Fostering global citizenship through UBC’s international strategy

For Murali Chandrashekaran, UBC’s first Vice-Provost, International, universities are key to building a more just and prosperous world.

“Universities bring people together from all over the world, expose us to knowledge and experiences about the world, and can empower us all to want to solve problems facing our planet. But in order to do this, we need to have people from around the world here at UBC, and we need UBC to be out in the world.”

That’s where UBC’s international strategy comes in to play.

“It’s a call to action for UBC’s global engagement,” Murali explains. “It outlines a new way of thinking about UBC’s role in the world and sees our institution as having a social purpose and a responsibility to society, both locally and globally.”

One prominent example of the university’s changing role in the world is the recently formed U7 Alliance. UBC’s President and Vice-Chancellor, Santa Ono, recently returned from the inaugural U7 summit in Paris, France, which convened university leaders from leading institutions in G7 countries as well as 14 other nations to co-create a series of commitments that universities can pursue to address the most pressing global challenges in a multilateral context. President Ono said he was “beyond impressed” with French President Emmanuel Macron’s support of the alliance. This new positioning of universities as engaged global actors lies at the heart of UBC’s evolving international strategy.

It outlines a new way of thinking about UBC’s role in the world and sees our institution as having a social purpose and a responsibility to society, both locally and globally.
Murali Chandrashekaran

Next steps

Gaining feedback from the UBC community has been incredibly important to Murali as he and his team work towards launching the strategy this fall. The Vice-Provost International team is providing the community with a final chance to provide their thoughts on the draft framework, themes and action directions to learn how they inspire staff, faculty and students, and how UBC can best engage to bring the strategy to life.

The draft framework, along with a brief survey, can be found online until August 15.

After distilling the comments received, a final draft of the strategy will be presented to a number of stakeholders for additional input, including student leadership and the Association of Pacific Rim Universities’ Senior International Leaders Meeting, taking place on UBC’s Vancouver campus from September 18 to 20, 2019. An official launch will take place later in the winter, after the strategy has been presented to UBC’s Senate and Board of Governors. Working groups will then be formed to create specific actions, determine resources needed, and develop implementation plans under each thematic area.

As for Murali, he believes the new strategy has ‘amazing potential.’

“UBC is already North America’s most international university, but we recognize that sustained excellence in research, education and engagement depends on the integration of diverse perspectives and approaches. This international strategy sets a path to harness the energies and strengths of an extraordinary institution and its many partners to affect sustainable and positive change, both locally and globally.”