Summary of Survey 2021

a) Professional Activity

The broad range of professional activities in which emeriti continue to be engaged was revealed by a multiple-choice question with 11 options which solicited 1087 responses.

The data highlighted in the sidebar shows the proportion of these 1087 responses for groups of related activities. Amongst all respondents, 179 people (39% of respondents) continue to participate in research, including 7 people in their 90s. 83 respondents continued to teach, including 3 in their 90s.

“I retired from UBC in 2001, but continued teaching and research at two other universities, in Hong Kong and Taiwan, so, in effect, my active career continued for several years after that. I published my last book in 2009 with EJ Brill; it was based on extensive fieldwork in rural north China, c2002-2008. So, my teaching and research career continued until 2009.”

“For the past 18 years I have lived and worked at universities mainly in Thailand - but also India and Indonesia. It continues to be a rewarding life, academically - as well as living in the tropics.”

“I continue to work in journal editing. I am also much involved in disciplinary history, prepare history of Botany and Botanical sciences at UBC. I also volunteer with the Music school.”

“I appreciate the College and I think that by being a member of the college it has made a difference in my transition to retirement. The Subsidy supports definitely made a difference in my international participation in conferences. Thanks so much.”

b) Expanding Interests

Established Special Interest Groups at the College are Travel, Photography, Film and Poetic Odysseys which meet regularly throughout the year. The 456 survey respondents provided 724 responses to a list of 10 proposed new groups and suggested an additional 7.

The data highlighted in the sidebar shows the proportion of these 731 responses for groups of related activities. The enthusiasm to develop groups was highlighted by 106 of 456 survey respondents (23%) providing their name and contact information in order to be involved. Zoom enabled people to continue to meet during the pandemic and revealed the interest in people residing remotely to be included. There is active discussion on how to facilitate engagement of people who do not live near the UBC Vancouver campus.

“I have come to appreciate that as a UBC Professor Emeritus I have amazing opportunities to contribute to society through retirement which is very satisfying.”

“The activity of the college and its offerings needs to be amped up. Improve the opportunities for engagement and social interaction among the retirees.”

“Many of these Special Interest Groups would interest me but I live in Greece and my involvement is basically virtual.”

“Would love to have things inclusive of the Okanagan campus.”

“I feel happier and more fulfilled in semi-retirement than I was when working full-time.”

c) Continuing Evolution

We asked people to indicate whether their involvement in certain activities had changed in recent years compared to earlier years of retirement, exploring 7 areas: 

Figure 1 in the sidebar reveals a sharp contrast between responses to the 4 work-related questions and the 3 questions about personal life, with lower levels of work-related activities and higher personal commitments in later compared to early phases of retirement.  

Figure 2 shows there was no significant gender pattern in respondents’ levels of work connection. However, for personal life, female respondents show higher commitments than men in later compared to early phases of retirement. 

“After retirement I went back to school and got a Diploma in Textile Art which has occupied much of my time since in various capacities from teaching to administration.” 

“So far in my retirement I have been very busy with continued UBC research, some consulting, intense involvement in community-based activities and working on my own projects (building an airplane).” 

“I have found retirement to be a most wonderful experience. Doing creative work -- writing fiction and publishing it -- has provided me with new perspectives and great opportunities to exercise my imagination in new ways. To be honest, it’s been totally exhilarating.” 

Programs 
The College provides a variety of programs to enrich the intellectual focus and continued intellectual involvement of its members within a welcoming social environment.  The COVID19 pandemic prevented all but two programs from continuing to be held.  Both the General Meetings with invited speakers and the Senior Scholar Series continue to be well-received and compared to 2017, there has been an increase in the proportion of people who find these valuable (Figure 1).

Figure 2 indicates those aged 80-89 years had peak interest in the programs, although there were greater numbers of positive respondents in the group aged 70-79 years.  Gender had no influence on the rating.  Respondents indicated an interest in seeing a return of programs that have been on hold during the pandemic, including Philosophers Café (38%), Research Day (36%) and Guided Tours of UBC venues (23%). During the pandemic, the office staff have done a wonderful job to enable on-line meetings but only 50% of respondents found the switch to Zoom was “easy”.  

Overall, a majority (40%) selected the choice to “provide the option of in-person and internet access for all events” which was most favoured by younger (age <80y) and more recently retired (2008-21) people.

There were a range of comments about the ability of people to join on-line meetings from afar, balanced by keen interest to see an end to isolation and meet in-person.

“The speaker series is excellent.  Just terrific range of topics and very high-quality presentations.” 

“Emeritus College is doing a great job in developing innovative ways to connect people and meet their 
interests. Thank you so much!” 

“I do miss the campus and taking part in events/activities in person!” 

The College advocates for benefits to promote the well-being of its members.  
As illustrated in Figure 1 in the sidebar, there was strong endorsement of the importance of benefits that have been negotiated. 

“Extended health and travel insurance options and the report on the College website comparing these is much appreciated!” 

A major goal of the UBC Emeritus College is to enhance the general well-being of faculty as they transition into retirement.  

Figure 2 in the sidebar shows overall, respondents’ perception of support for this process.  Gender had no influence on ratings except for establishing a post-retirement appointment where 29% of men considered they had received adequate support compared to 20% of women.  

Figure 3 shows the opinion of 93 respondents who retired in the period 2018-21 where there has been a concerted effort to provide more support.  Two hundred people provided answers to “the most helpful resource or type of retirement planning support received” and 119 made further comments as to how UBC/the College could better support the pre-and early post-retirement periods.  

Figure 4 shows a word cloud which provides a visual representation of word frequency. The more commonly terms appear in the comments, the larger the word appears in the word cloud. 

“The Emeritus College has been a very positive factor in my transition to retirement. Thank you to the UBC 
administration and to the EC Council and staff for the support that is offered.” 

“Lorraine Heseltine deserves UBCs highest recognition for advice and workshops on the faculty pension plan” 

Various channels are used to convey information about the College, its members, and activities.  A newsletter is published electronically five times a year.  Members are invited to submit letters to the editor, "op-ed" pieces, book reviews, articles about travel or other material for possible publication.  There has been a concerted effort to build the College website resources and utility, and a strong commitment to provide timely information via email alerts. Compared to 2017 there has been a shift to preference for receiving information from the College by email alerts (Figure 1).  

As in 2017, social media remains unpopular; only 7 respondents (1.5%) indicated an interest in receiving College information by this means.  While 33% of respondents indicated they never visit the College website, most respondents (54%) indicated they visit once a month, usually to look for news and events.  A multi-choice question asked people to rate the overall value of each of the 8 newsletter sections which elicited 2000 positive responses.

Overall, 70% of respondents found value in the newsletter.  As in 2017 the two most valued items were information of meetings with speakers and information about other events around campus and elsewhere. Forty people took the time to provide comments.

“Kudos to the new newsletter editor, Margery Fee, who is doing a wonderful job -- like her predecessor!” 

“It takes time, but I think efforts need to be made to increase the visibility of the Emeritus College within 
departments and the university as a whole.  The College is the voice for retired colleagues and all that 
they have to offer but also the experience in supporting people with their planning and transition 
into retirement.”