World’s First University in Workplace Health Sciences Opens Built on International Collaboration
Port Alberni, British Columbia (September 7, 2011) — It’s a rare event in history when three levels of government, opposing political parties, employers, union groups and insurance-providers throw their collective support behind the same initiative. In that spirit of consensus, Pacific Coast University for Workplace Health Sciences (PCU-WHS) officially opened its doors on September 6 in Port Alberni, BC with a full press of government, business, labour, and workers’ compensation representatives on hand to show their support.
The fully accessible PCU-WHS is the world’s first university specializing in the multidisciplinary field of Workplace Health Sciences, and will offer distance and on-site degree programs in occupational safety and health, rehabilitation and disability management to students internationally.
At the opening ceremony, BC Minister of Labour Stephanie Cadieux provided a welcome address from Premier Christy Clark, who said, “The province takes the safety of its workers very seriously, and we commit ourselves to making sure their well-being is a priority… This is a great opportunity for students to study such an important subject that impacts communities and families across BC.”
According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), 270 million work-related accidents occur annually, while 160 million people suffer from work-related diseases each year. Wolfgang Zimmermann, executive director of the National Institute of Disability Management and Research (NIDMAR)—the Port Alberni-based organization that has worked tirelessly to bring the highly specialized university to fruition since 1994—stresses it is time to turn the statistics around. “Becoming disabled no longer means being marginalized in society; it means picking up the pieces and moving forward.”
Injured himself in an industrial accident in 1977 that requires him to walk with a cane, Zimmermann believes that PCU-WHS’s integrated, cutting-edge approach is imperative now as aging populations and the rise of mental health issues have become a universal crisis. “Workplaces of the future can’t look at prevention, return to work or rehabilitation in isolation. It requires a holistic, multidisciplinary approach to create a significant jump in improving rates of injury and illness, and getting workers with disabilities restored to productive working lives.”
The statutory, not-for-profit university has launched a $3-million campaign to raise funds for capital projects, curriculum development and to establish a Chair in Workplace Health Sciences—the world’s first.
A unique university enshrined in provincial statute
At the opening ceremony, a First Nations totem was unveiled in the university lobby, carved out of Western Red Cedar by local Northwest Coast Nuu-chah-nulth artists Gordon Dick and Ray Sim. The frog figure at its base is meant to symbolize the university’s stable grounding in knowledge and collaboration, while the medicine man figure at the top—bird rattle in one hand, crystal in another—symbolizes the global reach of its helping mandate.
Both symbols are uniquely appropriate. The groundwork for PCU-WHS was laid by the BC government in 2007 with the passing of the Pacific Coast University for Workplace Health Sciences Bill, which received unanimous support from all members of the legislature. In 2009, PCU-WHS was awarded a $1.65 million grant from the federal government under the Knowledge Infrastructure Program (KIP), following a donation by the City of Port Alberni of the 3.5-acre parcel of land on which the university was built.
As for its global reach, in addition to collaborating with the International Labour Organization—a United Nations agency—in the development the first ever Code of Practice: Managing disability in the workplace, NIDMAR has created professional and program standards in disability management that have to date been licensed in 16 countries. The international standards form the basis of the curriculum at PCU-WHS.
About PCU-WHS
Pacific Coast University for Workplace Health Sciences is a statutory, not-for-profit post-secondary degree-granting and research institution for the special purpose of creating and disseminating new knowledge and applied research in the fields of workplace safety and health, disability management, rehabilitation and disability leadership studies. PCU-WHS expects to welcome the first students enrolled in its degree programs in the fall of 2013; courses currently under development are subject to the conditions of the Degree Quality Assessment Board of the BC provincial government. PCU-WHS is committed to excellence in teaching and research, scholarship and service to the broader community. For more information, see www.pcu-whs.ca.
# # #
Media Contacts
Kathy Eccles, PCU-WHS Communications, 250 722-2031, cell: 250 816-5031, keccles@shaw.ca
Wolfgang Zimmermann, Executive Director, NIDMAR, cell: 250 720-3054, wolfgang@nidmar.ca
Tags:
