UBC Okanagan
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| UBC Okanagan (UBCO) | |
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| Motto: | Tuum est (Latin) "It Is Yours" or "It is up to you" |
| Established: | 2005 |
| Type: | Public |
| Vice-Chancellor: | Dr. Douglas Owram (deputy) |
| Location: | Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada |
| Campus: | Rural |
| Mascot: | Heat |
| Affiliations: | University of British Columbia, Okanagan College |
| Website: | [1] |
Created in 2005 on the North Kelowna Campus of the former Okanagan University College, the University of British Columbia Okanagan represents a smaller, more intimate alternative to its larger sister institution in Vancouver, the University of British Columbia. At present approximately 4,854 undergraduates (4,228 FTE's) attend classes at Okanagan. By 2010, the equivalent of 7,500 full-time students are expected to attend, including 500 graduate students. To accommodate this growth, UBCO has embarked on an ambitious building program with additions to existing buildings and construction of new residences and academic buildings. UBC Okanagan offers a wide array of both undergraduate and graduate degrees, small classes and intramural athletics.
UBC Okanagan short-handed name is officially (UBC O) by university policy.[2] However, the general practice is to call it "UBCO" .
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[edit] Faculties and Schools
- The Irving K. Barber School of Arts and Sciences (website)
- Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies (website)
- Faculty of Education (website)
- Faculty of Applied Science (website)
- College of Graduate Studies (website)
- Faculty of Health and Social Development (website)
- The Faculty of Management (website)
[edit] The evolution of university education in the Okanagan
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This section is written like a personal reflection or essay and may require cleanup. Please help improve it by rewriting it in an encyclopedic style. (July 2007) |
In 1987 the Social Credit government appointed the Provincial Access Committee (PAC) which was charged with evaluating access in the post-secondary system. The PAC made two critical proposals: First, it proposed adding a fourth university in the province, a “University of the North”. Second, it also proposed the introduction of a new type of institution, university colleges, that would offer full four-year university baccalaureate programs in partnership with one or more of the existing universities. In March 1988, Stan Hagen, the Minister of Advanced Education and Job Training announced the ‘Access for All’ initiative which would allow selected colleges to become university colleges, and in 1989 the government designated three community colleges as the first of this new breed of institution.
Five community colleges were granted authority to offer baccalaureate degrees following a 1988 government initiative designed to increase access to degree programs in British Columbia. These 5 institutions - Fraser Valley, Caribou, Kwantlen, Malaspina University College, UBC Okanagan were renamed university colleges. Initially, they offered degrees under the aegis of one or more of the 3 provincial universities. [1]
One of the three colleges so designated was Okanagan College, which was expanded to provide baccalaureate degrees, in partnership with the University of British Columbia (Arts and Science), and the University of Victoria (Nursing and Education). In January, 1993 Okanagan University College opened its second campus in Kelowna (the North Kelowna campus) across from the Kelowna International Airport. In June of 1994 the provincial government introduced further amendments to the College and Institute Act which gave university colleges the power to grant baccalaureate degrees in their own name and had the effect of creating, for the first time, senates for the colleges and university colleges (called Education Councils).
A separate Order in Council came into effect on January 15, 1995 which granted OUC the authority to grant the degrees. [2] By that time degrees in Social Work and Fine Arts had been added to the original degrees in Arts, Science, Education, and Nursing. Later the institution would also offer a degree in Business.
By 1998 OUC had evolved into a full undergraduate university plus a vocational, trades and developmental institute. However it was still governed by the College and Institute Act. Starting in the late 1990s the Faculty Association and individual faculty members began lobbying to have the institution removed from the College and Institute Act and placed under the University Act, and to have the name of the institution changed to Okanagan University. Ultimately this lobbying effort was joined by OUC’s administration, Board of Governors, Student Society, and a community group, University 2000.
These lobbying efforts exacerbated some of the tensions between the university faculty, represented by the Faculty Association, and the non-university faculty, represented by the BCGEU. Some faculty members in each group favoured splitting the institution into a two institutions: a university and a separate vocational, trades, and developmental institute.
The lobbying efforts also created significant tensions between the institution’s Board of Governors and the provincial government. In May of 2001, Okanagan University College’s Board accepted a committee report that said new legislation should give Okanagan full university status, including an unrestricted instructional and research mandate. In May of 2001, the Board signed a Collective Agreement with the Faculty Association which provided for traditional academic ranks for faculty and much higher pay for senior ranks, on the grounds that this is necessary to compete effectively with universities for faculty. In July of that year the Ministry fired OUC's Board for signing the Collective Agreement and for pursuing the goal of full university status too aggressively. According to Rod Church’s paper “A Brief History of the University College Mandate Issue” the Ministry also informally told other university colleges to learn the lessons of Okanagan: that enhanced status for university colleges was not a priority and continued pursuit of it during the next few years would not be appreciated. Nonetheless, the new OUC Board of Governors and the OUC President, Katy Bindon, continued aggressive lobbying efforts.
In December 2002 the British Columbia Progress Board submitted a report (pdf)to the provincial government, recognising the need to expand postsecondary opportunities in the Okanagan. The progress board, chaired by then UBC president Martha Piper, recommended that the province extend “the mandate of an existing provincial University to Kelowna. . .”. The provincial government responded by beginning secret negotiations with the University of British Columbia.
On 17 March 2004, BC Premier Gordon Campbell and the University of British Columbia President Martha Piper held an invitation only press conference at the Grand Hotel in downtown Kelowna, announcing that OUC would be dissolved. OUC’s university operations would be consolidated at its North Kelowna Campus and would come under the control of the University of British Columbia. The other programs and campuses of Okanagan University College would form a new community college, which would later take on the name Okanagan College. The OUC Board was not invited to the press conference and had not been told in advance of the imminent demise of OUC. Press accounts at the time relate how one of the Board members was able to slip past security guards in time to find that she and all but three of 14 OUC board members, including the president, had been fired. (e-peak, issue 4, volume 118 — September 27, 2004). This unusual and controversial event is the only example in Canadian history of a hostile takeover of one educational institution by another.
According the Ministry backgrounder released at the same time as the announcement was made, the affiliation between UBC Vancouver and UBC Okanagan would be “based on the highly successful University of California model” and that “UBC Okanagan and UBC Vancouver will each have an independent senate to set academic priorities for their respective institutions, based regional needs and priorities. At the same time, they will share a common board of governors, with strong representation from each region.”
[edit] Campus Expansion
UBCO is now undergoing a rapid expansion with an additional Science building near completion (The Charles Fipke Building) and new Student Services, Engineering and Management, Arts and Sciences II and various undergraduate and graduate residences in various stages of construction. For an overview of planned expansion, check out the Campus Master Plan. (website)
[edit] UBCO TV
Tune in to UBCO TV (website) to view videos about teaching, research, current events and campus life at North Kelowna.
[edit] Number of Full Time Faculty
| Faculty | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Applied Science | 3 | 10 | 17 |
| Barber School of Arts & Sciences | 108 | 113 | 124 |
| Creative & Critical Studies | 47 | 48 | 50 |
| Education | 15 | 15 | 14 |
| Health & Social Development | 40 | 35 | 39 |
| Management | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| TOTAL | 214 | 222 | 249 |
[edit] Number of Full-Time Equivalent Undergraduate and Graduate Students
| 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Undergraduate | 2,811 | 3,278 | 4,073 |
| Graduate | 19 | 77 | 155 |
| Totals | 2,829 | 3,451 | 4,228 |
- UBC Okanagan is at coordinates Coordinates:
[edit] References
- Capital News (1990-2005). Kelowna, British Columbia.
- Daily Courier (1990-2005). Kelowna, British Columbia.
- Freake, R. (2005). OUC Memoirs. Okanagan University College, Kelowna.
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