Industry Partnership@CS

The Partnership@CS program is an unique opportunity for the UBC Computer Science Department to foster meaningful collaboration with industry partners, alumni, and community members. The program provides opportunities for interacting with our 2,200+ students, 20,000+ alumni, and 60+ faculty members through a variety of research, student enrichment, and diversity programs. Companies will be able to increase brand awareness and recruit talent by providing funding and mentorship to help build leadership, job search, and other soft skills among our students.

Becoming a partner will enable your company to set up collaborative opportunities with our faculty members and graduate students by working together on cutting edge research and providing solutions to real life challenges. We also provide a variety of programs to enable both alumni and community members to forge meaningful relationships with our strong and diverse student body. We hope Partnership@cs will provide a structured way for industry and our department to engage with each other and to build a cohesive, integrated and diverse local tech community.

Why engage?

Our industrial partners choose to engage with us for a diverse set of reasons. These include:

Direct undergraduate and graduate student recruitment.
Raising organization profile among alumni.
Increasing diversity in the workplace.
Increasing knowledge of ongoing and emerging faculty research projects.
Direct access to student leaders.
Providing volunteer and mentorship opportunities for current employees.

Audience

The partnership program provides opportunities for engaging a diverse set of tech communities associated with the department, including:

Current undergraduate students
Current graduate students
Past alumni
Industry professionals
LGBTQ+ students
Female students
Student leaders
Instructional faculty
Educational leadership faculty
Research faculty

Engagement opportunities

The overall goal of the partnership program is to provide engagement opportunities between the computer science department and our industrial partners. To facilitate this, we host a diverse set of events. We have found events that provide value to multiple stakeholders or are interactive (e.g., interview practice sessions) are more successful than more one-sided or static opportunities (e.g., employer information sessions). Joining the partnership program increases the visibility of your organization within the department and enables us to allocate departmental resources for organizing your on-campus events. Membership is crucial for enabling us to support these engagement opportunities: all partnership program revenues are directly used for these educational engagement events. That said, there is a finite capacity for holding these events due to space, staff, and student schedules and we encourage all partners to be in touch as proactively as possible so we can coordinate engagement opportunities.

Direct Recruitment (DR)

Tech Career Fair

Exhibitor booth at technical career fair win an audience of ~2000 current students and upcoming new graduates. Recruit for your company’s co-op, internship and new grad opportunities. Opportunity to reserve premium spots (larger corner booths) for additional fee.

SME Tech Talks

Local small to mid-size (SME) enterprises present to students about interesting/cutting edge technologies developed or used by them. Talk can also include information about roles available for co-op, intern, and new grads within the company.

Company Onsite Events

Hosting CS student-focused event at your company (e.g. company open house, panel, onsite hackathon or other technical challenge). CS department provides support for developing event topic, as well as marketing and organizational support.

Increasing Workplace Diversity (WD)

Career Development/Job Search Workshops

Companies present career development or job search topics content with a specific diversity focus to CS students – or actively interact with students in workshops facilitated by CS department staff. (More detailed description of this available below in RCP section).

Industry Panels

Opportunity for company employees to participate as panelists on workplace diversity-related topics related to their personal experiences and expertise (See RCP section for more details).

Affinity Groups

Provide support to specific underrepresented groups within the CS student body (e.g. female students, LGBTQ+ students). Could be specific event sponsorship, mentorship, or support for groups’ activities or events.

Diversity in Computer Science Conference Support

Provide support to CS underrepresented undergraduate and graduate students to attend conferences.

Access to Student Leaders (SL)

Networking Event with Student Leaders

In a smaller networking session, interact directly with CS students who've demonstrated leadership skills. Students will include student club executives, departmental committee student representatives and outreach coordinators.

ACM Programming Team Sponsorship

Become a key sponsor of the UBC CS student ACM programming team at the ACM ICPC World Finals. The ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC) is a two-tiered competition among teams of three students representing institutions of higher education. Teams first compete in regional contests held around the world from September to November each year. Top teams from each regional contest qualify for advancement to the ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest World Finals, typically held the following May.

Increasing Knowledge of Cutting-Edge Research (R)

CS Research Day

UBC faculty and graduate students present their current research to local company representatives, followed by a networking event.

Distinguished Lecture Series

These seminars showcase outstanding researchers in the field of computer science, giving them a forum to present their views and ideas to students, faculty, alumni and the interested public.

Raising Company Profile as Employer of Choice for CS Students and Alumni (RCP)

Computer Science Tri-Mentoring Program

This program connects CS students with experienced industry professionals and with fellow students, through a mix of individual mentorship and networking events. With a mentor’s help students work towards careers-related goals, meet new friends, gain different career perspectives, and become part of the larger Vancouver tech community. Program sponsors have a designated space at tri-mentoring networking events for displaying marketing materials and interacting with students or alumni interested in career options with the company. Sponsors are also invited to have their employees participate as industry mentors.

Industry Panels

Opportunity for company employees to participate as industry panelists on Computer Science career development-related topics related to their personal experiences and expertise. Target audience is current CS students. Employees gain public speaking experience and the opportunity to interact with other professionals - while building CS students’ knowledge.

Career Development/Job Search Workshops

Companies present career development or job search topics content to CS students – or actively interact with students in workshops facilitated by CS department staff. Some potential topics include: resume writing, LinkedIn profiles and online presence, effective job search approaches, personal project development, networking for introverts, preparing for career fair attendance, professional etiquette and behavior, and technical interview skills practice.

Recognition via Social Media and CS Website

Your company is officially recognized as UBC CS industry affiliates partner on UBC Computer Science website, and in UBC CS social media posts related to sponsored events.

Imagine Day Open House Booth

Participate in CS department open house for students on the 1st day of term (Imagine Day). Open house exhibitors include company sponsors, CS faculty and staff, and CS student clubs. Enjoy a designated booth for displaying marketing materials and interacting with students interested in potential career options with your company. Opportunity to provide feedback and tips to students regarding resumes, interviews and your company’s application process.

Alumni Engagement (AE)

CS Alumni/Industry Lecture Series

This series is designed for UBC CS alumni to network and share information with each other and to meet other professionals in the IT field. Each of our presenters is a UBC CS alumni working in the local industry. They will be talking about new programming techniques, up and coming industry trends, and lessons learned by successful industry experts.

CS Alumni Pub Night

Annual social and networking event for UBC CS alumni. Program sponsors have a designated space for displaying marketing materials and interacting with alumni interested in potential career options with the company.

Event List

Partners can choose to be involved in the events that make the most sense given the needs of the the student body, the needs of the partner, and the department's goals. A range of activities that partners could become involved with are given below:

September 2019

Sept. (1st week) – Imagine Day booth (up to 4 booths) undergrad
Sept (1st week) – diversity event undergrad
Sept (2nd week) – tech talk or job search-related industry event undergrad
Sept (3rd week) – 1st fall tri-mentoring kickoff undergradgradalumni
Sept (4th week) – Distinguished lecture series research

October 2019

Oct (1st week) – 2nd fall tri-mentoring kickoff undergrad
Oct (mid Oct) – grad school info sessiongradresearch
Oct (4th week) – Distinguished lecture series research

November 2019

Early Nov – tech talk or job search-related industry event undergrad
Early Nov – ACM regional competition hosting (2 years on, 2 years off) undergrad
Mid-November – tech interview practice session undergrad
Mid to end of Nov – diversity event undergrad
Nov (4th week) – Distinguished lecture series research
Late Nov – alumni lecture alumniresearch

January 2020

Jan (2nd week) – informal USRA discussion forum with profsundergradresearch
Jan (2nd week) - tech talk or job search-related industry event undergrad
Jan (2nd or 3rd week) – diversity event as prep for tech career fair undergrad
Jan (3rd week) – tech interview practice session undergrad
Jan (last week) – tech career fair undergrad
Jan (last week) – alumni industry lecture alumniresearch

February 2020

Feb (Reading Week) – onsite company event (open house) – up to 2 undergrad
Feb (last week) - tech talk or job search-related industry event undergrad
Feb (last week) – Distinguished lecture series research

March 2020

March (1st or 2nd week) – diversity event undergrad
March (mid March) - student leadership networking event undergrad
March (last week) – alumni industry lecture alumniresearch
March (last week) – tri-mentoring industry panel and wrap up reception undergrad

April 2020

Late April – research/industry night for grad students and facultygradalumniresearch

Summer 2020

May (1st 2 weeks) – onsite company event (open house) – up to 2 undergrad
May (last week) – Distinguished lecture series research
June (1st 2 weeks) – onsite company event (open house) – up to 1 undergrad
Early June – alumni pub night alumni
Early July – tri-mentoring kickoff event – 1 undergrad

Join Us!

We are always excited to hear from you. Please send us an email at partnership@cs.ubc.ca and we would be happy to talk to you about what type of partnership your organization is interested in!

partnership@cs Sponsors

We are grateful for the support of our many existing industrial partners, and welcome your participation.