Page 62 - EW March 2021

International News

tion at Boston College. Nevertheless, adds Dr. Blanco, the
Common App numbers “are an early sign that international
mobility will have a strong recovery”.
Important questions to be answered before autumn, ac-
cording to academics, include success of the battle against
the Coronavirus and the direction of social unrest reflected
in the mob attack on the US Capitol.
China has long been the leading supplier of international
students in the US, and antagonisms between the US and
Chinese governments have been especially pronounced
during the Trump administration. But tensions are ex-
pected to persist into the Biden administration.

CANADA
Intellectual property conundrum Concordia University, Montreal. Inset: François-Marc Gagnon

A UNIVERSITY HAS APOLOGISED FOR ITS han- ciation of University Professors, says most American in-
dling of an online course that was based on lectures stitutions had “reaffirmed their policies regarding faculty
by a professor who had died, in a case which high- ownership of traditional academic works” during Covid.
lights the risk of encroachments on intellectual property, But the case as described at Concordia did seem unusual,
made more likely in the Coronavirus era. admits Nisenson. “Generally we would view that as unac-
The art history class at Montreal’s Concordia University ceptable under our policies,” he says.
surprised and distressed second-year student Aaron An- Prof. Gagnon’s family told a Canadian news agency that
suini when he tried to reach the instructor, François-Marc they see no ill intent and are pleased to hear that students
Gagnon, and found that the renowned French-Canadian are still learning from him.
scholar had died in 2019. “Given that Dr. Gagnon is the
name and face all over the course platform itself, it naturally RUSSIA
seemed like he would be the one communicating with us,” Greater regulation fears
says Ansuini. “So it’s just jarring to learn that he’s dead.”
The complaint at Concordia drew especially heavy at- RUSSIAN ACADEMICS HAVE EXPRESSED alarm
tention because Ansuini is a prolific YouTube vlogger with about sweeping legal amendments that propose
tens of thousands of subscribers, and he emotionally de- government regulation over “educational activi-
scribed his experience over Twitter. Concordia University ties”, fearing that the change could hit international col-
responded by noting that the course outline properly attri- laboration, stop scholars making public lectures and pod-
butes “video lectures” to Prof. Gagnon while listing Marco casts and place the humanities under “ideological control”.
Deyasi, an assistant professor of art history, as the ‘instruc- The country has grand plans to rebuild its university sys-
tor’. However, it expressed regret over the episode and up- tem after decades of stagnation and to launch five institu-
dated Prof. Gagnon’s biography in the course information tions into the world Top 100. But latest amendments to the
provided to students country’s education law threaten to stamp out what a group
Sam Trosow, law professor at Western University and an of lawmakers claims is “negative foreign interference” in
adviser to the Canadian Association of University Teach- Russia by banning “false information” about the nation’s
ers (CAUT), says academics in the country usually own the history and its cultural and religious traditions.
rights to their own classroom presentations. But faculty ev- The amendments give government power to regulate and
erywhere might want to be more vigilant as the pandemic monitor “educational activities” — defined very broadly as
puts them into online environments where their work is re- “disseminating knowledge” outside of formal programmes.
corded and the legalities aren’t clear. “Maybe what was just Exactly how the government would regulate educational
an exception before, is something that’s going to happen a activities is so far unclear. Critics say this vagueness is de-
lot right now, and people need to worry about this,” he says. liberate, giving the state arbitrary power, and the amend-
Even before the Concordia case arose, Prof. Trosow ments could change before they come into force. They are
says he was working with CAUT to alert faculty about the currently awaiting a second reading in Russia’s parliament.
possibility of their online work being reused without their But the legislators behind the amendments, who come
permission during the pandemic lockdown. “I’m very wor- largely from the ruling United Russia party, have made it
ried about cost-conscious institutions cutting corners with no secret that they are seeking tighter state control. “Anti-
recorded content,” he says. Russian forces” are fomenting a “wide range of propaganda
Aaron Nisenson, senior counsel at the American Asso- activities” among pupils and students, they write in an ex-

62 EDUCATIONWORLD MARCH 2021