Artist Rendering of future UBC Vantage College. Image from: http://protecgroup.com/active-projects/

Every morning, I wake to the grinding of cranes and beeping of trucks outside my window; the construction crew have begun their day. For two months now, they have been building UBC’s new Vantage College out of what used to be an old parking lot. This two towered building, costing the university more than $127 million, will soon be home to 1000 international students who are to be part of UBC’s latest attempt to improve English skills while graduating on time. With a tuition cost of more than $50,000, only those whose families are affluent can afford to attend at all, and Canadian students need not apply. As CBC states, many students are upset with this usage of their tuition money, and believe that Vantage College will only create an elitist group who will not be fully integrated with the rest of the community. They also speculate that this is a scheme to create more revenue for the university. I believe that as an institute of higher education, the university has the right to value profit, however it should also strive to contribute to its own country. Those who have recently become Canadian citizens and need help with English cannot become Vantage College students, although they hope to live their lives here, and contribute to the Canadian economy. Instead, the College draws in people who are not planning on staying in this country, and uses them as an opportunity to earn money for itself.

Facts and figures from: http://www.cbc.ca/m/news/canada/british-columbia/ubc-s-vantage-college-canadians-need-not-apply-1.2826142