UBC and BC TELECOM have entered into an innovative 10-year relationship that
will increase and improve services for post-secondary students and other
learners throughout B.C. and beyond.
BC TELECOM will work with the university to design and build a new broadband,
fibre-optic infrastructure, linking sites throughout UBC’s 400-hectare
campus.
The Campus Connectivity project will provide classrooms, laboratories, offices
and student residences with high-speed access (up to 10 megabytes per second)
to electronic mail and the World Wide Web.
“This alliance is great news for everyone involved, especially our students,”
said UBC President David Strangway. “Working with BC TELECOM, our university
will be a technological leader, able to provide enhanced education to students
in the Lower Mainland and throughout the province.”
“In addition, this will allow us to explore and provide educational leadership
through research on the social impact and policy implications of new
information technologies.”
The initiative will enable faculty members to prepare course materials for
student use on the Web, from posting lecture notes to creating interactive,
multimedia experiments. Students will also be able to use the Web to apply for
admission, search library catalogues and even access their final grades.
Space in overcrowded libraries, meanwhile, will be freed up by services that
allow faculty members to order electronic versions of scholarly journals.
In the future, students throughout the province will also be able to take
courses concurrently with students on campus. Using the Internet, they will be
able to complete course work and take part in discussions through on-line
tutorials and conferencing.
Both partners will also provide distance learning to university students
outside Greater Vancouver, as well as develop and market multimedia
applications for other educational institutions and companies. For example, the
agreement calls for the creation of a training centre which will instruct
teachers on the effective use of new information technologies in elementary,
secondary, post-secondary and private-sector education.
Under the agreement, BC TELECOM will become the university’s principal
telecommunications provider. This is the first step in formalizing a long-term
relationship between the two organizations.
The agreement follows guidelines set out by the Conference Board of Canada for
partnerships between education institutions and the private sector. These
guidelines were earlier adopted by UBC’s Board of Governors.
“This agreement demonstrates how telecommunications technology can bridge
distances, improve education and foster socio-economic growth. This alliance
shows the true spirit of the B.C. Electronic Highway Accord,” said BC TELECOM
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Brian Canfield.
“We view our groundbreaking relationship with UBC as a model for other
universities and colleges. It brings a wide variety of current activities and
new initiatives into a partnership that will strengthen and grow as new
opportunities and technologies evolve,” Canfield added.
The British Columbia Electronic Highway Accord is an alliance among the
provincial government, the telecommunications industry, learning institutions
and others to provide universal and affordable access to the electronic highway
and to develop British Columbia’s information technology industry.
