Mississauga, Ontario, March 17, 2003 – Two of Canada’s leading management education institutions are teaming up to offer advanced learning opportunities for Certified Management Accountants. Under the terms of a new strategic alliance, Athabasca University’s (AU) Centre for Innovative Management and Certified Management Accountants of Canada (CMA Canada) will work together to provide CMAs with enhanced access to AU’s Executive MBA programs.

The official signing ceremony to launch the CMA Canada and AU alliance takes place tomorrow, March 18, 2003, at 10:00 am EST in CMA Canada’s headquarters in Mississauga, Ontario. Recognizing the CMA designation as a leading international strategic financial management credential, the formal agreement offers CMAs advanced and transfer credit for required financial and accounting courses and electives in Athabasca Executive MBA programs.

Dr. Peter Carr, Executive Director of AU’s Centre for Innovative Management, hailed the new alliance with CMA Canada as “another key step in our mission to produce business leaders with advanced strategic management skills and strong management accounting competencies.

“Our new alliance with CMA Canada reflects the critical importance of financial management, corporate governance, and professional ethics in today’s graduate management education. By bringing together CMA Canada’s international reputation for excellence in the development of strategic financial management professionals and AU’s acknowledged leadership in graduate management education, we’ll be leveraging our considerable strengths to produce exceptional global business leaders.”

Bob Dye, CMA, FCMA, LLD, President and CEO of CMA Canada, said the new partnership with Athabasca University offers CMAs a tremendous opportunity to earn a highly respected MBA degree and further enhance their strategic leadership capabilities.

“The advanced standing being offered to CMAs in Athabasca Executive MBA programs will enable our members to take advantage of their unique management accounting knowledge and skills as they work to acquire a valuable and complementary post-graduate business degree,” said Dye. “Like Athabasca University, we are committed to developing global business leaders who build success through new ideas, new perspectives, and sound strategic financial management capabilities.

“We are proud to establish this new alliance with AU as a means of driving the continuous development of management accounting and optimizing the performance of global enterprises.” Dye added that Athabasca’s innovative approach to providing graduate management education will be highly attractive to CMAs, both in Canada and abroad.

Launched in 1994 as the world’s first online MBA, AU’s Executive MBA has grown to become Canada’s largest Executive MBA with over 1100 students representing Canada’s top 20 companies, and 400 companies world-wide. AU’s online MBA works in the same interactive, collaborative environments as business today.

The high level of asynchronous interaction between academic staff and students makes it possible to share ideas, insights, and skills on a daily basis across geographic and organizational boundaries. This interaction is a crucial ingredient of a graduate management education that has powerful relevance to the real world of business.

With 35,000 members around the world, CMA Canada grants a professional designation in management accounting and is responsible for standards-setting, accreditation and the continuing professional development of CMAs. CMAs work as senior management professionals in organizations of all sizes, applying best management practices in strategic planning, sales and marketing, information technology, human resources, finance, and operations. CMAs bring a strong market focus to strategic management and resource deployment, synthesizing and analyzing financial and non-financial information to help an organization maintain a long-term competitive advantage.

Information:

AU Centre for Innovative Management – Marilyn Wangler, Manager, Marketing and Communications
Tel: (780) 418-7553 – Email: marilynw@athabascau.ca
CMA Canada – David Fletcher VP, Public Affairs
Tel: (905) 949-3106 – Email: dfletcher@cma-canada.org

Source:
http://www.athabascau.ca/media/CIM_CMA_Alliance.htm

“This issue affects a large number of students and potential students,” said Erin Stevenson, Communications Officer for Canadian Alliance of Student Associations (CASA). “The government has very unrealistic expectations for the amount of money that families can contribute towards a student’s education. As a result of these unrealistic expectations, access is being limited.” Currently the program demands that parents provide financial support to students for their first four years after high school. The money parents are expected to contribute is deducted from the student’s assessed loan. For example, a family of four in Manitoba with an annual income of $80,000 is expected to contribute $30,000 over four years towards their children’s studies.

“These expectations are simply unrealistic, research shows us this,” said Stevenson. “According to a study by the Millennium Scholarship Foundation, 61 per cent of students receive less than $2000 a year in parental support. An additional 13 per cent receive no support. 74 per cent of students receive less than $2,000 a year from their parents to go to school. Parents are finding it increasingly difficult to fund their child’s education to the extent governments expect them to; this issue needs to be addressed now.”

CASA would like to thank Mr. Herron and MPs Monty Solberg, Ken Epp, Yvon Godin, Andy Scott, and Peter Adams for their positive contributions to today’s debate. “It was important to see that students have support from members of the Liberals, PCs, Alliance and NDP,” said Stevenson. “But we must get the message to more MPs. The last budget saw improvements to the Canada Student Loan Program but they didn’t go far enough. The government must take action now so post-secondary education is accessible for everyone. This is a key investment in Canada’s economic and social well being.”

CASA is a federal student lobby organization. CASA is a coalition of 21 student governments representing over 280 000 post-secondary education students nationwide.

For more information please contact:
Erin Stevenson
Communications Officer
613-236-3457 comm@casa.ca

Reporting to the Council of Alberta University Students membership in general and the Chair of the Council of Alberta University Students (CAUS) in particular, the Campaign Coordinator for the CAUS will coordinate and develop campaigns based on CAUS policy and approved by the member including but not limited to an external media campaign and a MLA lobby tour. The coordinator will also provide some research, communications, administrative to the CAUS.

Qualifications:
“¢ Undergraduate university degree in a field such as Political Science, Sociology, Canadian Studies, History, Communications or related fields of study.
“¢ Excellent and demonstrable writing and communication skills, including ability to write press releases and background documents
“¢ Computer skills: Microsoft Word, Excel, and Access, with website development skills a strong asset.
“¢ Strong knowledge of the provincial and federal context of post-secondary education, with an ability to analyze policy trends, technical papers, and budget information
“¢ Administrative experience and experience in project management
“¢ Highly organized and able to juggle several different tasks at once
“¢ Demonstrated ability to organize and develop campaigns
“¢ Ability to work independently

Responsibilities:
“¢ Develop and coordinate campaigns based on CAUS policy.
“¢ Propose and implement at least two province-wide campaigns on issues identified by the CAUS membership as being pressing, timely, and of concern to Alberta’s university students.
“¢ Day-to-day administration of the CAUS
“¢ Assist the researchers at member institutions in gathering all pertinent information on the province of Alberta’s post-secondary policies and funding, as well as inter-provincial research in order to design well-researched campaigns
“¢ Maintain communication with the provincial government, including coordinating an annual MLA lobby tour, and meetings with the provincial Minister of Learning, the Minister of Human Resources, and the Premier of Alberta
“¢ Maintain a CAUS media presence by responding to all provincial issues of relevance to Alberta university students
“¢ Maintain both a proactive and reactive media presence by responding to government policy directions and by implementing CAUS campaigns

Relationships:
“¢ The CAUS Executive Director will take direction and report to the CAUS membership. The Campaign Executive Director is responsible for designing and implementing campaigns and other strategic initiatives for the CAUS membership based on CAUS policy.
“¢ The Campaign Executive Director will work closely with the researchers at the member schools in the gathering of information, policy analysis, and strategic policy advice to better aid in government relations and in designing appropriate campaign materials.
“¢ The Campaign Executive Director will work closely with the communications officers at the member schools in order to coordinate responses to government post-secondary policies and in order to effectively implement campaigns

Remuneration: $29,000/year plus benefits
Deadline for application: April 22, 2003
Please include a writing sample with your application.
Please apply to:
Anand Sharma
2-900 SUB, 8900-114 St.
Edmonton, AB T6G 2J7

The study points out very clearly that debt is increasing and students are taking on many forms of debt. On average, students accumulate $5600 a year in debt; two-thirds of students have at least on[e] credit card, the average balance being $800; and that 44 per cent of students have governments loans, 30 per cent have private loans and 24 per cent have loans from family members. “It’s absolutely critical that governments address this problem of increasing student debt and not only recognize student needs but act on it,” says Erin Stevenson, Communications Officer for CASA. “This study demonstrates problems with student loan policies such as loan limits, capital cost items and expected parental contribution. The list goes on and on.” According to the study, 61 per cent of students receive less than $2000 a year in parental support. An additional 13 per cent receive no support. 74 per cent of students receive less than two grand a year from their parents to go to school.

The study also shows private debt has become a large problem, mainly due to huge tuition increases and inadequate loan programs. “We need to overhaul the Canada Student Loan Program (CSLP),” says Stevenson. “It’s just not meeting the needs of students. For example, when 93 per cent of students have access to a computer at home, it is clearly showing the necessity to
own a computer while in school; yet the CSLP hasn’t modernized its policies to allow students the money to buy a computer.”

CASA has offered solutions to the Federal Government that would modernize the student loan program and make it more accessible for students and future students to receive the money they need to pursue a higher education.

CASA is a federal student lobby organization. CASA is a coalition of 21 student governments representing over 280,000 post-secondary education students nationwide.

For more information please contact:
Robert South Government Relations Officer
613-266-2272
gov@casa.ca