UBC Broadcast


About UBC Broadcast

UBC Broadcast is used by the university’s senior leadership to communicate institutional messaging that is time-sensitive and relevant to a large percentage of UBC’s faculty and staff (on one or more campuses).

It may be used to communicate the following:

  • Large scale announcements such as the UBC strategic plan
  • Updates on high profile topics such as UBC’s sexual assault policy
  • Executive appointments/changes at VP level
  • Organizational changes that affect significant numbers of faculty, staff and/or students
  • Urgent campus safety updates/emergency planning
  • Messages from the President

While UBC Broadcast can be an efficient means of distributing information, it is critical that the university is sensitive to the needs of the community and keeps them to a minimum.

UBC Broadcast differs from ordinary email mailing lists in that messages are sent to individuals, regardless of whether or not they have subscribed to receive the message.


When and how UBC Broadcasts are sent

UBC Broadcasts are issued Monday to Thursday, between 11am and 1pm (allowing time for messages to make their way through the system), with a maximum of one email permitted each day.

Depending on the number of recipients, it can take several hours for UBC Broadcasts to reach all individuals within an intended audience. Slowing the rate of email delivery (also known as throttling) is necessary to prevent external hosts from blacklisting our servers. If smaller groups are targeted, it can be expected that delivery will take less time.

UBC uses an on-premise email distribution tool for UBC Broadcasts.


Ownership and approvals

UBC Broadcast is owned by the UBC Executive. Internal Communications acts as the steward/facilitator of this channel.

All messages must be submitted at least two working days before the issue date, and be approved by a member of the UBC Executive. UBC Broadcast signatories must be a member of the UBC Executive – with the exception of electoral announcements.

Internal Communications adopts the role of advisor around message content and timing.

If you have any questions about UBC Broadcast, please do not hesitate to contact the Internal Communications team.


Criteria

To be considered for a UBC Broadcast, the subject matter of your message must adhere to the following criteria:

Timeliness: The information must be timely and must have significant importance for the majority of individuals within the intended audience (faculty, staff, students), and/or the operations of the university.

Approval: The message must have approval from, and be attributed to, a Vice-President (VP). On occasion, it may also be attributed to an Associate Vice-President (AVP), in addition to the VP.

Relevance: Unless they are of significant relevance to university operations, announcements and the promotion of events are typically not suitable for UBC Broadcasts.

Adherence to existing policies: All existing UBC policies governing communication shall be applicable to UBC Broadcast. See in particular Policy #96: Communications (PDF) and Policy #104: Acceptable Use and Security of UBC Electronic Information and Systems (PDF). The text of these policies are available on the University Counsel website.


Audiences

UBC Broadcast can be sent to all, or a combination of the following groups: faculty, staff, student employees and students in Vancouver and the Okanagan.

Messages intended for faculty, staff or students in the Okanagan only, should be sent via the Global email system. Contact the University Relations team for more information.

UBC Broadcasts for faculty, staff, and student employees are sent to the UBC Fasmail address listed in the Human Resource Management System (HRMS).

For UBC students, they are sent to the primary email address listed in the Student Information System (SIS).

Due to the automated nature of the UBC Broadcast system, it is not possible to manually add or remove individual email addresses.

Please note: The Internal Communications team maintains oversight for messages to UBC faculty and staff only.


Limitations of UBC Broadcast

Not all UBC faculty, staff, and students check the email address listed in the Human Resource Management System (HRMS) or the Student Information System (SIS). Therefore, it should not be assumed that the entire UBC community will be reached if a UBC Broadcast is sent.


Emergency UBC Broadcast

An emergency UBC Broadcast is a message that is of immediate, critical importance to the health and safety or wellbeing of the university community. Examples include university-wide alerts regarding snow closures, water quality or wide-area power/systems outages, or natural disasters.

Please note that due to system limitations, UBC Broadcast is only used as a supplementary channel in the event of an emergency.