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The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a Canadian public research university with campuses in the Greater Vancouver area and in Kelowna, British Columbia. The main campus in the Greater Vancouver area is located in the University Endowment Lands on Point Grey, a peninsula about 10 km from downtown Vancouver, with smaller speciality and satellite campuses located at Great Northern Way and Robson Street, both in Vancouver proper. While the originating legislation created UBC on March 7, 1908,[4] the first day of lectures was September 30, 1915. On September 22, 1925, lectures began on the new Point Grey campus. In the 2008 Academic Ranking of World Universities, UBC placed 2nd in Canada, and 35th in the world.[5] In 2006, Newsweek magazine ranked UBC 2nd in Canada and 27th in the world. In 2009, the Times Higher Education Supplement ranked UBC as 2nd in Canada and 40th in the world (Social Sciences 13th, Life & Biomedicine 16th, Natural Sciences 20th, Arts & Humanities 22th, Engineering & IT 17th).[6][7] The UBC library, which comprises 5.6 million books and journals, is the second-largest research library in Canada.[8]
[edit] HistoryA provincial university was first called into being by the British Columbia University Act of 1908, although its location was not yet specified.[9] 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.[9] The Act constituted a twenty-one member senate with Francis Carter-Cotton of Vancouver as Chancellor. Before the University Act, there had been several attempts at establishing a degree-granting university with assistance from the Universities of Toronto and McGill. Columbian College in New Westminster, through its affiliation with Victoria College of the University of Toronto, began to offer university-level credit at the turn-of-the-century, but it was McGill that would come to dominate higher education in the early 1900s. Building on a successful affiliation between Vancouver and Victoria high schools with McGill University, Henry Marshall Tory[10] helped to establish the McGill University College of British Columbia. From 1906 to 1915, McGill BC (as it was called) operated as a private institution providing the first few years toward a degree at McGill University or elsewhere. The Henry Marshall Tory Medal was established in 1941 by Henry Marshall Tory (1864–1947), FRSC, founding President of the University of Alberta and of the National Research Council of Canada, and a co-founder of Carlton University. 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. A declining economy and 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 new university absorbing McGill University College. University of British Columbia awarded its first degrees in 1916.[9] 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 Faculty 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.), Bachelor of Applied Science (B.A.Sc.), and Bachelor of Science in Agriculture (B.S.A.). There were 576 male students and 386 female students in the 1920–21 winter session, but only 64 academic staff, including 6 women.[11] In the early part of the twentieth century, professional education expanded beyond the traditional fields of theology, law and medicine. UBC provided no degrees in these areas, but was beginning to offer degrees in new professional areas such as engineering, agriculture, nursing, and school teaching. Graduate training based on the German-inspired American model of specialized course work and the completion of a research thesis was introduced, with students completing M.A. degrees in natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities.[9] In 1922 the now twelve-hundred-strong student body embarked on a "Build the University" campaign. Students marched in the streets of Vancouver to draw attention to their plight, enlist popular support, and embarrass the government. 56,000 signatures were presented at legislature in support of the campaign, which was ultimately successful. 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 steadily. Soon, however, the effects of the depression began to be felt. The provincial government, upon which the University depended heavily, cut the annual grant severely. In 1932–33 salaries were cut by up to 23%. Posts remained vacant, and a few faculty lost their jobs. Most graduate courses were dropped. In 1935, the University established the Department of Extension. Just as things began to improve, World War II broke out. 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.[12] Military training on the campus became popular, then mandatory. WWII marked the first provision of money from the federal government to the University for research purposes. By the end of the war, it became clear that the facilities at Point Grey had become totally inadequate to cater to the huge influx of veterans returning to their studies. 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. Most of the camps were dismantled and carried by barge or truck to the University where the huts were scattered across the campus. (A few huts remain in place today!) 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. 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.[9] [edit] Governance and administrationThe administration of UBC, as mandated by the University Act, is composed of a chancellor, convocation, board, senate, and faculties of the university [13]. The Board of Governors is responsible for the management of property and revenue, while the Senate is vested with managing the academic operation of the university. Both are composed of faculty and students who are elected to the position. Degrees and diplomas are conferred by the convocation, which is composed of alumni, administrators, and faculty, with a quorum of twenty members. UBC also has a President, who is a chief executive officer of the university and a member of the Senate, Board of Governors, Convocation, and also serves as Vice Chancellor. The President of the University is responsible for managing the academic operation of the university, including recommending appointments, calling meetings of faculties, and establishing committees. 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).[14] The UBC Okanagan campus is led by Dr. Doug Owram, Deputy Vice-Chancellor. 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 numbers listed within the table are as of Nov 2008[15]). 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.[16] [edit] TuitionIn 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.[17] 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.[18] 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. Tuition for international students is significantly higher (about 4-5 times higher than domestic students). In 2009, tuition for international students ranged from 19,000 CAD to 24,000 CAD.[citation needed] [edit] FinancesFor 2006–2007, UBC had expected a $36 million deficit. With various cost cutting measures, the University posted a small surplus of $1.92 million. 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%.[19] Less than 1% of expenses went to fundraising.[20][21] [edit] Campuses[edit] Vancouver49°16′N 123°15′W / 49.267°N 123.25°W 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 University Endowment Lands are not within Vancouver's city limits, and as such 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. 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. UBC is affiliated with a group of adjacent theological colleges, which include the Vancouver School of Theology, Regent College, Carey College and the Corpus Christi College. [edit] Kelowna49°56′N 119°24′W / 49.933°N 119.4°W 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.[22] 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 $450 million CDN rapid expansion with construction of several new residential, teaching and research buildings now underway. [edit] Features[edit] Gardens
[edit] Museums and galleries
[edit] Performance arts theatres
[edit] LibrariesMain article: University of British Columbia Library 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.[24] The library has twenty-six branches and divisions at UBC and at other locations, including three branches at teaching hospitals (St. 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 incorporates 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.[25] 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] [edit] Book publishingThe University of British Columbia Press, which was founded in 1971, deals with Canadian affairs and Pacific studies.[9] [edit] Academics[edit] Faculties and SchoolsUBC's academic activity is organized into "faculties", and "schools".[26] There are also "institutes" and "colleges", which are research organizations, and some "residential colleges" which are residence-focused academic communities. The primary faculties and schools are:
[edit] Quality of education
UBC consistently ranks as one of the top three Canadian universities by Research InfoSource[41] and ranks as second in Canada and thirty-sixth in the world in the Academic Ranking of World Universities.[5] In 2006, Newsweek magazine ranked the University of British Columbia second in Canada and 27th in the world.[42] 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.[43] [edit] AboriginalThe 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. UBC has an Associate Dean of Indigenous Education and offers degrees in First Nations Studies through a program in the Arts Faculty. The UBC’s First Nations Forestry Initiatives was developed in partnership with specific Aboriginal communities to meet specific needs within more remote Aboriginal communities. UBC also offers a Chinook Diploma Program in the Sauder School of Business. UBC also runs the Chinook Summer Biz Camp, which seeks fosters entrepreneurship among First Nations and Métis high school students. UBC hosts a Bridge Through Sport Program, Summer Science Program, Native Youth Program, and Cedar Day Camp and Afterschool Program. 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.[44] [edit] Student life[edit] Student representationMain article: Alma Mater Society of the University of British Columbia 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. Graduate Students are represented by the Graduate Student Society (GSS). UBC Okanagan students are represented by The University of British Columbia Students' Union – Okanagan. [edit] Student clubsUBC has a lively campus community with over three hundred student run clubs. [edit] Greek organizationsUBC has a relatively small Greek community, that is much less central to the university than on American campuses. There are a total of 16 Greek organisations. An Inter-fraternity Council (IFC) is recognized as a club by the Alma Mater Society and meetings of the IFC occur at a different fraternity house each week. Greek life has its own division within UBC REC[45] and intense competition between the 9 Fraternities for the title of top Athletic Fraternity occur. Alpha Delta Phi currently holds the title of IFC Intramural Champions. The National Panhellenic Council (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 which are overseen by the Panhellenic Council.[46] In addition Alpha Omicron Pi will be re-establishing their historic chapter in Fall 2010. 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. Commonly referred to as Panhell, it is located next to the Greek Village on Wesbrook Mall. Phrateres is not official part of the Greek Organization on campus, but interact with the fraternities on a similar basis as the sororities. Phrateres is an official AMS club and thus does not bar membership to male members, although it is strongly discouraged. There are nine international Greek organization on campus, first of which was Alpha Delta Phi in 1926. However Alpha Delta Phi was preceded by several local fraternities on campus. Other fraternities include Alpha Epsilon Pi, Delta Kappa Epsilon, Psi Upsilon, Sigma Chi, Beta Theta Pi,[47] Phi Delta Theta, Phi Gamma Delta, and Kappa Sigma. Beta Theta Pi is the only fraternity on campus not in the Greek Village. They retained their own land on the old Fraternity row which is closer to campus than the Greek Village. Alpha Epsilon Pi has no house, but plans are underway to provide them the lower level of the newly constructed Hillel House. The Greek Village shares a common underground parking lot and is managed jointly. All the houses on campus were constructed sometime between 2002 and 2003 including Beta Theta Pi. This came about as an agreement between many parties to sell the previous leased land to a development camp. Fraternity Rush and Sorority Recruitment occur during the first weeks of school in September.[citation needed] Unlike other campuses the fraternity system has set bids day in which all bids are given to prospective new members of each fraternity. Each fraternity numbers between 20 and 80 members. [edit] Residences
[edit] Other facilities
[edit] AthleticsUBC is represented in Canadian Interuniversity Sport by the UBC Thunderbirds. UBC is considering joining the NCAA Division II.[48][49]
[edit] Fight songNotable 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.[50] [edit] Campus eventsA small number of large-scale, campus-wide events occur annually at UBC.
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. [edit] Student media
[edit] Notable people[edit] Rhodes Scholars
[edit] Recipients of honorary degrees
[edit] Notable faculty (former and current)
[edit] Chancellors and presidentsMain articles: List of Chancellors of the University of British Columbia and List of Presidents of the University of British Columbia [edit] In the MediaDue to the fact that Vancouver, Canada is often the production location for numerous North American TV shows and films, the UBC campus (mainly the Point Grey campus) has also been featured in various TV shows and/or films, including: The Butterfly Effect, Fringe, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and many others. [edit] See also
[edit] Notes
[edit] References
[edit] External links
Coordinates: 49°16′0.92″N 123°14′50.88″W / 49.2669222°N 123.2474667°W Categories: Universitas 21 | Nursing schools in Canada | University of British Columbia | Educational institutions established in 1890 | Educational institutions established in 1915 | Film schools | Gothic Revival architecture in Vancouver | Forestry education | Association of Commonwealth Universities | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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