Given skyrocketing housing prices in Vancouver, UBC has released potential housing options designed to help develop more affordable housing on its Vancouver campus. The options include the possibility of discounted property purchases and rentals to encourage faculty, staff, and students to reside on campus. A proposed partnership with BC Housing would make UBC the first North American university to offer non-profit rental housing to eligible employees or faculty with an annual income below $64,000. The effort will inform a housing action plan that seeks to improve UBC’s ability to compete with top universities and employers for the best and brightest minds, both internationally and locally, while helping to create a more sustainable, vibrant residential community. UBC Reports (Academicagroup)

The University of Toronto, the University of British Columbia, Queen’s University, Université Laval, and the Northern Ontario School of Medicine will represent North America as one of 4 global innovation collaboratives chosen to work with the US Institute of Medicine on a project to lead innovation in health education around the world. The Canadian Interprofessional Health Leadership Collaborative will develop curricula that foster collaborative leadership skills. The other collaboratives in India, South Africa, and Uganda will undertake related projects. UBC News Release | uToronto News | Queen’s News Centre (Academicagroup)

Getting accepted as an undergraduate student at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver is going to take more than good grades from now on.

The school is shifting to what it calls “broad-based admissions” - an application process that assesses grades and personal experiences of potential students. The process will include everyone applying directly to all of UBC’s undergraduate programs at the Vancouver campus beginning with the 2012-13 academic year.

The new process requires applicants to answer between four and six “personal profile” questions in addition to providing secondary school grades.

The questions are designed to provoke responses from students about their ability to overcome challenges, take advantage of opportunities and get involved in their community, said UBC’s associate vice-president and registrar, James Ridge. He said an open-ended question will also let potential students share further details about themselves that would have gone unnoticed under the previous system. The school already uses broad-based criteria for some pro-grams, Ridge said, noting that the Sauder School of Business at UBC has used broad-based admissions since 2004.

In 2011, 25 per cent of all new first-year UBC students on the Vancouver campus were admitted with broad-based admissions.

UBC wants more students who volunteer, take part in extracurricular activities and are willing to take advantage of study abroad programs, he said. “We really want to select students who we think are going to be more inclined to engage in those things.” …

(Source: vancouversun.com)

The ever-evolving role of educators and the increasing concern over job shortages for new teachers prompted the revision of the University of British Columbia’s one-year Teacher Education Program, which includes new mandatory classes on Aboriginal perspectives, teaching English as an additional language, teaching French in elementary school, special education, and research and inquiry seminars. The revised program will also emphasize social and ecological justice and diversity. Student teachers will be required to complete a practicum in a non-traditional teaching setting, which is intended to open students’ eyes to the variety of career options they face. UBC Reports | Vancouver Sun (Academicagroup)

Today UBC and Bell announced a $1M gift to establish the Bell Youth Mental Health IMPACT project. This initiative will enable researchers from the University of British Columbia to conduct mental health outreach to youth in need.

The gift was announced today by Mary Deacon, Chair of the Bell Let’s Talk mental health initiative, at a ceremony at UBC Robson Square. Ms. Deacon was joined by Bell President and CEO George Cope, UBC Chancellor Sarah Morgan-Silvester, Faculty of Medicine Vice Dean Ross MacGillivray and Psychiatry Professor Michael Krausz.

The Bell Youth Mental Health IMPACT Project will be led by Dr. Krausz, who is also the UBC-Providence Leading Edge Endowment Fund (LEEF) Chair in Addiction Research, at the Institute of Mental Health, part of UBC’s Faculty of Medicine.

As part of the project, researchers will develop a mental health web portal that provides educational and self-assessment tools, automated feedback, a list of treatment options, advice on obtaining services, and coping techniques. Additional features, such as online consultations through e-mail, chat rooms, video-conferencing, instant messaging and social media tools, will be added in the future based on research into the effectiveness of this outreach model…Read More

The University of British Columbia is establishing new presence in India by opening a pair of offices in the country. Spearheaded by the UBC’s Sauder School of Business, the new Bangalore office will work to strengthen connections with the Indian business community to enhance career support and job opportunities for students and alumni. UBC will also open an office in New Delhi in partnership with the University of Toronto. The New Delhi office will be tasked with developing institutional partnerships with government, industry, and academic institutions. Since 2000, UBC has quadrupled its number of international students from India with nearly 290 Indian undergraduate and graduate students at the Vancouver and Okanagan campuses. UBC News Release | uToronto News Release (Academicagroup)

Yesterday the University of British Columbia opened its $37-million Centre for Interactive Research on Sustainability (CIRS), the most sustainable building in North America. A “living laboratory,” CIRS reduces UBC’s carbon emissions, powers itself and a neighbouring facility with renewable and waste energy, creates drinking water from rain, and treats wastewater onsite. CIRS will serve as a global centre for research, partnership, and action on sustainability issues, such as community engagement, environmental policy, and green building design and operations. UBC News Release (Academicagroup)

BIXI heads west

The University of British Columbia is poised to benefit from the likely arrival of the BIXI bike sharing service in Vancouver, reports The Ubyssey. Carole Jolly, Director of Transportation Planning for UBC told the newspaper that she has been working with the City on the project since last April. Her initial analysis shows that a trial could include 200 bicycles and 20 docking stations on campus. The City would presumably install a number of docking stations in various locations off-campus, close to where students live.

Bicycle sharing has obvious environmental benefits, but is can also be a money-saving option for commuters. In Toronto, for example, BIXI members pay $95 annually for a membership key that allows them to pick up and ride the black bikes to other docking stations sprinkled across the city. There are no charges so long as bikes are docked at any station within 30 minutes and there are minimal late fees thereafter. Best of all, there’s no worry that your fancy new ride will be swiped while you’re in a lecture. It’s always locked.

(Source: oncampus.macleans.ca)

According to a new University of British Columbia study, interactive teaching methods significantly improved and doubled both learning and engagement in a large physics class at the institution. The study compared the amount of learning students experienced when taught by traditional lecture and by using interactive activities based on research in cognitive psychology and physics education. The study found the students in the interactive class showed nearly double the engagement levels of their lectured counterparts, had 20% higher attendance, and scored almost twice as well in a test designed to determine their grasp of complex physics concepts. Researchers surveyed students and found the interactive teaching methods “generated a lot of excitement in class — which makes for a great learning environment.” UBC News Release | Globe and Mail | Canadian Press (Academicagroup)

The University of British Columbia has been named Canada’s first “Fair Trade Campus” as a result of its national leadership on Fair Trade purchasing. The designation is by Fairtrade Canada, the Canadian arms of a global non-profit Fair Trade certification system that supports producers in developing countries and encourages individuals and organizations to buy ethically-sourced consumer goods. To support the institution’s Fair Trade commitments, a Vancouver coffee company is creating its first Fair Trade-certified blend of coffee for UBC that will launch at campus food service outlets this September. UBC News Release (Academicagroup)

Yesterday the University of British Columbia announced a $15-million donation from Vancouver philanthropist Djavad Mowafaghian for a new facility that integrates brain research and patient care. In honour of the gift, the largest made to date to UBC’s faculty of medicine, the facility will be named the Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health. A partnership between UBC and Vancouver Coastal Health, the 12,500-square-metre centre is slated to open at UBC Hospital in 2013, and will bring together researchers and clinicians from a range of disciplines related to brain health. UBC News Release (Academicagroup)