So we were informed in class today that the University of Guelph‘s (U of G) School of Engineering (SOE) here at Guelph has plans to expand and retrofit its facilities, in part to accommodate more students into the existing 4 streams* of engineering already offered here, and in part to accommodate the newly approved mechanical engineering stream which will be offered starting next fall. As part of the expansion, many of the existing facilities will be moved and/or expanded to give students more space.
Some of the main concerns of many students of the SOE is computer lab space, student lounge space, and more machine shop access. Believe it or not, the SOE, as it sits, doesn’t really have a computer lab that is dedicated for student use, most, if not all, computer labs are also use as classrooms, so at any time during the day when you’re in there, a TA or professor will tell you to so they can hold their scheduled class. This has become quite a nuisance because a lot of our work depends on proprietary software such as MATLAB and NX5, so the only way to get the work done, is to be in the labs!!!! We really need a large computer lab so we can have 24 hour access to the software without having to worry about be told to leave while we’re working!!!
Another facility that we would benefit from if we could gain more access to is a machine shop. Throughout out entire academic career here, we spend a lot of time designing, building, and testing our own systems, but we’re usually given a limited amount of time in the machine shop that’s part of the class schedule. We would greatly benefit from having a open access machine shop where we can work on our system when we need to, not just during the limited few hours of class!!
The one place that most SOE student spend their time is the undergraduate engineering lounge! Right now all it is is a small little area that is almost always filled with students, and for the most part, is impossible to find a seat in, we would really benefit from a larger lounge area. Now we’ve been told that the expansion includes a larger lounge area, however, there is a possibility that it will no longer just be the undergraduate engineering lounge, but rather the CPES** lounge. Its great that the new lounge will bigger, because our current lounge really is small, and when the expansion is complete there will be more students so more lounge space is definitely welcome. However, what is the point of making the lounge bigger if you’re going shove 4 more departments into the lounge?! That’s basically moving us from a small and crowded area to a large, but much more crowded area, where’s the sense in this?
Now of course, in order for this expansion to actually happen, the university will need to approve it and then it’ll need to be funded; as of right now, they’re looking at a budget of $20 to $25 million but we’re not told where that will be coming from. Presumably, CPES will contribute to that sum and that’s probably why the new lounge might be named as the CPES lounge instead of the undergraduate engineering lounge… This brings up the argument of who paid for the New Science Complex?! CPES probably also contributed to that project, and yet most SOE students, who we are told make up 60% of CPES and contribute $12M to the university each year, barely step foot in that building after second year… If the science students get an entire building built for them, why can’t we get the same thing? Especially since we’d be an even bigger part of CPES after the expansion. When in fact this retrofitting of the old building and adding new sections to expand in the square footage, that’s how I understand it at least. SOE students have a tough workload and we need all the space and help we can get, so the expansion is welcome, but if all we’re going to do is expand and then share the expanded space, what’s the point?! Honestly, I don’t know of any other students who literally have to stay over night at school to get some of their work done; I know many students from other faculties stay late, but I don’t know of faculty’s students who have to stay over night! We deserve a larger newer lounge, and it should remain the undergraduate engineering lounge, not the CPES lounge!!
Along with this expansion, comes many rumours, including the one already mentioned about the student lounge. Another one is that the new mechanical engineering stream has been approved, and along with that approval came the approval of charging a higher tuition for that stream… Now here’s the question, if the new stream will charge more tuition, how will this effect the existing streams? Rumours have it that the new stream will charge about $8000 to $8500 in tuition, now that’s $3000 more than the current $5500. So how are they going to justify that the students who will be in mechanical engineering? How are they going to make they feel like they should pay $3000 more than those in the other streams?! Chances are that they’ll bump everyone one to the same tuition cost; something that would drive me insane. As it stands, U of G’s SOE charges less tuition than the province’s larger engineering schools; however, the other schools have much better facilities than we do, and that’s why we need to expand our facilities. The question remains, how will the SOE set the tuition rates between the new and old programs so that they can contribute to the expansion, while not causing a riot?! The quick and dirty way would be to charge everyone the new target tuition rate of $8000, but that wouldn’t be fair to most of the existing student because would be starting our last semester when the expansion project is completed, If they decide to charge different amounts across different streams than those in the streams that are paying more will be unhappy. Presumably the best and fairest way to do this is the increase tuition to those students who will actually benefit for at least for a full year from the new facilities and keep the tuition rate as it is (with the acceptable/allowable increase) for those who won’t be benefiting from this expansion. I don’t see why I would need to pay for a facility that I will barely use if it completes on time; I may never benefit from it if there’s delay somewhere.
I know I’m just one student and that my voice is limited, but I do think that future SOE students will benefit from the expansion, but it would be unfair for me to pay for something that I’ll benefit from. It’s paying for a meal that I never ate, or buying a shirt that I’ll never wear; why would I do that?! I know it’s nice to be generous and give back to society and all, but there’s a limit to my generosity and paying for someone else’s school facilities isn’t exactly something that I’m willing to do.
P.S. I didn’t get any sleep last night, thanks SOE!
*The 4 streams of engineering the SOE currently offers are biological, environmental, systems & computing, and water resources.
**CPES is the College of Physical and Engineering Science at Guelph and is comprised of several departments, including engineering.