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Social highlights

UBC recognizes the importance of setting an example through positive impact on the community, service toward students, and care for faculty and staff.

Community

• Through UBC's Learning Exchange, 300 students volunteered in 30 community agencies
• Five hundred students provided health services to Vancouver Downtown Eastside residents through the Community Health Initiative by University Students (CHIUS)
• Two hundred UBC Law students provided free legal advice to 5,000 clients
• UBC had an economic impact of $3.8 billion on B.C.'s economy
• UBC research generated eight spin-off companies in 2003

Students

• UBC enrolled 32,227 undergraduate and 7,000 graduate students
• 57.1 per cent of undergrads were female; 42.9 per cent male
• 5,824 undergraduate and 2,111 graduate degrees were conferred
• Following a six-year freeze, tuition fees are being brought back into line with the national average
• UBC aimed to preserve accessibility, growing funds awarded to students in UBC scholarships, bursaries and fellowships by 19 per cent to $32 million

Faculty & Staff

• In 2003 the University employed 3,465 faculty and 6,319 staff

National comparisons for designated groups:

* Under Act Workforce covers both crown corporations and federally regulated, private sector employers.

Note: A contentious round of collective bargaining occurred under a government-mandated wage increase of 0 per cent. A mediated settlement followed a government back-to-work order ending a pre-exam-period strike that threatened completion of the academic year.

Environmental highlights

In 1997, UBC became the first university in Canada to implement a sustainable development policy. A year later it opened Canada's first Campus Sustainability Office, which has helped put UBC on track to meet and surpass national emissions reduction targets set by Canada's commitment to the Kyoto Protocol.

In 2000, UBC completed the Comprehensive Community Plan (CCP), the basis of emerging University Town plans, to guide non-institutional development of it’s 996-acre campus. The plan incorporated principles from the Official Community Plan, including pursuing:

• transportation alternatives with a focus on non-car options
• conservation of campus green spaces with buildings concentrated in mixed-use spaces
• a goal of 25% of undergraduate students and 50% of other residents living on campus

Last year, UBC significantly reduced emissions, improved energy efficiency, and involved thousands of campus members in sustainability strategies.

• In 2002, UBC completed ELECTrek, a lighting retrofit program for 50 campus buildings reducing annual electricity usage by 11 per cent
• In early 2003, UBC initiated a comprehensive campus energy and water retrofit called ECOTrek. It will reduce annual CO2 emissions by up to 15,000 tonnes, energy use by 20 per cent, and water use by 40 per cent
• UBC earned BC Hydro Power Smart certification for leadership in energy efficiency
• While the University sent 2,887 tonnes of solid waste to landfill, it diverted 2,070 tonnes to recycling or composting
• UBC’s new University Transit Pass (UPass) for students will reduce single occupancy vehicle trips to UBC by 20 per cent, reducing CO2 emissions by 4,000 tonnes

UBC's Sustainability Policy

"...UBC recognizes that just as the University contributes to a healthy society and economy through education to build up social capital, we also need to invest in maintaining the ecological services and resources, our natural capital upon which society depends."

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Grads sign sustainability pledges. For the first time, almost 200 UBC grads signed pledges to be socially and environmentally responsible. The idea was the brainchild of Environmental Sciences student Rebecca Best.

Students vote for U-Pass. After years of work by the university, the Alma Mater Society and TransLink, students endorsed the creation of U-Pass, which will give them unlimited access to public transit for $20 per month, a savings of $43 per month over a regular fare. The pass is expected to reduce single occupancy vehicle trips by 20 per cent.