The Cadre -

10 February 1998

UPEI plans to influence

BY TODD MACLEAN

Colin Bassett, a first year UPEI student, held a press conference on Febuary 3 to announce the release of a na- tionwide petition against the government’s inconsistency in offering Employment Insur- ance (EI) to college students, while making itunavailable to full-time university students

across Canada. The Federal and Provin- cial governments are tly

working on the Skills, Loans and Grants benefit, a plan which will soon replace the present EI system. Bassett wants to give university stu- dents a chance to voice their concerns before the new poli- cies . put into place.

“I’m gettin le from B.C. to Newfoundland to- gether to fight this injustice,” said Bassett. “If you qualify for El, you should be entitled to it, regardless of what type of institution you are attending. It’s just illogical that 2.9 per- cent of our salaries are de- voted to something that we aren’t even considered eligi- ble for.”

His petition is being faxed to fy SOuni-

“University students have been battling this case for a number of years,” he

new E.I. policy

date is simply that the student must be actively seeking em- ployment. After that, we think of how restrictive the school is. We don’t say ‘if you're in university, you're cut off,” but when you start getting to a point where you’ re paying tui- tion, the commitment gets higher.”

She mentioned that col- lege students likely were pro- vided with these benefits be- cause college programs gen- erally exist on a short-term basis. These S are designed to get students di- rectly involved with technical jobs immediately after gradu- ation.

But Guymont did admit that college tuitions are getting increasingly higher, and that the duration of such programs is becoming more extensive as well.

“Over the years, we’ve found that we should be look- 7 at the issue more care- fully,” she said.

The new Skills, Loans and Grants benefit will be in place within the next five months. This new plan will be als who are in need of El, rather than their course load.

“It es be convenient for the people working on it to needs of university students,” said Bassett. “But if the uni- versities all voice their opinion on this, it should have enough — to influence the final

of the Skills, Loans and Grants benefit.”

Bassett also said that at least some of the national budg- et's $20.3 billion dollar surplus ee Tet

student poverty.

“A lot of it does the national decision of

The petitions will be re- turned to UPEI by March 1,

Prime Minister Jean Chretien

in hopes of influencing the fi- nalized Skills, Loans and made available throughout 1998, and will then be sentto Grants benefit.

The petitions will be

the campus (i.e. the Pit, or the Breezeway) over the next couple of weeks.

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For more information contact:

The Registrar

Fisheries and Marine Institute of Memorial University of Newfoundiand

P.O. Box 4920, St. John's

Newfoundiand, Canada A1C 5R3

Tel: 709-778-0380 Toll Free: 1-800-563-5799 Fax: 709-778-0322

email: admissions/regist @ gill.ifmt.nf.ca

F Marine Studies

ource Management

The Fisheries and Marine Institute of Memorial University offers the Master of Marine Studies degree. This multi-disci plinary program exposes students to all dimensions of modern fisheries resource

management.

The program is available on a full-time or a part-time basis to students who have an undergraduate degree and some exposure to the fishery. Full-time students will nor- mally complete the program in one acad-

emic year.

OBJECTIVES

The purpose of this degree is to develop, through formal education, those skills that are essential to the management of natural resources. These skills include: familiarity with relevant concepts from biology, economics, sociology, and politi- cal science; the ability to grasp and follow quantitative arguments; the ability to read critically and extract key points from diverse material; the capacity to apply this knowledge to important issues in resource management. These skills will comple- ment, rather than replace, the in-depth knowledge of specialists in the natural or

social sciences.

MARINE INSTITUTE