Inspire: Building a Strategic Plan for UBC

February 8, 2018

Greater Vancouver Board of Trade, Four Seasons Hotel, Vancouver

  • Thank you, Robert, for your kind introduction.  Good afternoon, and thank you everyone.  It’s an honour to be with you today.
  • I’d like to begin by acknowledging that we are gathered on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the Coast Salish people, the Musqueam, the Squamish and the Tsleil Waututh.  I would also like to acknowledge and thank our sponsors, the Sauder School of Business, the Robert H. Lee Graduate School of Business and Boyden.
  • It was a year ago last March, as the newly-installed 15th president of UBC, that I first had the privilege to speak to the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade.  A lot has happened since then!
  • One highlight of the past year for me was the installation of the 55-foot pole – called “Reconciliation Pole” – by master carver 7idansuu (pronounced edansuu) James Hart, Haida Hereditary Chief, on the Vancouver Campus on traditional Musqueam territory.
  • Reconciliation Pole is a lasting recognition of the impacts of residential schools in Canada, and a symbol for reconciliation and moving forward.
  • We also opened new student residences – including Brock Commons Tall House, currently the tallest mass timber building in the world.
  • We completed the Stewart Blusson Quantum Matter Institute addition, the Chan Gunn Sports Medicine pavilion, the National Soccer Development Centre and the new UBC School of Biomedical Engineering, which will serve as an innovation hub for education and research across both the Faculties of Applied Science and Medicine.
  • And of course, throughout 2017, Alumni UBC celebrated its 100th anniversary, and I was thrilled to be a part of that milestone and meet so many supportive alumni at home and abroad.

  • I am proud to say that UBC continues to excel in international rankings – among the top 40 in the world in the Times Higher Education rankings.
  • I have been busy representing the university internationally – participating in the Times Higher Education conference in London, and the Cascadia Innovation Corridor Conference in Seattle, as well as speaking to the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities in Washington, D.C.
  • In November we launched the Blue and Gold Campaign for Students. The theme — Change their world so they can change ours! – expresses our vision to help future generations of UBC student achieve their dreams.
  • This is the biggest campaign for students in UBC’s history. Our goal is to raise $100 million in new donor funding for student support over the next three years. With your support, UBC students of today and tomorrow will be prepared to step up and change our world.
  • Just last month we learned that the Province of British Columbia will invest in 720 new undergraduate spaces for domestic students at UBC’s Vancouver and Okanagan campuses in such programs as biomedical engineering, computer science, and manufacturing.

  • One of the most gratifying experiences for me this past year was the ongoing consultation and dialogue with the university community – students, faculty, staff and partners – to build a new Strategic Plan for UBC.
  • The planning process gave us the opportunity to connect with one another, to share perspectives on what defines UBC, and to exchange ideas around our role as a university, locally and globally.
  • Last month, I presented the draft Strategic Plan to the UBC Vancouver Senate and the UBC Okanagan Senate for discussion, with the goal of seeking their endorsement this month.  It will then go to Board for final endorsement.
  • The draft plan, Inspire, has been informed by thousands of members of the UBC community and our partners, who came together through group discussions, open houses and online surveys to provide input.
  • That input was further shaped by a representative Steering Committee, multiple working groups, the Deans, the Executive and other diverse university groups.  We have also engaged with external partners, including the BC business community.
  • Inspire sets out our collective vision and purpose, and our objectives and strategies for the years ahead.
  • Inspire builds on the university’s previous strategic plan, Place and Promise. The plan emphasizes UBC’s role – to pursue excellence in research, learning and engagement to foster global citizenship and advance a sustainable and just society across British Columbia, Canada and the world.
  • This is our moment to Inspire.

  • Inspire focuses on three priorities that we believe are critical to society today and reflect what we think our role in society should be –inclusion, collaboration, and innovation.
  • Why these priorities?
  • Inclusion reflects societal demand, heightened by the Canadian context. It recognizes not only that our community feels deeply about inclusion and our responsibilities as a public institution, but also that research, education and engagement are enriched by diversity.
  • Collaboration because the challenges facing society don’t respect disciplinary or institutional boundaries + we are more effective working together.
  • Innovation aligns with the fast-changing world and the need for new approaches, and a commitment to change where change is well-motivated. It may take different forms in different contexts, but is as important in the arts and humanities as in the STEM fields.
  • The priorities represent key opportunities for transformational change in how we work in the coming years. These cross-cutting themes will enhance our academic impact in an increasingly complex and interconnected world. They are imperatives if we are to achieve the vision and objectives of Inspire.
  • The draft plan also confirms and describes four core areas that underpin our work as a public university. These are the areas in which we have defined our strategies, closely informed by the three priorities. They are:
    • People and Places,
    • Research Excellence,
    • Transformative Learning, and
    • Local and Global Engagement.
  • The core areas represent our work as a public university. They form the building blocks for progress. They are the mechanisms through which we seek to inspire.
  • Before I go over the core areas, I want to emphasize that the plan is still in draft form. We are consulting with the university senates and other key groups (I just presented to the Federal Liberal Pacific Caucus), and we will be presenting it to the Board of Governors for ratification.

  • The first core area I’d like to discuss is People and Places.
  • ‘People’ naturally includes students, faculty, staff, alumni and residents … but also postdoctoral research fellows, medical trainees, lifelong learners, emeritus faculty members and retired staff, in addition to volunteers, philanthropic supporters, partners at other institutions, and those with whom we work in local, provincial and federal governments and in the wider community.
  • Peoplemake UBC the university it is.
  • The ‘Places’ of UBC are equally diverse, encompassing our campuses and campus communities at Point Grey and Kelowna, downtown locations such as Robson Square in Vancouver, the affiliated hospitals, as well as other places such as the Learning Exchange in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside and numerous sites of community-based research and learning, locally and globally.
  • We want to create vibrant, sustainable environments that enhance wellbeing and excellence, and support connected campuses and communities, as well as spaces for collaboration, innovation and engagement with the wider community.

  • The next core area is Research Excellence.
  • UBC is a global leader in disciplinary and interdisciplinary research and an enormous generator of new ideas and knowledge and of innovation. We are engaged on more than 1,300 industry collaborations annually and we play a key role in advancing BC’s technology, natural resources, and life sciences sectors.
  • UBC will also provide support for the translation of research beyond the academy, through innovation pathways ranging from changes in practice and policy to entrepreneurship and commercialization.
  • Businesses will benefit from having access to our students and the ideas and approaches we’re working on. In turn, the university will benefit from insight into the most pressing problems facing industry, and our students will benefit from job opportunities with our industry partners.
  • We will also continue to emphasize fundamental research, which often leads to unforeseen and unforeseeable breakthroughs and opportunities.
  • To take just one example, the research undertaken by UBC’s Michael Smith, who received the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1993, has led to major breakthroughs and opportunities in medical genetics and biotechnology.

  • The third core area is Transformative Learning.
  • Through Inspire, we want to further enhance learning through evidence-based teaching, mentorship and enriched experiences.
  • UBC has a long-established track record in teaching and learning excellence. We have invested in program innovation, included blended, online and interdisciplinary models of education, for many years. We will continue to develop our practices in these critical areas.
  • We also recognize the importance of “transferable skills” and competencies in today’s world and will sustain our efforts to integrate these more purposefully into program design.
  • Thousands of students participate in experiential or work-integrated learning each year.
  • We offer programs for career professionals who want to broaden their technical perspectives and learn new business and leadership skills.
  • For example, the Faculty of Applied Science, in collaboration with the Sauder School of Business, offers the one-year Master of Engineering Leadership and the Master of Health Leadership.
  • Working through UBC Extended Learning, we will expand online and other accessible offerings for working professionals and lifelong learners.
  • We will also continue to focus on the student experience – both inside and outside the classroom – and create opportunities for students to feel more engaged and better supported during their time at UBC. We want to give them a sense of belonging, predicated on personal growth within smaller, diverse communities in the context of a large and complex community.

  • The fourth core area is Local and Global Engagement.
  • Intensifying our commitment to work together across and beyond campus, we will create the kind of partnerships that inspire – through interdisciplinary learning and research; through collaborations that turn research discoveries into practical solutions that provide economic, social and environmental benefits; and through the preparation of a disruption-ready, trained and flexible workforce.
  • We will continue to build and sustain strategic global networks, notably across the Pacific Rim, that enhance UBC’s impact, relevance and opportunities for students, faculty and staff.
  • A connection closer to home is the Cascadia Urban Analytics Cooperative, a partnership between UBC and the University of Washington in Seattle.
  • Thanks to a million-dollar donation from Microsoft, we will use data science for social good in an urban context, tackling subjects from homelessness to traffic congestion.
  • We need to deepen the relevance and public impact of UBC research and education.
  • Therefore, we will work, through dialogue and knowledge exchange, to align UBC’s efforts more closely with priority issues in British Columbia and beyond. This will also help ensure that the public is more consistently aware of UBC’s academic endeavours.
  • It is important that we recognize the different strengths and local contexts of our Vancouver and Okanagan campuses as we consider the opportunities for engagement. Through Inspire, we want to advance a stronger and more equitable society, learn about the world, and empower people to be good stewards and change makers.
  • Community engagement at UBC has been part of research, teaching, service and student-led initiatives since the institution was founded. We will work with diverse partners to develop shared values for more effective and connected engagement.
  • Finally, we will work with alumni UBC to broaden and deepen engagement through programs that cultivate pride, empower personal growth, support professional development and enable contribution. The plan builds on the vision of a global alumni community for an exceptional UBC and a better world; its strategic imperatives are to extend engagement to 50% of all alumni, and to double the number of alumni more deeply involved at UBC.
  • By the way, a good example of our emphasis on engagement is Connects, the new UBC President’s speakers series.
  • The first speaker, on March 8 at the Robert H. Lee Alumni Centre, will be economic and social theorist Jeremy Rifkin, who will speak on The Third Industrial Revolution. You can find out more information at ubc.ca/ubcconnects.

  • Before I finish, I would like to highlight one of the plan’s priorities that is especially important to me: inclusion.
  • Inclusion is a commitment to access, success and representation of historically underserved, marginalized or excluded populations.
  • Aspects of our strategic planning that pertain to Indigenous peoples and communities are of high priority; there is much that needs to be done, given the long-lasting legacy of colonization.
  • Other groups have faced exclusion, too, based on gender, race, religion, sexuality, age and ability. Our intentions are bold and genuine, and there are good examples of positive impact in inclusion to date. But we must redouble our efforts to make sustained progress. We will work harder to recruit and support students, faculty, staff and leaders that are representative of the full range of people who would like to call UBC home.
  • I’m excited about Inspire and its potential for UBC, for British Columbia, for Canada and for the world, and I look forward to collaborating with you for the collective progress of our region, our province, and our country in the years ahead.
  • Together … this is our moment to inspire.
  • Thank you.