WikiPortallus: University of British Columbia.html

UBC was ranked as the fourth best university (Medical Doctoral Rankings) in Canada by Maclean's Magazine in 2008.³ In 2006, Newsweek magazine ranked the UBC second in Canada and 27th in the world. In 2007, the Times Higher Education Supplement ranked UBC as second in Canada and 33rd in the world.⁴ The UBC library, which comprises 4.7 million books and journals, is the second largest research library in Canada.

History

Early history

The University of British Columbia, a single, public provincial university created in 1908 was modelled on the American state university system, with an emphasis on extension work and applied research.⁵

The University of British Columbia is a non-denominational undergraduate and graduate teaching and research institution. A provincial university was first called into being in Vancouver by the British Columbia University Act of 1908. ⁶

The governance was modelled on the provincial University of Toronto Act of 1906 which established a bicameral system of university government consisting of a senate (faculty), responsible for academic policy, and a board of governors (citizens) exercising exclusive control over financial policy and having formal authority in all other matters. The president, appointed by the board, was to provide a link between the 2 bodies and to perform institutional leadership.⁶ The Act constituted a twenty-one member senate with Dr. Israel W. Powell of Victoria as Chancellor. Attempts at establishing a degree-granting university with assistance from the Universities of Toronto and McGill saw varying degrees of success.

McGill University College was set up by Henry Marshall Tory⁷ in an arrangement with McGill during 1906 to 1908, as a private institution granting McGill University degrees until 1915. The Henry Marshall Tory Medal was established in 1941 by Henry Marshall Tory (1864-1947), FRSC. Founder of the Universities of British Columbia.

In the meantime appeals were again made to the government to revive the earlier legislation for a provincial institution, leading to the University Endowment Act in 1907, and The University Act in 1908. In 1910 the Point Grey site was chosen, and the government appointed Dr. Frank Fairchild Wesbrook as President in 1913. The outbreak of war in August, 1914 compelled the University to postpone plans for building at Point Grey, and instead the former McGill University College site at Fairview became home to the University until 1925. The first day of lectures was September 30, 1915. The institution absorbed the McGill-affiliated McGill University College of Vancouver in 1915. University of British Columbia awarded its first degrees in 1916. ⁶

World War I dominated campus life, and the student body was "decimated" by enlistments for active service, with three hundred UBC students in Company "D" alone. By the end of the war, 697 members of the University had enlisted. A total of 109 students graduated in the three war-time congregations, all but one in the Faculties of Arts and Science.

By 1920, the university had only three faculties: Arts, Applied Science, and Agriculture (with Departments of Agronomy, Animal Husbandry, Dairying, Horticulture and Poultry). It only awarded the degrees of Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) and Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.). There were 1,189 male students and 341 female students, but only 64 academic staff, including 6 women.⁸

In the early part of this century, professional education expanded beyond the traditional fields of theology, law and medicine. Graduate training based on the German-inspired American model of specialized course work and the completion of a research thesis was introduced. ⁶

In 1922 the now twelve-hundred-strong student body embarked on a "Build the University" campaign. 56,000 signatures were presented at legislature in support, and on September 22, 1925, lectures began on the new Point Grey campus.

Except for the Library, Science and Power House buildings, all the campus buildings were temporary constructions. Two playing fields were built by the students themselves, but the University had no dormitories and no social centre. Still, the University continued to grow by leaps and bounds.

Soon, however, the effects of the depression began to be felt. In 1932-33 salaries were cut by up to 23%. Posts remained vacant, and many faculty lost their jobs. Most graduate courses were dropped. Just as things began to improve, World War II broke out. In 1935, the University established the Department of Extension.

Canada declared war on September 10, 1939. Soon afterwards, University President Klinck wrote:

Heavy rains and melting snowfall eroded a deep ravine across the north end of the campus, in the Grand Campus Washout of 1935. The campus did not yet have storm drains, and surface runoff went down a ravine to the beach. When the University carved a ditch to drain flooding on University Avenue, the rush of water steepened the ravine and eroded it back as fast as 10 feet (3.0 m) per hour. The resulting gully eventually consumed 100,000 cubic yards (76,455 m³), two bridges, and buildings near Graham House. The University was closed for 4½ days. Afterwards, the gully was filled with debris from a nearby landslide, and only traces are visible today.⁹

Military training on the campus became popular, and WWII marked the first provision of money from the federal government to the University. By the end of the war, it became clear that the facilities at Point Grey had become totally inadequate. The University needed new staff, new courses, new faculties, and new buildings for teaching and accommodation. The student population rose from 2,974 in 1944-45 to 9,374 in 1947-48.

Surplus Army and Air Force camps were used for both classrooms and accommodation. Fifteen complete camps were taken over by the University in the course of the 1945-46 session alone, with a sixteenth camp, situated on Little Mountain in Vancouver, converted into suites for married students.

The University of British Columbia launched its program in architecture in 1947.⁶

Student numbers hit 9,374 in 1948; more than 53% of the students were war veterans in 1947-67. Between 1947 and 1951 twenty new permanent buildings were erected.

In 1957, the first Canadian graduate program in adult education was established at the University of British Columbia.

The policy of university education initiated in the 1960s responded to population pressure and the belief that higher education was a key to social justice and economic productivity for individuals and for society. In 1961, the first doctoral program in adult education in Canada was introduced by the University of British Columbia.

The single-university policy in the West was changed as existing colleges of the provincial universities gained autonomy as universities — the University of Victoria was established in 1963. ⁶

The university today

UBC's current president is Dr. Stephen Toope, appointed on July 1, 2006. He succeeds Dr. Martha Piper, who was the University's first female president and the first non-Canadian born president.

The Provost and Vice-President (VP) Academic, is currently Dr. David H. Farrar. The Vice-President Students is Brian Sullivan; VP External and Legal is Stephen Owen, VP Research is John Hepburn and VP Finance and Administration is Terry Sumner.

The Chancellor of the University, who acts as the University's ceremonial head and sits on the academic Senate and the Board of Governors, is Sarah Morgan-Silvester (as of July 1, 2008).¹⁰

In 2003, UBC had 3,167 full-time Faculty, and 4,612 non-faculty full-time employees. It had over forty thousand students (33,566 undergraduate students and 7,379 graduate students), and more than 180,000 alumni in 120 countries. Enrollment continues to grow. The founding of the new Okanagan campus will increase these numbers dramatically. The university is one of only two Canadian universities to have membership in Universitas 21, an international association of research-led institutions (McGill University is the other).

Buildings on the Vancouver campus currently occupy 1,091,997 m² gross, located on 1.7 km² of maintained land.

The Vancouver campus' street plan is mostly in a grid of malls (for driving and pedestrian-only). Lower Mall and West Mall are in the southwestern part of the peninsula, with Main, East, and Wesbrook Malls northeast of them.

Wireless internet access is available at no charge to students, faculty, and staff inside and outside of most buildings at both campuses.¹¹

Coat of arms

The Coat of Arms of UBC has the second longest history of all the post-secondary institutions of British Columbia, dating back to 1915.¹²

Book publishing

Tuition

In 2001-02, UBC had one of the lowest undergraduate tuition rates in Canada, at an average of $2,181 CAD per year for a full-time programme. This was due to a government-instituted tuition freeze.

In 2001, however, the BC Liberal party defeated the NDP in British Columbia and lifted the tuition freeze. In 2002-03 undergraduate and graduate tuition rose by an average of 30%, and by up to 40% in some faculties. This has led to better facilities, but also to student unrest and contributed to a teaching assistant union strike.

UBC again increased tuition by 30% in the 2003-04 year, again by approximately 15% in the 2004-05 season, and 2% in the 2005-06 and 2006-07 years. Increases were lower than expected because, in the 2005 Speech from the Throne, the government announced that tuition increases would be capped to inflation.¹³

Despite these increases, UBC's tuition remains below the national average and below other universities in the regions. In 2006-07, the Canadian average undergraduate tuition fee was $4347 and the BC average was $4960.¹⁴ UBC tuition for 2007-2008 is $4,257 for a Canadian student in a basic 30-unit program, though various programs cost from $3,406 to $9,640. Medicine tuition fees are $14,566. The faculty of Dentistry charges $14,566 for tuition and a clinic fee in excess of $25,000. Tuition for international students is roughly four times as much.¹⁵

Finances

For 2006-2007, UBC had expected a $36 million deficit. With various cost cutting measures, the University posted a small surplus of $1.92 million. For example, the discontinuation of credit card payments for domestic students is estimated to save $2.5 million per year.¹⁶

As of March 2007, UBC had assets of $3.2 billion and liabilities of $1.8 billion. Total revenue for 2006-2007 was $1.59 billion, of which 36% came from the provincial government, 11% from the federal government, 17% from "sales of goods and services", 18% from tuition, and 18% from all other sources. Total expenses were $1.50 billion, of which salaries, wages, benefits, and honoraria were 59%, office supplies and expenses were 12%, amortization was 9%, and all other expenses were 20%.¹⁷ Less than 1% of expenses went to fundraising.¹⁸¹⁹

Campuses

Vancouver

The Vancouver campus is located at Point Grey, a twenty-minute drive from downtown Vancouver. It is near several beaches and has views of the North Shore mountains. The 7.63 km² Pacific Spirit Regional Park serves as a green-belt between the campus and the city. The campus, along with Pacific Spirit Regional Park, the University Endowment Lands, and the residential community of University Hill, is not within Vancouver's city limits. It is part of the Greater Vancouver Regional District's Electoral Area A, which is made up of the non-incorporated areas of the Lower Mainland. As a result, UBC is policed by the RCMP rather than the Vancouver Police Department. However, the Vancouver Fire Department does provide service to UBC under a contract. Also, all postage sent to any building on campus includes Vancouver in the address. The Army Huts on the Vancouver campus are on the Registry of Historic Places of Canada ²⁰ UBC Vancouver also has two satellite campuses within the city of Vancouver: a campus at Vancouver General Hospital for the medical sciences, and UBC Robson Square in downtown Vancouver for part-time credit and non-credit programmes. Moreover, UBC is also a partner in the consortium backing Great Northern Way Campus Ltd. The University of British Columbia is affiliated with the Corpus Christi College (Vancouver).

Kelowna

The Kelowna campus, known as UBC Okanagan, is located on the former North Kelowna Campus of Okanagan University College, adjacent to the international airport on the north-east side of Kelowna, British Columbia.²¹ This campus offers undergraduate degrees in Arts, Science, Nursing, Education, Management and Engineering as well as graduate degrees in most of these disciplines. The Okanagan campus is experiencing a rapid expansion with construction of several new residential, teaching and research buildings now underway.

Features

Gardens

Museums and galleries

Performance arts theatres

Libraries

The UBC Library, which comprises 4.7 million books and journals, 5.0 million microforms, over 800,000 maps, videos and other multimedia materials and over 46,700 subscriptions, is the second largest research library in Canada.²³ The library has twenty-six branches and divisions at UBC and at other locations, including three branches at teaching hospitals (Saint Paul's Hospital, Vancouver Hospital and Health Sciences Centre, BC Children's Hospital), one at UBC's Robson Square campus in downtown Vancouver, and one at the new UBC Okanagan campus. Plans are also under way to establish a library at the Great Northern Way Campus on the Finning Lands.

The former Main Library has undergone construction and has been renamed the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre. The new library incoporates the centre heritage block of the old Main Library with two new expansion wings and features an automated storage and retrieval system (ASRS), the first of its kind in Canada.²⁴

Major General Victor Odlum CB, CMG, DSO, VD donated his personal library of 10,000 books, which has been housed in "the Rockwoods Centre Library" of the UBC library since 1963.

The Koerner Library has appeared in Al Pacino's movie "88 Minutes."^{citation needed}

Academics

UBC's academic activity is primarily organized into 12 "Faculties", and some "Schools".²⁵ There are also "Institutes", some "Colleges" which are research organizations, and some "residential colleges" which are residence-focussed academic communities.

Programs

The Faculty of Agricultural Studies: Food, Nutrition & Health has an accredited dietetic program. The university is accredited by a professional organization such as the Dietitians of Canada and the university's graduates may subsequently become registered dietitians. List of universities with accredited dietetic programs

The Faculty of Forestry is part of the AUFSC and has accredited baccalaureate of science programs with specializations in Natural Resource Conservation; Forest Science; Forest Resources Management; Major Forest Operations; International Forestry; Wood Products Processing; and International Forestry. ⁶

Aboriginal

The UBC’s Longhouse is a dedicated space for Aboriginal institutions, a “zone of comfort” for Aboriginal students and a focus for Aboriginal culture and activities on campus. At UBC, Aboriginal staff particularly in academic positions, signal the institution’s commitment to success for Aboriginal students. UBC, for example has an Associate Dean of Indigenous Education. UBC offers degrees in First Nations Studies through a dedicated program in the Arts Faculty. UBC provides services to Aboriginal people in more remote communities. The UBC’s First Nations Forestry Initiatives was developed in partnership with specific Aboriginal communities to meet specific needs within Aboriginal communities. The UBC also offers a Chinook Diploma Program in the Sauder School of Business. The UBC reaches into Aboriginal communities to talk to potential students at a much younger age through Chinook Summer Biz Camp, which fosters entrepreneurship among young First Nations and Métis students. The UBC hosts a Bridge Through Sport Program, Summer Science Program, Native Youth Program, and Cedar Day Camp and Afterschool Program. The UBC has had success in recruiting and retaining Aboriginal faculty. UBC developed governing board and senate policies as well as Aboriginal governed councils within the university structure. ²⁷

Quality of education

UBC consistently ranks as one of the top three Canadian universities by Research InfoSource²⁸ and ranks as second in Canada and thirty-sixth in the world in the Academic Ranking of World Universities.²⁹ In 2006, Newsweek magazine ranked the University of British Columbia second in Canada and 27th in the world.³⁰ The Times Higher Education Supplement of the UK ranked UBC as second in Canada and thirty-third in the world in 2007. According to Maclean's University Rankings, UBC has the highest percentage of Ph. D level professors among all public universities in North America (92%). It has received widespread recognition by Maclean's and Newsweek magazines for its foreign language program; the Chinese program is North America's largest, and the Japanese program is North America's second largest (after the University of Hawaii).The Department of Art History, Visual Arts and Theory has been recognized consistently for the world-class artists who teach there.^{citation needed} In 2003 the National Post stated UBC had the highest entrance requirements for undergraduate admission out of all universities in Canada.³¹

Student life

Student representation

UBC Vancouver students are represented by the Alma Mater Society, or AMS. The society's mandate is to improve the quality of educational, social, and personal lives of UBC students. The executive - composed of the President; Vice President, External Affairs; Vice President, Administration; Vice President, Finance; and Vice President, Academic and University Affairs - are responsible for lobbying the UBC administration on behalf of the student body, providing services, such as the AMS/GSS Health and Dental Plan, supporting and administering student clubs, and maintaining the Student Union Building (aka SUB) and the services it houses.

Student clubs

UBC has a lively campus community with over three hundred student run clubs. The AMS club directory lists all of the clubs.

Greek organizations

UBC has a small but vibrant Greek community. The NPC sororities on campus are Alpha Delta Pi, Alpha Gamma Delta, Alpha Phi, Delta Gamma, Gamma Phi Beta, Kappa Alpha Theta, and Kappa Kappa Gamma.³² All sororities have a chapter room in the Panhellenic House on Wesbrook Mall; the building also offers housing for 72 college women, with preference given to sorority members. The first Greek organization on campus was Alpha Delta Phi fraternity in 1832, Alpha Epsilon Pi, Delta Kappa Epsilon, Psi Upsilon, Sigma Chi, Beta Theta Pi,³³ Phi Delta Theta, Phi Gamma Delta, and Kappa Sigma; all except Alpha Epsilon Pi have a house. Fraternity Rush and Sorority Recruitment occur during the first weeks of school in September.^{citation needed}

Other facilities

Athletics

Fight song

Notable among a number of songs commonly played and sung at various events such as commencement and convocation, and athletic games are: "Hail, U.B.C" with words and music by Harold King and "High on Olympus" with words by D.C. Morton and music by J.C.F. Haeffner.³⁶

Campus events

Additionally, a number of unofficial 'traditions,' exist at UBC: jumping from the UBC Aquatic Centre's outdoor 10-metre diving board late at night; and frequent repainting of the Engineering cairn, refashioning its large red-and-white 'E' into other letters representative of other faculties, clubs, and groups.

Student media

Notable people

Recipients of honorary degrees

Notable faculty (former and current)

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