Strategic Alignment
UBC Okanagan’s research and innovation are guided by, and closely tied to, UBC’s seven Strategic Directions and UBC Okanagan’s three core Academic priorities.
We also work carefully to ensure alignment with other ongoing priorities and plans, including the Indigenous Strategic Plan, UBC Okanagan’s Declaration of Truth and Reconciliation commitments, the Strategic Equity and Anti-Racism (StEAR) Framework, the Focus on People Framework and the UBC Climate Action Plan.
Through Innovation UBC, we help power the translation of research discoveries into the next generation of products, treatments, services, applications and technologies for the benefit of local and global communities.
By aligning UBCO’s research with these important strategic elements, we have a clear and focused roadmap that enables us to build on current strengths and prepare for new opportunities, while continuing to be a leader in addressing critical regional and global challenges.
Strategic Directions
UBC’s Strategic Directions 2025–2030 are intended to advance academic excellence and impact, as well as university operations, and designed to help catalyze our impact as a top-ranked research university. UBC Okanagan research is working to help bring these strategic directions to life.
Discover and Innovate for Impact
Accelerate excellence in research, scholarship and teaching approaches that translate into learner, economic and societal impact.
Create Flexibility for Learners
Increase program and pathway flexibility, interdisciplinarity, access and agency for diverse learners.
Enhance Experiential Education
Enhance experiential education opportunities to provide learners with hands-on knowledge and skills to navigate and contribute to an evolving, complex workplace and society.
Partner for Purpose
Expand the number and scope of strategic, reciprocal partnerships that address the critical, diverse and emergent needs of the people and communities in BC, Canada and across the world.
Maximize UBC System Strengths
Reinforce and promote the unique academic, research and operational strengths of our two distinct and complementary campuses while facilitating transformative collaboration within and across our campuses and learning sites throughout the province.
Excel in the Development and Application of Emerging Technologies
Advance the creation and responsible use of emerging technologies, particularly AI, for research, teaching, student learning and operations.
Nurture a Strong and Vibrant UBC Community
Further enhance our UBC sense of community and spirit so students, faculty and staff feel a strong sense of belonging and wellbeing and take pride in being fully part of UBC.
UBC Okanagan Academic Priorities
UBCO’s academic priorities help define our campus’s future and are a big part of what sets us apart from other universities. They provide a strong foundation for academic units to work collectively towards a unified vision that will amplify our influence and focus on transformative engagement with our local and global communities. Aligning UBC Okanagan’s research with these three academic priorities helps ensure a consistent path forward.
Resilient people, communities, economies and environments in support of a sustainable future
UBC Okanagan approaches resilience as a complex, interdisciplinary challenge that demands insights from across academic domains to foster healthy people, communities, economies and environments. Our research, curricula and creative outputs empower students with the skills and knowledge necessary to tackle one of the most urgent issues of our time—sustaining the planet for future generations.
The importance of place to inform a global perspective
UBCO fosters community-engaged research and applied learning to address critical regional challenges that have global implications and works to solve broader global problems by applying a local and experiential lens. The Okanagan region is confronting diverse climate challenges, which deeply shape and inform our academic mission, as does our historic partnership with the Okanagan Nation Alliance (ONA).
Distinctive student experiences that cultivate success
High-impact student experiences are the foundation of learning at UBCO, with opportunities spanning classrooms, industries, our communities and the globe. Students at all stages of their learning journey have the unique opportunity to engage in research and participate in a vast range of experiential and international study options, ensuring students develop skills in diverse, real-world settings.