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GSA Past Events

UPEI GSA Semi-Annual General Meeting
Nov 17 2008 - 10:11am

Venue: Faculty Lounge, Main Building, UPEI
City: Charlottetown
Starting: Thursday, October 16, 2008 (12:00 pm)
Ending: Thursday, October 16, 2008 (1:00 pm)
Cost: Free!


UPEI GSA Semi-annual general meeting (SAGM) will be held over the lunch hour on October 16th, 2008 - pizza will be provided! Your GSA executive will update the graduate student body on their recent activities.

R. Vanderstichel will also lead a discussion on the proposed School of Graduate Studies, what it will mean for UPEI's current and future grad students, and how grads can get involved to ensure that the School meets our needs.

Grads will be introduced to a new, comprehensive survey determined to evaluate their graduate student experience, so that we may better inform UPEI's administration of the issues pertinent to grads.

Finally, elections will be held for two positions within the GSA - AVC representative to the GSA, and a Student Union liason, who represents the GSA to the SU council. An attempt will also be made to fill committees currently lacking graduate student representation.

Your attendence is vital, and would be much appreciated!

Canada's graduate students call on parties to step up funding to basic research
Nov 17 2008 - 10:10am
National Graduate Caucus, OTTAWA, 19 Sep 2008

Canada's graduate students issued their expectations from the federal parties today. According to the National Graduate Caucus of the Canadian Federation of Students, direct funding for graduate students, increased non-targeted support of the granting councils, and balanced copyright laws are essential to making Canada's graduate students global leaders in research.

"Graduate students are tomorrow’s professional researchers and a major component of a high-skill workforce," said Graham Cox, Chairperson of the National Graduate Caucus. "Graduate students are looking for a party that replaces rhetoric with a plan to support knowledge development."

The National Graduate Caucus (NGC) recommends increases to the federal granting agencies to fund basic research in the public interest. The NGC has also called for increases to Canada Graduate Scholarships to better help graduate students who struggle financially. Of the 125,000 graduate students studying, researching, and teaching at Canadian universities, only 5,000 receive direct federal funding. Many graduate students are forced to take on a significant financial burden to finish their degrees.

Graduate students also have a strong interest in ensuring that Canada's Copyright Act makes generous allowances for "fair dealing", a concept almost entirely overlooked by the bill introduced earlier in 2008 by Industry Minister Jim Prentice.

"Graduate students are the workhorses of university research labs," said Cox. "It is a wise economic strategy to give us the tools to conduct world-class, innovative research."

The National Graduate Caucus is Canada’s voice of graduate students, uniting graduate students on 30 campuses across the country.

Contact: Graham Cox, Graduate Caucus Chairperson
Tel: (506) 292-6503
Important Tax Info for Graduate Students
Nov 17 2008 - 10:08am
In 2007, the Canadian government removed all scholarships, fellowships and stipends from its definition of taxable income. This means that graduate students being paid research stipends are entitled to keep their entire stipend without having income tax deducted from their pay. However, UPEI continues to deduct income tax from graduate student stipends. We are currently working with UPEI to resolve this issue and will have an update in the May newsletter. What is important to know is that graduate students are eligible to receive all of the income tax back that was deducted from their stipends by claiming these deductions when filing taxes this year. If you file with a software package like QuickTax, error messages occur when you try to claim this income tax since it should not have been deducted. Information on how to resolve this issue can be obtained by calling technical support. Please note that some graduate students are being audited since our files are red flagged due to this problem. However, all auditing problems are resolved when you mail the appropriate information to the government. This tax exemption only applies to stipends, scholarships and fellowships. Income tax will continue to be deducted from salary generated through TA or Lab Instructor work.

If you have any questions or concerns about anything involving filing income taxes, please email Sarah Clark at seclark@upei.ca.

More information can also be obtained at the following link: http://www.craarc.gc.ca/E/pub/tg/p105/p105e.html#P55_933