RESULTS:

The results of one pilot program are typical. Of the fourteen students who completed the course, one has obtained an apprenticeship and two are pursuing jobs. Ten chose courses for developing trade skills such as: appliance repair, welding, electronics, computers, camera repair, precision instrumentation, printing, upgrading, (to prepare for Computer Repair Program).

One student was accepted for the Women Into Machining training project, a LEAP Program of CEIC.

The fourteen students all evaluated the course as one that offers a valuable opportunity for skill development and personal growth.

Wendy Vermeersch is Coordinator of Women's Programs, Retraining Division at Sheridan College and has been involved in women's programs at St. Laurence College in London, Ont. and at Seneca College in Toronto.

WELL CONCEIVED....
         BUT NOT WELL HATCHED 
				 
By SUE SMEE

The Women and Education Summer Institute (WESI) is a six week summer program of women's studies. The program includes undergraduate credit courses, seminars, workshops and public lectures, as well as cultural and social evenings, focusing on women's history and accomplishments.

The concept of WESI was developed in 1980 by a group of people working at the University of Saskatchewan. Organization of the Institute was to be done by the Department of Educational Foundations. Through the fall and winter of 1980-81, the Department called upon a number of organizations to act in an advisory capacity to develop WESI.

A number of concerns were raised during this time about who WESI was designed to benefit: the academic community and the university, the women's movement, or some other constituency) Questions were raised about the philosophy of the program: was it based on some analysis of women's oppression? Who had the power to make decisions about courses, lecturers, or administrative policy? Because the Department of Educational Foundations had decided to proceed with organizing the 1981 program, there was not time to fully address these questions. The funding agencies: the Department of Educational Foundations, Department of Sociology, Saskatchewan Teachers Federation and the Saskatchewan Department of Education, sponsored the 1981 program with Educational Foundations assuming responsibility. Although other government and quasi-governmental agencies continued to have input, the voluntary sector was not success fully included. The absence of feminist organizations in the development of WESI was and continues to be a serious omission.