Commitment to Community Engagement

The University serves and engages society to enhance economic, social, and cultural well-being.

Community Engagement is one of the university’s top three priorities, as outlined in Place and Promise, UBC’s Strategic Plan.

As a world-class research institution and public university, UBC has a responsibility to address the aspirations and challenges facing society, and to learn from the experience and knowledge of communities. It commits to advancing our communities by:

Goal 1: Dedicating University resources to public understanding of societal issues and stimulate action for positive change.

Goal 2: Being a leader in fostering student, faculty, staff, and alumni engagement within the wider community.

Community engagement happens in all areas of the university, through events, student projects, research partnerships, teaching activities and by all faculties and departments. To support the coordination of some of these activities and to ensure a strategic focus is maintained and goals are achieved, the Community Engagement Office was opened on the Okanagan campus in May of 2012.

The efforts of the Community Engagement Office are directed to:

For the external communities: Kelowna and surrounding Okanagan communities, and the world

• Offering a central contact for those who do not have a relationship with UBC
• Bringing awareness to ways to experience what is happening in and around UBC
• Furthering community connections with UBC partners to explore what we can create together

For the campus community: faculty, staff, and students

• Providing event guidance and resources for public events
• Capturing and measuring the community engagement work by UBC

In 2013, with the opening of the Community Partnership Unit (CPU) at UBC Vancouver, work began to develop a system-wide community engagement strategy which involves the Okanagan campus. The CPU looks forward to learning from experiences, perspectives, and contributions from those across both campus to support the development of a Community Engagement Strategy for UBC. Learn more and get involved in shaping UBC’s Community Engagement Strategy.