The University creates rich opportunities for international engagement for students, faculty, staff, and alumni, and collaborates and communicates globally.
No journey carries one far unless, as it extends into the world around us, it goes an equal distance into the world within.
Lillian Smith
Great universities are bridges between communities and continents. Hubs of intellectual and cultural interchange, they embody the values of respect and service while expanding opportunities for individuals to carry these values into the world.
UBC recognizes the inherent power of international learning to reveal new worlds, open spirits, and change lives. The University builds on successes in international teaching, learning, research, and service to increase engagement at every level. International initiatives include research and institutional partnerships; community and overseas service; and international development ventures, all in regions strategically chosen to cultivate our strengths.
The critical challenges of our day transcend borders. Our ability to address them depends on transcending borders, too: those dividing disciplines and nations. UBC assumes its responsibilities at the centre of dialogue and activity, leading an ethical approach and working with sister institutions to strengthen Canada’s role on the world stage.
Actions
- Foster student participation in learning and service abroad
- Complete Okanagan campus international strategy
- Increase participation of graduate students and other researchers in collaborative projects with international counterparts
- Improve the level of information available to students, faculty and staff on UBC’s international connections
Outcomes
-UBC added 19 new partnerships and now has 261 student mobility partnerships in 41 countries and engaged in international learning opportunities in 71 countries
-UBC researchers provided empowerment tools for the Nabdam district in Northern Ghana to access essential services of education and health care
-The Okanagan campus’ international strategic planning exercise is in progress as UBC reviews its international organizational structure
-The Okanagan campus established new partnerships for go global study abroad program with The University of York, UK and Queensland University of Technology, AUS
-The new Bachelor of International Economics degree received formal approval from the Ministry of Advanced Education, with the first cohort arriving September 2013
-An international college was approved to prepare first year international students from emerging countries for university
Actions
- Increase the number of substantial strategic partnerships in regions of priority to UBC
- Strengthen UBC’s role in international development
Outcomes
-The Canadian government announced the creation of the $30M India-Canada Centre for Innovative Multidisciplinary Partnerships to Accelerate Community Transformation and Sustainability (IC-IMPACTS), headquartered at UBC, bringing together UBC, U of Alberta and U of Toronto, with approximately 20 Indian educational institutions and community, industry, and government partners in both countries.
-A $4.9M research partnership between UBC and Germany’s Fraunhofer Society – Europe’s largest applied research institution – will advance clean energy research in five critical areas, from wind energy to zero emission vehicles
-The Okanagan campus renewed the MoU between the University of Zambia and the Faculty of Health and Social Development during a delegation visit in October. The two institutions have had ongoing collaborations since 2008.
-UBC’s Okanagan campus welcomed a visiting delegation of students from the Royal Institute in Nursing (RIN) for the first time, who will be shadowing UBC Okanagan students and faculty members for one month
