Media Release | Nov. 18, 2003

PACE’s multi-million in-kind contribution increases UBC students’ educational velocity

The Partners for the Advancement of Collaborative Engineering Education (PACE) announced an in-kind contribution with a commercial value of approximately $240 million to the University of British Columbia (UBC) today. The in-kind contribution, which consists of computer-aided design, manufacturing, and engineering software, hardware and training, is the largest in UBC's history. It is also the largest initial contribution that PACE has made to a Canadian university.

PACE is a corporate alliance between General Motors, EDS and Sun Microsystems that has worked together since 1999 to support key academic institutions worldwide with computer-based engineering tools to prepare mechanical designers, engineers and analysts with the skills to compete in the future.

Michael Grimaldi, president of General Motors of Canada said, "As a result of PACE's contribution, UBC Faculty of Applied Science undergraduate students will have the opportunity to use state-of-the-art computer-aided engineering tools. PACE partners are playing a key role in fostering innovation in Canada by enabling students to work with world-class tools and preparing them for future success as a designing engineer. A highly skilled workforce will attract additional high tech jobs and investment, improving the overall economic outlook for Canada."

“UBC is joining a growing international community of leading institutions participating in the PACE program,” said Stéphane Boisvert, president of Sun Microsystems of Canada. “In today’s global competitive marketplace, it is essential that students have access to industry-leading resources. The implementation of this computing infrastructure in UBC's classrooms is the foundation of future innovation.”

John Dowd, president of EDS Canada, said, "With this PACE contribution, students at UBC will learn computer-aided engineering concepts used in a broad range of industry sectors through a unique combination of hardware, software and training. Most important, students will gain hands-on experience applying those concepts as they work on real-world industry projects."

"UGS PLM Solutions is providing Unigraphics software, enabling students to gain experience using computer-based design and analysis tools. Graduates from the University of British Columbia will be able to 'hit the ground running' when working for future employers in any sector," said Phil Taylor, president of UGS PLM Solutions Canada.

UBC has installed a new computing lab to incorporate the contribution. The lab, which enables students to design, engineer and validate products in a virtual world, opened earlier this year.

Dr. Martha Piper, president of UBC said, "We are proud to join the prestigious group of international institutions participating in the PACE program. The leading-edge learning tools will have a significant and lasting impact on engineering education, and help to position UBC as a source of highly qualified engineers. This in-kind contribution will expand our research capabilities and give our students hands-on training in the most advanced computer-aided design and engineering methods available today."

"The PACE in-kind contribution to the Faculty of Applied Science at UBC creates a world-class environment that will allow our future engineers to develop the skills most needed by industry," said Dr. Michael Isaacson, Dean of the Faculty of Applied Science. "This represents an important investment that will bring enormous benefits to the Faculty, the University, and industry, but most especially to the students."

Shirley Bond, B.C. Minister of Advanced Education congratulated both UBC and the PACE partners. “You have found an innovative way to expand research capacity and new knowledge -- which benefits students, society and your organizations. Today’s announcement shows what can happen when industry partners with education to address a common need, something our government strongly supports.”

To date, 26 academic institutions in Canada, the U.S., Mexico, Europe and China have been selected to participate in the PACE program. Twenty-four institutions, including UBC, have formally been announced. The value of contributions to date is close to $3 billion in total with almost $460 million donated to institutions in Canada* (UBC, Dalhousie University, the University of Toronto, the University of Waterloo, and Queen's University). Canadian universities involved may also further leverage the PACE contribution through application to federal and provincial matching fund programs.

*Note: all figures are in Canadian dollars

More information about GM of Canada can be found at: www.gmcanada.com.

More information about Sun Microsystems can be found at: www.sun.com.

More information about EDS can be found at: www.eds.com. Unigraphics is a registered trademark of EDS or its subsidiaries in the United States and in other countries.

More information about UBC can be found at: www.ubc.ca.

More information about PACE can be found at: www.PACEpartners.org.

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Contact

UBC
Michelle Cook
Tel: 604.822.2948
E-mail: michelle.cook@ubc.ca

General Motors of Canada Limited
Pam McLaughlin
Tel: 905.644.2728
E-mail: pam.mclaughlin@gm.com

Sun Microsystems of Canada Inc.
Shirley Horvat
Tel: 905.513.4856
E-mail: shirley.horvat@sun.com

EDS Canada
Stephen Heckbert
Tel: 613.787.4664
E-mail: stephen.heckbert@eds.com

UGS PLM Solutions - Canada
Phil Taylor
Tel: 905.212.4513
E-mail: philip.w.taylor@eds.com