UBC Okanagan is pushing the frontier

The economic structure of Kelowna and the Okanagan Valley has undergone a major change in the last 20 years. Now the largest economic sectors in Kelowna are aerospace, health care and education.

The growth of the Okanagan campus of the University of British Columbia is a case in point. The Okanagan campus was effectively established in 2005 and situated on the northern campus of what had been part of Okanagan College. In the 13 intervening years it has grown to become a major force in the Southern Interior.

In terms of its size and economic impact, the statistics are impressive. UBC Okanagan’s enrollment is now just shy of

8,000 full-time undergraduate students, including 1,820 international students. There are almost

1,000 graduate students. Annual operating expenses are over $150 million.

The logistics of this operation are also impressive. Dormitories house 1,676 students. The kitchen facilities serve just short of one million meals a year. The average weekly person-trips to and from the campuses total 18,115 to 10,000 by vehicles and 5,975 by transit.

The university estimates the economic impact of its operations is $1.5 billion composed of four factors: direct spending, nonuniversity spending that would not occur without the university being here, the impact of the university educated work force and finally the new knowledge created by or facilitated by the university. Over the next few years, major construction projects for additional student housing and a new dining hall totalling $71 million will begin in 2019.

Impressive as these statistics are, the longterm impact of UBC Okanagan on the Valley is evidenced in other important trends. First, of the over 17,000 alumni, 48 per cent have remained in the valley, creating an attractive and growing pool of human capital that is enabling economic expansion throughout the valley.

Second, because housing is prohibitively expensive in the lower mainland, UBC Vancouver is finding it harder to attract new faculty. These young academics can, however, afford to accept positions in Kelowna. That means the quality of junior faculty will steadily improve to the benefit of both students and the community as a whole.

Third, the institution is reaching out to the community in a myriad of ways.

The university’s library is undergoing a multi-million-dollar expansion scheduled to open next month. Recently, in co-operation with the Okanagan Regional Library at the main branch in downtown Kelowna, the university’s library set up a facility that allows local residents to access their holdings. All of the academic journals will be available as well as the full collection of digital records and books.

Books can reserved and picked up on the campus.

Fourth, in an impressive commitment to preserve the records held in heritage institutions throughout the Okanagan, UBC Okanagan has launched the Digitized Okanagan History project. In essence, it means that information vital to building a knowledge base on how, where, when and why development took place throughout the region will be systematically captured to be made available to researchers forever.

This project has concentrated on reducing barriers to participation by local organizations so that the actual capturing of the information in digital form takes place in each locality (there are 20 so far) before it is transferred to storage in the main UBCO library. It is also available via the platform Arca operated by the BC Electronic Library Network. The web address is doh.arcabc.ca/.

Community newspapers will eventually be added in digitized format to this data base. Moreover, a feasibility study will be undertaken during this academic year with a view to expanding data collection eastward into the Kootenay and Columbia regions of the province.

Finally, recall that the university has sponsored any number of events with excellent speakers on a wide range of topics as well as exhibitions on the campus. These all enrich the cultural and intellectual life of the community.

UBC Okanagan is pushing the frontier in many ways and we are all benefiting.

David Bond is a retired bank economist who resides in Kelowna.