Last month, the University of Toronto Mississauga’s Quality Service to Students (QSS) committee made various changes to services offered to students by the university.
Some of the biggest changes made have been to the Health and Counselling Centre (HCC) in the William G. Davis building. The HCC has extended their hours on Wednesdays and Thursdays until 7:30 p.m., with increased physician and counsellor availability. The centre has also implemented a pilot HCC counsellor within the English & Drama academic department to be a point of contact for students with mental health issues.
According to the meeting minutes, the HCC is also trialing a focus on a single-session approach to counselling each time a student comes in, which allows students to work on the issues that are most prevalent at the time of presentation, and walk away with strategies to implement and assist them moving forward with academic progress.”
The HCC is also slated for a newly renovated space, with work projected to begin in Fall, 2019. According to notes from the meeting, the renovations will allow for a “greater access to physicians, counsellors, and fully accessible space.”
Revenue for the HCC comes from two primary sources: The Student Service Fees and the medical insurance income (OHIP/UHIP). The former accounts for 75 per cent of total forecasted revenues, while the latter covers 18 per cent. According to the 2017-18 budget Student Service Fees accounted for $1,429,700, and will increase to $1,729,573 in 2019-20.
The HCC’s 2019-20 budget proposal aims to expand the centre’s Health Promotion team to include a staff position dedicated to supporting “specific messaging and programming on substance use/addictions, and mental health.” Salary, wages, and benefits under expenditures will increase from $1,491,909 to $2,335,387.
The Career Centre is also increasing their salary, benefits, and consulting by $355,961 to offer more support and is “reflecting new short-term and permanent staffing to expand communication with students and prospective employers, develop additional placement opportunities, create new materials to help students with career networking, and increase career-related partnerships with student organizations, along with covering existing staff salary increases,” stated Felicity Morgan, director at the UTM Career Center.
The QSS committee also decided to add four additional shuttle buses to UTM-St. George route with enhanced features, including air-conditioning, improved suspension with accessible lift, and a Wi-Fi router. They will also add an additional Sheridan service for Winter 2019.
This article has been corrected.
- January 17, 2019 at 1 p.m.: Information about the career center’s budget increase was corrected from “$812,691” to include the following information: “$355,961 to offer more support and is ‘reflecting new short-term and permanent staffing to expand communication with students and prospective employers, develop additional placement opportunities, create new materials to help students with career networking, and increase career-related partnerships with student organizations, along with covering existing staff salary increases,’ stated Felicity Morgan, director at the UTM Career Center.”
Notice to be printed on January 21, 2019 (Volume 45, Issue 15).
