The University serves and engages society to enhance economic, social, and cultural well-being.
What can we create together?
Peter Block
UBC exists for the communities it serves: local, provincial, national, and global. An integral part of those communities, the University enters into relationships where decisions about means and ends are made collaboratively, costs and benefits are shared, and learning is reciprocal. Beginning with interest and outreach and moving through engagement and empowerment, UBC recognizes degrees of commitment and nurtures relationships along the full spectrum. With multiple sites and a global reach, UBC dedicates its resources to dialogue and action on issues of public priority. As international acclaim for its community engagement grows, the University honours the time and effort that goes into building respectful community relationships and expands the notion of scholarship to embrace community engagement as both core to the university’s mission and foundational to excellent teaching, learning and research. Community engagement brings the full force of our combined experiences, expertise, and knowledge to bear on the salient questions of our time. Is there anything that, together, we cannot create?
Actions
- Facilitate deliberative public dialogue on issues of public concern and actively invite community participation
- Facilitate engagement of faculty and students in public policy development
Outcomes
- Dialogues on societal issues continue across both campuses through lecture series, seminars and special speakers
- Symposiums, forums and research venues continue to engage the public in discussion on issue that lead to changes in, or a deeper understanding of, public policy
Actions
- Complete consultation on community engagement strategy
- Strengthen our understanding of community interests in community service learning and sustaining community partnerships through the UBC Community Learning Initiative and Learning Exchange
- Provide a broad scope of continuing studies programs to support students and life-long learners -Better define and assess “service” as part of the academic mission of the university
- Increase community use of learning, cultural and outdoor venues on UBC’s campuses and sites
- Develop an effective approach to communications, supporting the full engagement of UBC with its communities
- Work with community-based organizations to create a deeper understanding of how social sustainability can be achieved locally and globally
Outcomes
- The UBC Community Learning Initiative saw student and faculty engagement with over 200 community organizations, such as non-profits, schools and small business, in order to address complex problems
- Campus cultural venues provide learning and research opportunities for students, faculty and the public. Over 350,000 visits were made to venues at the Vancouver campus
