UBC welcomes hundreds of international visitors every year.

These visitors include scholars, faculty or postdoctoral fellows who come to UBC to conduct research with a linked research group; exchange students from partner universities who come to UBC for a semester or a year of study; delegations from partner universities who connect to UBC through existing agreements or to build agreements; and high-profile government delegations, including the occasional royal visitor.

In 2009, the VPRI received 133 delegations. Recent international visitors include:

• In July 2009, the Emperor and Empress of Japan visited UBC as part of the Emperor’s state visit to Canada to mark 80 years of diplomatic relations between Canada and Japan. It was also a visit of personal significance to the Emperor, who had last come to UBC as a young Crown Prince 55 years before.
• In September 2009, The Rt. Hon. Bethuel Pakalitha Mosisili, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Lesotho, visited UBC as part of a tour of Canada to raise awareness of the plight of his country in combating HIV/AIDS.
• In September 2009, Ambassador Ross Hornby, Head of the Canadian Mission to the European Union, gave an interactive presentation on the most recent round of Canada-EU trade negotiations to students, faculty and staff at the Institute for European Studies.
• In January 2010, High Commissioner Joseph Caron gave a talk to a UBC audience at the Institute for Asian Research on the challenges of creating partnerships in India.
• In May 2010, UBC and the University of Alberta co-hosted the first G8 University Summit to be held in North America, bringing to Vancouver the presidents of leading research universities from the G8 and G20 countries. This influential group addressed the role universities should play in the development of knowledge to lead global social change in the 21st century.

These high-profile visits are a testament to UBC’s place as a globally significant university. They help to maximize our links in particular parts of the world and highlight our research excellence to international audiences.