University of British Columbia wins World University Rankings 2014-2015 video competition

Canada’s University of British Columbia (UBC) has won the Times Higher Education 2014-2015 World University Rankings video competition.

The winning video was chosen after a vote by the Times Higher Education editorial team from a shortlist of five videos, which included entries from Canada, Russia and Australia.

THE asked entrants to simply describe what they love about their university, in no more than 30 seconds. The entry for UBC highlighted “the beauty of our surroundings”, the “richness of cultures”, the “amazing professors”, “fantastic research opportunities” and other attributes, accompanied by strong visuals and stirring music.

Garry Fletcher, who coordinated the video project at UBC, said: “The aim of our video project has been to show that the University of British Columbia is a genuinely lovable place which can be appreciated by everyone, students and faculty, staff and visitors, each in their own way. A 30-second video isn’t a big showcase, but anyone visiting either of UBC’s campuses doesn’t need long at all to feel their special magic. We’re lucky to have magnificent settings of mountain, ocean, lake and forest which happily frame what we know as a fantastic institution of academic learning and research.

“We’re thrilled and honoured to be winners of the Times Higher Education World University Rankings video competition, sponsored by such a distinguished publication. Setting international standards that others can aspire to, and then surpass, is very motivating for us at UBC.  As a globally aware university, UBC is proud to be playing its part in international efforts to meet global challenges through education and the pursuit of knowledge. We’re particularly excited to have had an opportunity to convey our belief in UBC as a place of excellence, and very grateful to the adjudicators for this award.”

The co-producer and director was Bruce Marchfelder, the editor was Matthew Hall and the producer was Emily McLaughlin.

The five shortlisted videos, as of 11 December 2014, had together clocked up almost 30,000 views on YouTube. UBC’s entry had attracted nearly 5,000 views. Another shortlisted video, from Novosibirsk University in Russia, proved to be the most popular online, with more than 12,000 YouTube views.

“Yet again the THE World University Rankings video competition has highlighted the wonderful diversity of global higher education – with a shortlist that not only covered three continents but which also highlighted the strengths of some very different types of institutions and encompassed a wide range of attributes, from graduate employment outcomes to curiosity-driven research, to fostering lifelong friendships and networks,” said Phil Baty, editor of the World University Rankings.

View the full World University Rankings 2014-2015 results