UBC Reports | Vol. 47 | No. 11 | July 12, 2001

University growth and development on track

New chairs, more funding, IT upgrades, Liu Centre and the move downtown are important advances

UBC is making great strides toward targets set in 1998 when it launched the Trek 2000 vision for the university in the 21st century, according to this year's Trek 2000 annual report.

"Since the publication of Trek 2000 in November 1998, we've achieved a number of significant goals," said UBC president Martha Piper of Trek 2000: The Story So Far... 2000-2001 Report released in early July. "In this second report, we've provided an overview of some key Trek-related actions completed during 2000-2001."

Trek 2000 outlines a series of principles, goals, strategies and timetables to guide UBC through the next decade with a focus on initiatives for people, research, community, learning and internationalization.

Some of UBC's achievements over the last 12 months in these areas include:

• Under the people pillar, appointing 80 new full-time tenure-track faculty and approving 37 Canada Research Chairs under the new Senate-approved Academic Plan.
• Securing increased provincial and federal funding for research, including $23.5 million for 195 science and engineering projects in the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) annual grants competition, and leading the country for the second year in obtaining Social Sciences and Humanities Research grants.
• Establishing a community presence in downtown Vancouver with the opening of the storefront Learning Exchange on Main Street to be followed by UBC's new downtown campus at Robson Square opening in fall 2001.
• Incorporating information technology into the learning environment by upgrading an additional 10 per cent of classrooms and labs and adding 1,760 connections to the campus network.
• Strengthening UBC's international links with the September 2000 opening of the Liu Centre for Global Studies, headed up by former foreign affairs minister Lloyd Axworthy.

For a copy of the Trek 2000 report contact the president's office.