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Author: Comms

UBC-GSS Welcomes Funding and Extension of BC Graduate Scholarships Program

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The University of British Columbia Graduate Student Society (UBC-GSS) is delighted by today’s announcement by the BC Government of the extension of the BC Graduate Scholarship with $3.75 million in additional funding over the next two years. The investment supports 250 scholarships for students in graduate degree programs at 10 public post-secondary institutions. Each award will be for a minimum of $15,000.

The BC Graduate Scholarship, introduced by the BC government in 2018, provides merit-based funding to hundreds of highly skilled and talented graduate students across the province. The Program plays a key role in helping the province attract top talent to pursue graduate education in BC.

Increasing government support and funding for graduate education has been a priority advocacy item for the UBC-GSS. The Society has been a strong advocate for extension of the BC Graduate Scholarship since its inception in 2018. Recommendations to make the BC Graduate Scholarship program a permanent fixture in the post-secondary funding landscape was a top priority item in UBC-GSS 2020 BC Budget Submission.

“We’re delighted that the BC Government has chosen to support the continuation of the BC Graduate Scholarship program. Extending this funding has been an advocacy priority for successive GSS Executive teams and we have been lucky to have strong support from the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies and partners at other Universities in making that case to the province. It is exciting to see that work bear fruit.”

Kimani Karangu, UBC-GSS President

“Graduate students are the drivers of research and innovation in BC at a time when we need it most. They play a key role in helping BC address many of the pressing challenges we face today, like climate change and COVID-19, by developing innovative new solutions. This funding is a much-needed investment to support and revamp BC’s research and innovation capacity. In an increasingly knowledge-driven economy, grad students are the future researchers, knowledge leaders and experts we need to develop the next stage of BC’s economy post-COVID19.”

Alireza Kamyabi, UBC-GSS VP External Relations

For Further Information contact:

  • Kimani Karangu, President UBC Graduate Student Society
  • president@gss.ubc.ca
  • Alireza Kamyabi, VP External Relations UBC Graduate Student Society
  • vpexternal@gss.ubc.ca

Statement on Anti-Asian Racism

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Asian students both domestic and international are a large and valued part of the graduate student community here at UBC. Whether you are from Canada’s diverse Asian communities or an international student coming to study in British Columbia, you deserve the right to study in an environment that is safe and free from prejudice.

The recent rise of anti-Asian prejudice amplified by COVID-19, is even more saddening, given the history of anti-Asian discrimination in British Columbia. From the earliest days of settlement Asian immigrants were excluded from Society, denied their rights, and, in the case of Japanese Canadians, sent to internment camps during the Second World War. Great efforts that have been made in recent years to elucidate and address this troubled history. But more work is required.

We were pleased to see the UBC President address this issue forcefully in his statement (March 20). We are also hopeful that new policy initiatives like the Anti-Racism and Inclusive Excellence Taskforce will help address racism on campus.

Last year the GSS established its own Anti-Racism Taskforce to address issues of prejudice and discrimination, and to make concrete policy recommendations focused on graduate students. We actively encourage any graduate student who wishes to discuss these difficult issues to reach out to us. Your voice will be heard, and we will take your concerns to those who make decisions. Each of us has a role to play in challenging racism and prejudice where we see it and in calling for policies that promote equity.

Contact the GSS Anti-Racism Taskforce

Read UBC President Santa Ono’s statement on this issue

Graduate students call on federal government to utilize university residence isolation plans as an equitable alternative to mandatory hotel stay for arriving international students

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[vc_row][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]Eight graduate student societies and associations, representing 91,000 graduate students across Canada, are calling on the federal government to approve university-administered quarantine plans at university residences as an equitable alternative to 3-day mandatory hotel stay for arriving international students.[/vc_column_text][ultimate_spacer height=”15″][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″ css=”.vc_custom_1615766077586{background-color: #008186 !important;}”][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][ult_content_box bg_color=”#008186″ box_shadow=”horizontal:px|vertical:px|blur:px|spread:px|style:none|” hover_box_shadow=”horizontal:px|vertical:px|blur:px|spread:px|style:none|”][vc_column_text]

Read Graduate Students’ Joint Letter to the Federal Government 

[/vc_column_text][/ult_content_box][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][ultimate_spacer height=”15″][vc_column_text]On February 21st, 2021, Canada introduced new restrictions on international travel requiring all travellers arriving in Canada to isolate in a federally-approved hotel for three days at their own expense. While restrictions on international travel to Canada are required to ensure safety and wellbeing of travellers and residents, we believe the unequitable barriers to entry to Canada must be mitigated for those that must enter the country for essential travel.

Graduate students are a group that must enter Canada to be able to partake in their studies, which is primarily research which takes place in research facilities on and around campuses.

As organizations advocating on behalf of graduate students, our priority is the health and safety of our respective student bodies and broader community. We believe university residences’ isolation programs are a safe, equitable and affordable alternative to mandatory 3-day hotel stay for international graduate students who must enter the country for their research and studies.[/vc_column_text][ultimate_spacer height=”15″][vc_column_text]“We believe there is an opportunity here to utilize university residence isolation programs as a safe and affordable alternative to mandatory hotel stay that will reduce costs for students and allow for greater utilization of hotel space for other arriving groups. Our university residences’ quarantine plans have proven to be safe and effective programs so far and we think approving them would be beneficial especially as we see universities start to re-open and more students arrive in Canada”.
– Alireza Kamyabi, Vice-President External Relations, Graduate Student Society of University of British Columbia Vancouver

“International graduate students are key contributors to the academic mission of Canadian universities, and we need to reduce travel-related barriers so they can begin or continue their studies here. Our universities’ federally-approved isolation packages are the ideal compromise between affordability, safety, and accessibility for these students.”
– Marc Waddingham, President, University of Alberta’s Graduate Student Association, gsa.president@ualberta.ca

“It’s already difficult for international students to adjust to a foreign country. In addition to that, incoming international students face high financial stress due to increased payments that are required to start a life in a new home country. Forcing students to also pay a minimum of $2,000 for a hotel room stay is creating more financial barriers for students, especially when universities are prepared to receive international students during the pandemic and have government approved quarantine plans in place.”
– Humaira Inam, President, University of Saskatchewan’s Graduate Students’ Association[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Read the letter to the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, and the Minister of Health

Letter[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

GSS Haiku Competition Spring 2021

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Calling all poets and Haiku-enthusiasts! Spring is here and we’re feeling sentimental. Tell us about all your big grad student feels in tiny 5-7-5 haiku form, get some laughs, and maybe even win a prize!

Theme: Grad Students in Spring

Do you have a love for language? A preference for poetry? A hankering for haiku? Send us your silliest haiku poetry about springtime, your grad student experience, just whatever those big feels are! Submit your poetry for the chance to win a prize and the honour of having your poem displayed on our website and social media, plus the prestige, of course. How about something to start you off?

 

Title: Zoom Class Feels

Springtime poetry;

Open up about that time

You forgot to mute

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Criteria:

  • All UBC Vancouver Graduate students are invited to participate
  • Maximum 3 entries per person
  • The judges will be taking in consideration the following: creativity, humour and adherence to the 5-7-5 syllable haiku rule!
  • Entries can be in text or images of text in .jpeg or .png format
  • By submitting your photo to the contest, you agree that your content is original and not plagiarized; and as the author, you retain all rights to the creative material, and grant the GSS a non-exclusive, royalty-free, perpetual license to display your poem in social media, marketing publications, on our website or elsewhere.
  • Please keep your poetry family-friendly!

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Submissions:

  • Submit your photo via Instagram DM (UBCGSS) or to vpstudents@gss.ubc.ca
  • Submissions must include your name, email, name of your program, poem title, and poem itself
  • Submissions close at noon on March 26, 2021

Prize: $25 gift card of your choice and a feature on GSS social media and newsletter!

 

*Winner will be contacted via email and posted on Social Media as well as the GSS Newsletter

 

Contact Us: If you have questions, please contact events@gss.ubc.ca or vpstudents@gss.ubc.ca

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Notice of Disqualification: 2021 GSS Elections

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The GSS Elections Committee has served a notification of disqualification to candidate Remzi Fuentes for the 2021 GSS Executive Elections.

This decision was made as a result of violations of elections policy and in the interest of preserving the integrity of the elections by ensuring fairness for all candidates.

Please note that this does not affect the elections process. The current ballot  will remain open until March 12 and graduate students will still be able to vote as normal.

If you have questions please contact the Electoral and Student Engagement Officer: email

GSS AGM 2020 – 2021

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Calling ALL Graduate Students!

We invite you to the Graduate Student Society’s Annual General Meeting! This year we will be holding both the 2020 and 2021 meetings on the same evening. All graduate students at UBC Vancouver are members of their Graduate Student Society, and the AGM is your opportunity to make important collective decisions for the society and to hear about the Society’s work in 2019 and 2020.

 

For the first time we will be hosting the meeting online via Zoom:

Thu, March 18, 2021

5:00 PM – 7:00 PM PDT

 

Presentations and discussions will be made on:

  • GSS Year in Review – what did the Society accomplish this year?
  • GSS Executives’ Work – what did our executives get up to?
  • Financial Statements
  • Appointment of Auditor

 

Graduate Students of UBC Vancouver: Your presence at the AGM is important. It allows us to secure  quorum and vote on important issues!

To thank you for making your voice heard, attendees will be entered to win some amazing raffle prizes of up to $250 value! (You must attend the AGM to be entered).

 

Make sure your attendance and student # are registered, and RSVP your attendance here!

 

Agendas

2020 AGM Agenda (draft)

2021 AGM Agenda (draft)

 

Supporting Documents

Students with mobility limitations, get access to new, accessible computing

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[vc_row][vc_column width=”3/4″][vc_column_text]UBC graduate students can get access to a new service device that makes computers and laptops more user friendly for people with mobility limitations, allowing them to stay connected and maintain their independence.

netClé is designed to flexible for each user’s particular needs. The variety of connectable sensors, switches, and input devices which allow users to navigate a cursor with touch or movement from a single digit, limb – or even their head.

The project team are looking for individuals who are willing to use the netClé and provide feedback. The team have developed a method to install netClé remotely, which respects all social distancing requirements.

This is a free service that will be customised to the needs of the individual, so if you think it’s something that you could benefit from, contact the project team to get an assessment.[/vc_column_text][dt_fancy_separator][vc_column_text]The team list some simple criteria you’ll need to be eligible:

  • I use a computer and have a disability or physical condition that makes it challenging to do so using standard devices (mouse & keyboard)
  • I have a computer with a stable internet connection (Windows, Mac & Linux laptops or desktops are all acceptable), and:
  • a valid email address
  • audio (mic and speakers) and video (camera) capabilities
  • a friend, family member or caregiver who can provide assistance (if needed) to unbox the unit when it is delivered, connect the various components and position the input device(s) for your use.

If you’re interested in accessing the service, or just want more information, contact the netClé team here: https://tetrasociety.org/netcle/

Additional Information

  • Students may require assistance to install device, depending on their mobility limitations.
  • The device collects no usage or personal data. Students will be contacted for feedback and may decline to answer questions. They will be able to keep the device either way.
  • The device has guaranteed technical support until the end of March, and may have more if funding is extended for the project.
  • If you do access the service, please let the project team know that  you heard about the service from the UBC GSS

If you have any problems getting access to the service, do contact the GSS advocacy team: advocacy@gss.ubc.ca[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/4″][vc_single_image image=”24729″ img_size=”medium” alignment=”center”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Grad Life Through a Lens 2021

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[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1610649447718{border-bottom-width: 20px !important;padding-bottom: 30px !important;}”]Lucia Lam: Winner of the Winter 2020 Photo Contest[/vc_column_text][ultimate_spacer height=”10″][vc_column_text]

Graduate student life is better when it’s shared with friends and peers. Grad Life through your Lens is a competition that is about sharing. Sharing the experiences of campus life with other graduate students by capturing one of the moments of beauty, humour or friendship that make up graduate student life. We want images that capture your experiences at UBC!

 

Theme: Graduate Student Impact

Do you have an image that captures the essence and impact of your graduate research/studies? This could show off the outcomes of research, the impact on individuals, or even the way graduate study affects you personally. Just be creative. Enter the 2021 GSS Graduate Impact Competition to win a prize , and the opportunity and prestige to see your image displayed on and off campus. This competition is open to all UBC-Vancouver graduate students in both thesis- and course-based programs.

Criteria:

  • All UBC Graduate students are invited to participate.
  • No more than 3 entries per person.
  • The judges will be taking in consideration the following: creativity, composition and relevance to the topic/theme.
  • Use common file formats (jpeg, gif, png, tiff) and a max. of 5 MB per photo. Make sure you retain a high-resolution copy of your photographs to ensure we can properly display them.
  • By submitting your photo to the contest, you must agree that you have permission to take the photo of the selected location, intellectual and/or artistic copyright, and individuals, and have their permission to enter the photo in this contest; and as the photographer, you retain copyright to the photo submitted, you grant the GSS a non-exclusive, royalty-free, perpetual license to display your submitted images and use them in future marketing publications, on our website or elsewhere.
  • Judges reserve the right to exclude any photos that are deemed inappropriate and/or are a violation of Canadian Copyright laws.
  • Please do not submit photos of children unless there’s given consent.

Submissions:

  • Submit your photo via Instagram DM (UBCGSS) or to events@gss.ubc.ca
  • Submissions must include your name, title of the photo (description), location the photo was taken, and the name of your program.
  • Submissions close at noon on February 15th, 2021

Prize: photo displayed in the GSS Loft as well as website plus $100 Gift Card

*Winner will be announced via email and posted on Social Media as well as the GSS Newsletter

Contact Us: If you have questions, please contact events@gss.ubc.ca

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University Announces Funding Boost for PhD Students

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The University has approved an increase in  the annual minimum guaranteed funding package for PhD students, which will be $22000 from September 2021. The current package is $18000.

This welcome increase in a consistent source of income will particularly help the most financially vulnerable students.

This change will bring this core funding above the poverty line benchmark set by the Government of British Columbia at $20,000 per person.

Increasing the minimum stipend was once of the main recommendations from the GSS’s 2019 presentation to the Board of Governors, which was informed by the GSS Student Satisfaction Survey and the GSS 2019 Funding Survey. The responses to the latter survey reinforced the financial challenges graduate students face, with 60% of respondents reporting difficulties managing basic expenses, and signaling the cost of housing as a particularly heavy burden.

This change was driven by a collaborative effort between the Graduate Student Society and the Faculty of Graduate Studies, who have worked with campus partners, to develop this proposal and to ensure that making this change would not adversely affect access to graduate programs, or any student’s existing funding supports.

The increase in minimum funding, coupled with the recent implementation of the President’s Academic Excellence Initiative Award (PAEI), which was also a direct outcome of the advocacy efforts of the GSS, ensures an improvement in affordability for all PhD students, and most significantly for those in the most need. The PAEI was rolled out in Summer of 2020, covering 17% of the tuition cost after awards, and will increase to 25% effective September 2021.

GSS VP Academic and University Affairs Nicolas Romualdi comments: “We’re delighted to see the University endorsing a policy that will support graduate students in such a significant way. It was heartening to see the broad cross campus support for making this change quickly from faculty and administration alike.

Increasing this core funding is the best and most equitable way to ensure that students across all programs, and from all backgrounds can afford graduate studies at UBC.  

We believe that funding graduate students benefits the entire University Community, as it allows students to focus their efforts on research rather than finding ways to make ends meet.

I would like to personally thank the Dean of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies and her team for all the effort that went into the analysis of this proposal. I would also like to thank my predecessor, Tarique Benbow, for the work done to create and carry out the 2019 GSS Funding Survey, whose results continue to inform and support our advocacy efforts in this area.” [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

GSS Council Summary – December 2020

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[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Welcome to the summary of GSS Council on December 10, 2020 (December’s Council happens on the 2nd Thursday instead of the 3rd to allow our Councillors to take a break for the holidays, even though that might not involve travel this year!).

Congratulations to our new Councillor(s): Bethany Adair (Medical Geneticfs), Taryn Scarff (Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries), William Canero (School of Community and Regional Planning), and the re-election of Virginia Pichler (Microbiology and Immunology).

We also welcome a lot of new and renewed Affiliated Organizations: Chemical and Biological Engineering (CHBE) Graduate Student Council, GrasPods (BC Cancer Graduate Student and Post Doctoral Fellow Society), Geography Graduate Student Association, Institute of Ocean and Fisheries Graduate Student Society, and IDEAS (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Access and Safe Space).

 

Council heard several important guest presentations, including:

  • one from our very own Dean Susan Porter from the Faculty of Postdoctoral and Graduate Studies about the Graduate Life Centre project and the successful advocacy to increase minimum funding for PhD students;
  • the annual audit presentation from our accountants (our paperwork got a shoutout);
  • and a set of presentations from StudentCare, the company that provides your Extended Health & Dental Plan, on some possible options for a legal representation service for students

Council passed a “consent agenda”, a set of bylaw amendments previously approved for the 2020 AGM to be included in the upcoming referendum, and some larger ones separately also for referendum. These included proposed changes that are small and “housekeeping” in nature like how we edit our Policy Manual typos (exciting!), to larger proposals such as a new fee to maintain the GSS Graduate Student Financial Aid, an emergency fund for graduate students that are in financial distress. All these proposed amendments can be found in the Council minutes and will appear in the upcoming referendum in early 2021. Other discussion maters included updates on the VP University & Academic Affair, Nicolas Romualdi, and his office’s work setting remote invigilation policies, a financial update from Financial and Executive Oversight Officer Tayo Olarewaju, debate on endorsing the #StudentsforLoujain campaign, and updates on committee goals from the Governance & Accountability committee.

As always, minutes will be available once approved on the GSS website for more details. The next meeting will be on Thursday, January 21, 2021. All graduate students are welcome to attend!

 

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