Media Release | Jun. 21, 2000

Pacific Rim university leaders tackle global science and technology issues

• Event: APRU press briefing with UBC President Dr. Martha Piper, USC President Dr. Steven Sample and the Prime Minister's Advisory Council on Science and Technology
  
• Date: Saturday, June 24
  
• Time: 11:30 a.m.- 12:15 p.m.
  
• Place: Main Hall, Liu Centre for the Study of Global Issues, 6476 Northwest Marine Drive
  
• Parking: Available in the Fraser River Parkade. Enter off Northwest Marine Drive at Gate 4.

The presidents of the premier research universities in the Pacific Rim will gather at the University of British Columbia June 23-25 to stimulate teaching and research cooperation and accelerate a global research agenda designed to help inform government policy. "Global Science and Technology in the 21st Century" is the focus of the fourth meeting of the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU).

"As APRU has matured as an organization, it is increasingly clear that it is an idea whose time has come," says Dr. Steven Sample, president of the University of Southern California and chair of APRU. "Not only is the Pacific Rim the current political, economic, and cultural nexus of the globe, the research emerging from this region's universities is having an important impact on the direction of global technology and science in this new millennium."

"This is an historic opportunity for major universities to have a collective impact far beyond what they could achieve individually," says UBC President Martha Piper. "Through collaboration among the APRU research institutions we will make a major contribution to further progress on global issues including the education of the next generation of world leaders."

The association was created in 1997 to contribute to the development of an integrated Pacific Rim community through more effective cooperation in teaching and research and to influence economic, scientific and cultural policy. It comprises 34 leading research universities in the United States, China, Japan, Australia and other Pacific Rim countries.

The APRU meeting will include a high-level joint session between the leaders of these top research institutions and the Canadian Prime Minister's Advisory Council on Science and Technology on June 24.

This session will allow Canada's senior science policy advisers to interact with the Pacific Rim university presidents in an open exchange of views on science and technology and human resource development issues at the national and regional policy level.

For more information on the meetings and the APRU visit www.ubc.ca/apru.

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Contact

Chris Brown
International Relations
Tel: 604.822.5071

Bruce Mason
UBC Public Affairs
Tel: 604.822.2048