On September 18, Senate met for the first time of the 2024/25 academic year to discuss a report on undergraduate research opportunities and speak on international student enrolments. Senate also voted to pass an updated policy for how external reviews of academic units should be conducted.
Here’s what you might have missed.
Comparing undergraduate research opportunities
Provost Dr. Gage Averill presented a report on undergraduate research opportunities and engagement across both UBC campuses.
The report broadly details curricular research engagement opportunities like thesis courses and co-curricular opportunities like Go Global. Senate scrutiny, however, fell upon the report’s very first graph for differences between UBC and UBCO students’ quantified research experiences.
Of the undergraduates who reported participating in experiential learning, only 32 per cent of UBC students said that participation was in research compared to 58 per cent of UBCO students.
Averill said he didn’t think the report was entirely accurate.
“I don’t think [that chart] represents the full [extent of] opportunities that students get on this campus,” said Averill, referring to UBC’s Vancouver site. “We have a long way to go to brand what we do here for research, for our students.”
When Senator Anubhav Pratap-Singh asked whether current labs could expand to accept more students, however, Averill replied in the negative.
“An effort [was made] to drive more students into those kind of supervised research experiences using funding, [but] that funding has run out.”
International student enrolments
UBC President and Senate Chair Benoit-Antoine Bacon moved discussion on to speak about UBC’s status as a global learning community and its diminished enrolment of international students.
“To ensure that we maintain that reputation [for international teaching and research excellence,] we take a very strategic-data-informed approach to international recruitment and admissions,” Bacon said.
The Canadian federal government announced an intake cap on international study permits that started to take place this September. According to a recent Toronto Star article, the decrease in international students across Canada could be as large as 45% overall.
“Our assessment is that [the caps] further damaged the Canada brand and made it less likely that students would choose to come to Canada and, by extension, to UBC.”
Bacon then encouraged Senate to stay informed about British Columbia’s upcoming provincial election. He noted that whichever party wins will have power over UBC’s functioning realities, especially as it loses funds from the dwindling influx of international students.
“We love all parties, at least in theory, and we’re keenly aware of the potential impact that provincial policy decisions can have on the post secondary sector, so we care about what happens,” Bacon said.
External review policy approved
Senate also saw a presentation from the Academic Policy Committee about updating current policies for external review of academic units.
The proposed policy update came after having no revision since 2005, and is designed to “enhance transparency and accountability in external reviews of academic units and their programs.”
After some discussion about the appropriate minimum number of reviewers required for any one academic unit, the motion was approved.
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