UBC offers non-conventional ways to advance your sustainability learning while gaining academic credit. Browse the list below to explore these alternative credit options, such as courses which integrate experiential education at the UBC Farm and opportunities for students to develop their own sustainability-oriented course.

UBC SEEDS Program

UBC SEEDS (Social Ecological Economic Development Studies) is Western Canada’s first academic program that combines the energy and enthusiasm of students, the intellectual capacity of faculty and the commitment and expertise of staff to integrate sustainability on campus.  Using the campus as a living lab, the SEEDS program brings undergraduate and graduate students, faculty and staff together to work collaboratively on applied, accredited research projects that address real-life campus sustainability issues.

UBC Farm

The UBC Farm is an accessible and diverse field site for sustainability studies at the broad intersection of land, food, and community. Approximately 50 UBC credit courses from all disciplines have integrated on-farm practical components into their curricula, ranging from short visits, tours, workshops, and case studies to in-depth field laboratory projects, community service learning projects, and design-build projects.

The Centre for Sustainable Food Systems at UBC Farm is pleased to offer "Sowing Seeds for the Future", a hands-on, season-long practicum in sustainable agriculture. This eight month, part-time (520 hour) practicum offers instruction and work experience in small-scale sustainable agriculture.  In a hands-on learning approach, participants work alongside staff in the fields and at the market. Participants attend complementary lectures and participate in a variety of supplementary educational activities. The practicum is intended as a beginning point for aspiring growers, agricultural professionals and educators.

The UBC Farm summer internships are back for their second season! These internships offer a unique opportunity for students to gain hands-on experience at the UBC Farm while getting course credit. These internships are 4 months long, part-time, for-credit placements designed to engage students on a deeper level with their local food system while providing them with real-world work experience. Please follow the links below to find out more info about each individual internship:

Poultry Research, deadline March 9th: http://ubcfarm.ubc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Poultry-Research-Internship-Posting.pdf

Pollinator Biodiversity Research, deadline March 9th:  http://ubcfarm.ubc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Pollinator-Biodiversity-Internship-2012.pdf

CityStudio

As an initiative within Vancouver’s Campus City Collaborative (C3), CityStudio Vancouver aims to provide students and faculty from Vancouver’s six post secondary institutions the opportunity to collaborate with each other and with the City of Vancouver on real-world projects that implement Vancouver’s Greenest City 2020 Action Plan. In addition to this core studio course, a number of partner courses from the 6 campuses will simultaneously engage the theme, share research and work, and participate in events. The CityStudio aims to be an energetic hub and center for sustainability education in Vancouver by creating the world's most innovative inter-institutional campus-city collaboration for learning and implementation of urban sustainability strategies. The project and course work emphasize sustainability leadership, social enterprise, education of change managers and the development of green business. 

Semester in the City - Spring 2012

This 15 credit (DIAL 390, 391, 392) full time course will be held at Vancouver's CityStudio and is be open to students from six Vancouver post-secondary institutions (SFU, UBC, BCIT, Langara, Emily Carr, VCC). Students will work full-time as a cohort with the City of Vancouver to implement Greenest City 2020 urban sustainability strategies and focus projects towards meeting the these goals. The best and brightest students will be selected from interdisciplinary areas represented by all post secondary institutions; geography, health science, engineering, planning, social sciences, arts, business, food systems and design.

The Spring 2012 CityStudio cohort will focus on the neighbourhood scale of implementing demonstration projects related to Greenest City Goals of: Access to Nature, Local Food, and Green Economy. Specific community plans as well as the document Vancouver 2020: A Bright Green Future will inform and provide context for our work. UBC students are encouraged to apply.

Student Directed Seminars

Student Directed Seminars is a student-driven program that puts you in charge of your education. An expansion of the directed studies option offered by most departments, this program allows senior undergraduate students to initiate and coordinate small, collaborative, group learning experiences. A student (or group of students), in the third year of undergraduate study or higher, proposes a course not currently offered at UBC. If a professor agrees to sponsor the proposal, the student proceeds to develop a course outline under the guidance of this faculty sponsor. Learn more about how you can propose a student directed seminar oriented on a sustainability issue or topic.

Directed Studies

Explore directed studies opportunities within your department or Faculty, as many offer opportunities for sustainability learning.