through AI for Accessibility and addressing environmental challenges with $50 million specifically allocated to AI for Earth initiatives, awarding grants to support projects that use artificial intelligence to build a sustainable future. Canadian research teams from across Canada are undertaking a number of AI for Good projects ranking second of all countries globally in the number of grantees.

Read more on Waterloo Stories.