1. UniForum is an international study. How does it reflect our Canadian experience?

UniForum was designed with and for research-intensive universities in Australia. As it has expanded to New Zealand, the UK, and now Canada, the services and activities have proven to be fairly consistent, allowing for some localization to reflect a country’s experience. As our Canadian chapter grows, our participation will continue to inform and expand our collective influence.

Every university who participates runs their own UniForum study with their own study goals and their own data.

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2. Why aren’t faculty members included in UniForum@UBC?

The UniForum study looks at all services and activities that support the academic mission as provided by staff, research associates, librarians, and Extended Learning program directors (the study excludes faculty members).

We are surveying the same group again in Year 3 to keep the scope manageable. In future years, the project team will review whether to expand and include academic administrators.

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3. How will the data we gather be used?

The UniForum@UBC Steering Committee will oversee the use of our own data and has identified the following values and principles to guide decision-making:

1. Honour and foster the essential mandate of the university: student learning, excellence in teaching, research and scholarship, and community engagement.
2. Encourage, inspire, and value the highest standards for the University—the services we provide and the activities we engage in must ensure the university’s ability to meet its vision.
3. Recognize that the university is a complex, diverse, and decentralized organization, and that departments and faculties have developed different approaches and different practices which reflect their diverse disciplines and histories.
4. Strive for clarity in our practices and communications with improved work experiences, lines of sight and understanding of the connections between the work and the essential mandate.
5. Understand that our decisions are influenced by the university’s need to exercise fiscal responsibility and respect government constraints.
6. Bear in mind that commitments made today have implications for the future.

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4. UniForum is an international study. How is UBC protecting my privacy?

The UniForum study anonymizes record-level data. The personal information of individual staff and respondents is protected and encrypted.

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5. What reports will be generated and who can see them?

For those involved in collecting data, the UniForum@UBC Steering Committee presents an overview of results that highlights how UBC resources its services and activities compared to other universities of similar scale and complexity participating in UniForum. In addition, reports for each unit are available to senior administrators with support provided by the UniForum@UBC team.

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6. Where can I get help or find out more?

Please email the UniForum@UBC team at uniforum.help@ubc.ca and the team will be happy to help.

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