Developed by the UBC Institute for Aboriginal Health and UBC Continuing Studies, this award-winning certificate program is designed to help those who work in Aboriginal communities to increase the community’s capacity to deliver services, coordinate programs and promote the health of their people. The program expands its focus beyond health delivery to include environmental and other community health issues.
The Collaborative Program in Community Development provides students with a multidisciplinary graduate education in community development. Community development involves working with community members and groups to effect positive change in the social, economic, organizational, or physical structures of a community that improve both the welfare of community members and the community’s ability to direct its future.
Community Development/Community Economic Development (CD/CED) prepares graduates to become facilitators of change in communities that are experiencing multiple barriers to development. A 'hands-on' diploma, graduates will learn how to recognize and use the gifts and assets of the existing community, promote social inclusion and participation at all levels of transformation, understand power dynamics and ethical issues, and will acquire practical facilitation skills to aid in this work.
The Community Studies Program is a two-year diploma program which prepares students for diverse roles in human service/community-based organizations. More specifically, the program focuses on leadership and other career-related skills required to work in a wide variety of human services. These services may range from one-on-one support to positions which involve coordination and facilitation of groups or communities. The courses are fast-paced and dynamic, and are founded on the tenets of experiential learning and direct involvement with individuals, families and communities.
The Rural and Community Studies Program (RCSP) provides students with the opportunity to design an individually tailored degree that combines courses in rural and community studies with courses from traditional disciplines (e.g. Sociology and Geography).
Development and Sustainability studies are focused on socio-economic, ecological, and technological changes that affect the quality of life of individuals and groups in different environments all over the world.
As exemplified by the case of global warming, solving many of the world’s persistent environmental problems requires more than just enhanced scientific knowledge and improved technology – they require new and innovative approaches to governing. Hence, there is an essential need for graduates who have a solid understanding of environmental governance.
The Certificate in First Nations Public Administration consists of ten courses (30 credit hours) drawn primarily from the Departments of First Nations Studies and Political Science, with offerings from Business Administration and Economics. The courses from First Nations Studies provide students with foundations in internal and external First Nations issues and culture, and the courses from Political Science provide foundations in the principles of government, politics, and public administration, as well as some specialization in First Nations law, self-government and administration.
