Mission Statement
Our Mission is to advance knowledge of human communication, its disorders and related areas in order to improve health and quality of life for all individuals within their communities. We accomplish our mission by conducting leading-edge research, by educating future clinicians and scientists to become leaders in their fields, and by actively engaging community partners.
The School’s academic mission is guided by the principle that the study of human communication forms the basis of and unifies the scientific and professional fields of Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology. This study is concerned with hearing, speech, language and related disciplines, involves the investigation of physiological, linguistic, psychological and socio-cultural aspects, and views human communication within a socially-responsible, multicultural perspective. It is framed by theories and empirical evidence from acoustics, linguistics, physiology, psychology, education and related disciplines, and embraces a continuum of endeavours from basic research to clinical practice. The School is committed to a framework that emphasizes the relationships between disciplines, and between research and practice; such a framework provides a unique foundation for both education and research.
Strategic Objectives
The following objectives have been formulated to guide initiatives aimed at achieving the School’s mission:
1. Educate individuals to become audiologists and speech-language pathologists who will:
- be well grounded in basic and applied science
- apply theory to practice
- bring interdisciplinary and inter-professional perspectives to bear on clinical problems
- engage in life-long learning
National and provincial certification standards mandate the Masters degree as the entry-level degree for these professionals throughout Canada. The MSc program at UBC begins with specified prerequisite coursework in various areas, especially in linguistics and psychology at the Bachelors level, and continues with graduate-level curriculum-based education culminating in the MSc Degree in Audiology and Speech Sciences.
The School provides the only educational program for audiologists and speech-language pathologists in the Province of British Columbia, and one of only two speech-language pathology programs west of Ontario. It provides one of only three English-language audiology programs in Canada, and is the only audiology program west of Ontario.
2. Educate individuals to become researchers who will:
- be well-grounded in basic disciplinary sciences
- address complex communication problems within an interdisciplinary framework
- advance knowledge of human communication and its disorders
Part of the School’s mission to advance knowledge of human communication and its disorders can be fulfilled by educating the next generation of researchers, both at the PhD and MSc levels.
3. Actively engage in research concerning aspects of human communication and its disorders, in programs that:
- span the basic and applied sciences
- are responsive to the needs of individuals and communities
- involve students and contribute to their education
- draw on, and contribute to, interdisciplinary frameworks
- demonstrate the importance of basic science to the understanding of communication disorders, and reciprocally, the relevance of clinical data to theories of human communication.
The clinical orientation and multidisciplinary character enables the School to make unique contributions to the understanding of human communication and its disorders — contributions that are synthetic in theory and grounded in human experience.