Asia Pacific Women in Leadership Mentoring Program

The APWiL Mentoring Program provides international and intercultural opportunities for the empowerment, professional growth and development of aspiring women leaders within the member institutions of the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU).

UBC is a proud member of APRU, a network of leading universities in the Asia Pacific region. 59 leading research universities from around the Pacific Rim are members, covering over 200,000 academic staff and 2 million students.

Are you an aspiring woman leader at UBC?

 A year-long mentoring program will match you with a mentor and will help you: 

• Advance professional growth and leadership skills. 
• Develop a self-reflective understanding and acceptance of your unique leadership style and strengths. Gain confidence in your unique abilities as a leader. 
• Expand leadership acumen skills through training and learning from highly successful professionals outside their direct sphere of activity. 
• Build a strong and supportive network from universities across the Asia Pacific. 
• Gain insights and guidance to better tackle issues or challenges in the workplace. 

Program Eligibility

1. UBCV and UBCO faculty or staff
2. Identify as a woman (cisgender, transgender, gender expansive, and intersex people who identify as women).
3. Able to commit to a year-long program (August 2021 – September 2022)

Application deadline has been extended to July 12, 2021.

Are you an experienced leader looking to empower the next generation of women leaders?

Join a network of like-minded professionals striving to drive gender balance in leadership positions at their university! Advance leadership, coaching, and mentoring skills of aspiring women leaders, build a strong and supportive network from across the leading research universities of the Asia Pacific, and give back to the community in a meaningful way through supporting younger women and developing their leadership skills. 

Program Eligibility

1. UBCV and UBCO academic or administrative senior leaders
2. Mentors of any gender are welcome to participate.
3. Able to commit to a year-long program (August 2021 – September 2022)

Application deadline has been extended to July 12, 2021.

What happens after I submit my application?

The applications will be assessed by a small committee that will include Dr Sara-Jane Finlay, Dr. Murali Chandrashekaran, the Senior Advisor to the Provost on Women and Gender Diverse Faculty, Dr. Naz Virji Babul and the Senior Advisor to the Provost on Racialized Faculty, Dr. Minelle Mahtani. Staff and faculty representatives from both campuses will also be asked to join.

Two mentors (one senior academic leader and one senior administrative leader), and two mentees (aspiring women leaders) will be chosen to participate in the APRU Pacific Women in Leadership Mentoring Program 2021. They will then be matched with a mentor/mentee from one of the 15 participating APRU member institutions.

Why join the mentoring program?

There are complex social and economic barriers to women’s advancement in leadership. Gender stereotypes and the diverse social norms of the many cultures spanning the Pacific Rim create wide implementation gaps in gender equality and women’s empowerment initiatives in Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU) higher education institutions. Women who lead and aspire to lead these institutions, experience barriers to leadership with little institutional support and guidance.

‘I’ve gained so much from my meetings with Sara-Jane. She’s helped me with my leadership skills, guided me through difficult conversations, and helped me develop initiatives at work that have made a difference’ said Dr Roxanna Pebdani, last year’s mentoring program participant, a faculty member in Rehabilitation Counselling and an emerging EDI leader from the University of Sydney.

The APWiL Mentoring Program Pilot offers women and leaders at APRU universities an opportunity to grow the pipeline of aspiring women leaders, to increase awareness of challenges that aspiring women leaders face within the region, and to introduce global and intercultural dimensions (of women leadership) to leaders across the APRU network and beyond.

‘It was a good match from the very beginning, we have learned together and had some really indepth conversations about what it means to take on leadership roles at a university, the kinds of sacrifices that are necessary and some ideas on how to balance the demands’, remarked Dr. Sara-Jane Finlay, last year’s mentor and UBC AVP, Equity & Inclusion. ‘It would be great to see more faculty and staff at UBC benefit from these kinds of international partnerships. It provides a different perspective to the work and would be a real asset for those thinking of future leadership careers, particularly in portfolios like research, internationalization or external relations’.

About the Association of Pacific Rim Universities 

As a network of leading universities linking the Americas, Asia and Australasia, APRU is the Voice of Knowledge and Innovation for the Asia-Pacific region. It brings together thought leaders, researchers, and policy-makers to exchange ideas and collaborate on effective solutions to the challenges of the 21st century. 

It leverages collective education and research capabilities of the members into the international public policy process. The primary research areas include natural hazards & disaster risk reduction, women in leadership, population aging, global health, sustainable cities, artificial intelligence & the future of work, the Pacific Ocean, and labor mobility.

To learn more visit http://apru.org.