UBC has met many of the initial targets it established last year
when it launched Trek 2000, its vision for the university in the
coming century, President Martha Piper told an audience attending
UBC’s second Annual General Meeting today.
“We know that UBC will be defined in the next century, not only
by our vision, but also by our actions,” Piper said.
Trek 2000, which was created with community input from the Lower
Mainland and around the province, outlines a series of principles,
goals, strategies and timetables to guide UBC through the millennium.
It focuses on initiatives for people, learning, research, community
and internationalization.
Some of UBC’s significant accomplishments this year in these areas
include:
- Development of an academic plan to guide future faculty and
staff recruitment and retention efforts; - Offering early admission to more first-year students in 1999
than ever before in its history; - Expanding co-op programs. More than 2,000 students are currently
gaining work experience through co-op programs in five faculties,
including the Faculty of Arts; - Renovation of approximately 15 per cent of classrooms and development
of 2,500 new information technology connections; - Attracting $23 million of federal Canada Foundation for Innovation
funding which, when coupled with funding from the BC Knowledge
Development Fund, will result in approximately $60 million of
new research infrastructure being built on the campus; - Meeting its targets for the recruitment of international students.
“We will continue to rely on community support in the pursuit of
adequate funding of education and research in British Columbia,”
Piper said, emphasizing the importance of advocacy for higher education.
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