Welcome to the first issue of our newsletter.  Our purpose is to provide monthly information and updates to academics, researchers, public officials, aboriginals and northern residents about UArctic’s activities and programs.  For more information on UArctic, we encourage you to visit the UArctic website at http://www.uarctic.org and subscribe to the official UArctic newsletter, Shared Voices, at: http://www.uarctic.org/sharedvoices.html

The Office of Undergraduate Studies for the University of the Arctic has been established at the University of Saskatchewan, with generous support from the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade.  Greg Poelzer has moved from the University of Northern British Columbia to serve as Dean of Undergraduate Studies and work in the Political Studies department of the U of S.

The 6th UArctic Council meeting will be held November 10-13 in Whitehorse, Yukon. 

The following courses will be offered in the Winter semester (January-April 2004):

• BCS 100: Introduction to the Circumpolar World
• BCS 311: Land and Environment I
• BCS 321: Peoples and Cultures I
• BCS 332: Contemporary Issues II 

Any student registered at a UArctic member institution is invited to apply.  All BCS courses are offered on-line to enhance accessibility to northern and aboriginal residents living in remote communities and on-reserve. To learn more about the Bachelor of Circumpolar Studies, please visit: http://www.uarctic.org/bcs or email: bcs@uarctic.org .

UArctic’s Circumpolar Mobility Program (CMP), with its student exchange program north2north, has recently benefited from a generous funding commitment from Human Resources Development Canada (HRDC).  The funding will support the establishment of a CMP office under the direction of Chris Southcott, co-chair of the CMP Program Team and faculty member at Lakehead University, as well as fund the exchange of six Canadian students to other UArctic member institutions around the Circumpolar North every year.  Additional sponsor funding will be sought to support further exchanges for Canadian and Russian students.  Students attending participating institutions are encouraged to apply through the UArctic web site by January 15.  To find out if your institution is a participant, contact your university’s UArctic representative:
http://www.uarctic.org/contact_form.asp?group=Members .

H. E. the Right Honourable Adrienne Clarkson, Governor General of Canada, delivered a speech at the joint seminar of the Northern Research Forum (NRF) and the Nordic Association for Canadian Studies (NACS) on October 9th, 2003, in Rovaniemi, Finland, site of the UArctic International Secretariat. 
 
The seminar's theme was "Education as the Foundation of Northern Possibility"; the panel addressed the viability of higher education in the north and the characteristics of a northern education.  Lars Kullerud represented UArctic in his capacity as Director.

Check out an article on UArctic from Nunatsiaq News:
http://www.nunatsiaq.com/news/features/31024_01.html

For more information on UArctic and its programs, please visit http://www.uarctic.org or email bcs@uarctic.org

UArctic Office of Undergraduate Studies
209 Kirk Hall, 117 Science Place
Saskatoon SK S7N 5C8
Tel: (306)966-1665 Fax: (306) 966-5250