KELOWNA – UBC Okanagan has received a a $40.65-million investment for a new Teaching and Learning Centre and a number of sustainability and infrastructure upgrades.
A product of the expansion and renewal of the campus library, the Teaching and Learning Centre will enhance the student learning and research experience as well as enable innovative research and partnerships with industry. The updated facility will include a digital technology centre and a visualization lab to facilitate high resolution data modelling in research fields such as advanced manufacturing, materials science and sustainability.
The cost of the Teaching and Learning Centre expansion and renewal is $35 million with $14.56 million from the Government of Canada, $10.62 million from the Province of British Columbia and $9.82 million from the university, thanks to an investment by the UBC Okanagan student body.
Funding will also support Environmental Sustainability Projects for Research Infrastructure, which will focus on sustainability upgrades to 11 Okanagan campus buildings. Included in this project is the provision of services and utilities at the UBC Innovation Precinct, which will facilitate university/industry co-location at the Okanagan campus and new economic activity in the region.
The total cost of the upgrades is $5.65 million with $1.41 million from the Government of Canada, $719,000 from the Province of British Columbia and $3.52 million from the university.
As a result of these investments, students, professors and researchers will work in state-of-the-art facilities that advance the country’s best research. They will collaborate in specially designed spaces that support lifelong learning and skills training. They will work in close proximity with partners to turn discoveries into products or services. In the process, they will train for – and invent – the high-value jobs of the future. Their discoveries will plant the seeds for the next generation of innovators.
Both projects are projected to be complete in April 2018 and will create an estimated 137 direct and 103 indirect jobs.