UBC Reports | Vol. 48 | No. 12 | Oct. 10, 2002

In the News

Highlights of UBC Media Coverage in September 2002

Compiled By Michelle Cook

Kids can jump their way to strong bones

Something as simple as jumping off and on to low platforms can make a child’s bones stronger. It can be accomplished in as little as 10 minutes, three times a week, and requires nothing more high-tech than platforms 10-50 centimetres in height, UBC Asst. Prof. of Human Kinetics Heather McKay told the National Post. However, bone that is not stressed in exercise can lose density, so the children will have to make exercise a lifetime habit to keep the benefit, McKay said.

More foreign students choose UBC

Applications by foreign students wanting to attend UBC are up 43 per cent this year, to 4,029 from 2,814 last year. Don Wehrung, director of UBC’s international student initiative, attributes part of the increase to fallout from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the U.S.

“The U.S. is sending a signal that it’s being more circumspect in granting student authorizations. For international students, the perception is that it will take longer and they’ll have a harder time.” Wehrung told the Vancouver Sun. He added that Canadian schools are also benefiting from years of marketing themselves overseas, from relatively inexpensive tuition and living costs and from the good reputations many Canadian schools have abroad.

All fat is not bad

Canadians can look forward to greater flexibility in tailoring a daily diet that appeals to them but also fits a healthy lifestyle, according to a major North American nutrition study released yesterday. UBC Food and Nutrition Prof. Susan Barr, who led a report subcommittee, told the Toronto Star that the report makes it clear that a healthy diet does need some fat. The report by Canadian and U.S. scientists recommends wide ranges for healthy levels of carbohydrates, fat and protein to provide the necessary daily calories for normal eating.

Schools of higher earning

Years of putting off much-needed maintenance work and rising enrolment levels have made universities about as desperate for cash as freshmen at a year-end pub crawl. Considering how poorly equities are performing, pension funds and insurance companies have voraciously gobbled up the university debentures - rated as investment grade by the various bond agencies - as a safe way to invest in their own futures. UBC’s associate treasurer Peter Smailes told Canadian Business magazine that having bonds allows UBC to go ahead with projects without donations. “Donors see that, and they want to come in.”

The debenture issues range in size from $125 million at UBC to $225 million at Concordia in Montreal. So far, only four Canadian institutions have issued bonds: UBC, Concordia, U of T and York University.

UBC positioned to be a global leader

UBC President Martha Piper’s keynote address to 800 participants of the Sept. 4 Global Citizenship conference was reprinted on the Vancouver Sun editorial page. In it, Piper said 9/11 was a harsh wake-up call, and if we are to live in one world we must all assume and fulfill our responsibilities as global citizens.

“This is a fight that a university, every university, must join. And, we believe that the University of British Columbia, located in one of the world’s most culturally diverse and tolerant cities and linked to the world’s most advanced research and educational institutions is ideally positioned to assume a leadership role,” Piper said.

Unfriendly fire in the Far East

A year after 9/11, the search for culprits and co-conspirators in Southeast Asia has yielded meagre results. UBC Director of Canada-Asia Policy Studies Paul Evans told the Far Eastern Economic Review that the U.S. war on terrorism has meant less to Southeast Asia than the 1997 regional economic crisis.

With ruling political parties taking advantage of the U.S. anti-terrorism programme for their own purposes, “the overall result is a more conservative order” in eastern Asia, says Evans.

Wine Library opens

UBC’s newest library doesn’t have any books in it, only thousands of bottles of wine donated from B.C. and around the world. The collection in the Wine Library, part of the UBC Wine Research Centre, will help researchers evaluate how well B.C. wines age and how they compare to other international varieties.

“We only select those [B.C. wines] that have the potential to age and we approach the winery and they donate 24 bottles of each wine and we put it in here and age it in the temperature- and humidity-controlled conditions. Every year we taste one bottle and we also analyze a bottle from that line using sophisticated analytical methods,” explained UBC Prof. Hennie van Vuuren, the Centre’s director, to Global TV.

UBC economist one of Canada’s best

A Toronto Star business report calls UBC Economics Prof. John Helliwell “one of a handful of truly able economists” that “Canada is fortunate in having.”

“Helliwell deserves attention not just because he has outstanding economic credentials but also because he is an innovative thinker whose research often ends up leading to conclusions quite different from conventional wisdom,” said the Star’s economics editor David Crane.

UBC remembers 9/11

The Global TV Noon News Hour broadcast live on Sept. 11 from UBC’s Robson Square campus, where a memorial was held to remember those lost on Sept. 11, 2001.

In acknowledging the tragic anniversary, UBC President Martha Piper told those assembled, “As a university, I think we see the only way that we can respond or act is through increased knowledge and understanding and developing a sense of respect and trust as a community. So our role is really to educate the future citizens of the world.”

Can Lit’s man of the moment

Dr. Anthony Cheung from the UBC InVitro Fertilization program told Sing Tao Daily that only 10 per cent of couples suffering from infertility undergo InVitro treatment, mainly due to the high cost.