The Senate meets monthly to discuss and vote on UBC academic matters. But, Senate can often be hard to understand for the average student and the agenda docket can be super long and dull to read.
Senate Recentred is written by members of the Student Senate Caucus to demystify Senate by giving students a snapshot of what Senate is doing this month.
Here’s what to expect at the March 15 Senate meeting.
Digital learning assessment tool fee limit
In an effort to move toward the use of open educational resources (OERs), Senate will be voting on changes to fee-based digital learning tools used for assessment.
These include a cost cap of 12 per cent of the domestic course cost (which is equivalent to around $70 for a 3 credit arts course), a cap of 20 per cent of the final course grade which can be attributed to assessments using fee-based digital learning tools and that all fees must be outlined on the course syllabus. There are exceptions to these rules.
This historic vote will bring UBC Vancouver’s policy closer to UBC Okanagan's digital learning tool ban. The UBC Vancouver Senate expects these fees to be gone by the 2028/2029 academic year.
Indigenous Relations & Climate Economy course a requirement for MBA Climate Track
In February, the Curriculum Committee brought forward the approval of the new MBA Climate Track which included BAEN 580A: Indigenous Relations & Climate Economy as an elective for the program.
Student senators, led by Faculty of Education Student Senator Holly Patraschuk and Graduate Student Senator Jorden Hendry, were vocal about their opposition to this course being an elective and voted to send this back to the committee for further consideration, calling on UBC to honor its commitment to our Indigenous Strategic Plan. This was successful and resulted in this program track to be sent back to the Curriculum committee.
The new program proposal requires BAEN 580A, replacing BAEN 549: Sustainability & Innovation.
Bachelor of Media Studies second year transfer stream approval
Admission requirements for students transferring into the Bachelor of Media Studies program — including courses and a supplementary application — will be voted on during the March 15 Senate meeting.
Shpeller is a fifth-year biomedical engineering student, the Faculty of Applied Science student senator and Student Senate Caucus co-chair. Hajizadeh is a third-year international relations student, a student senator-at-large and Student Senate Caucus co-chair.
If you have questions for the Student Senate Caucus, you can email co-chairs Laia Shpeller at laia.shpeller@ubc.ca and Romina Hajizadeh at romihajizadeh@gmail.com.
Senate Recentred is a column written by members of the Student Senate Caucus to demystify senate from the inside, out.