The BCcupms is an Articulation committee for post-secondary (principally, first- and second-year) mathematics and statistics in British Columbia.
What is Articulation?
Briefly, the principal goal of the Articulation process is to ease the transfer of courses or programs from one BC post-secondary institution to another. For students transferring to a new college or university, complications and redundancies involved in proceeding with similar studies elsewhere are significantly reduced.
The Articulation process entails the exchange of information about similar courses or programs in order to establish inter-institutional transfer credit. To make this process effective and encompassing, Articulation committees are typically comprised of representatives of universities, colleges, institutes, secondary schools and any other, related agency.
What is the role of the BCcupms?
Members of the BCcupms meet at least annually to discuss matters of mutual interest, to exchange information about new mathematics/ statistics courses or programs and to offer advice on inter-institutional course transfer. At other times, when special problems or circumstances regarding statistics or mathematics courses/programs arise, BCcupms members can expedite their resolution through direct contact or by making use of established communication links.
What is the mandate of the BCcupms?
Under the BC Council on Admissions & Transfer (BCCAT), the BCcupms attempts to make a contribution towards the expansion of educational opportunities in mathematics and statistics for students in British Columbia. Although all BC post-secondary institutions are autonomous, the BCcupms enables the exchange of information and the promotion of mechanisms that assist in the achievement of inter- institutional course/program transfer credit for mathematics and statistics.
How did the BCcupms Originate?
In December of 1967, Dr. Ralph D. James, then Head of UBC’s Department of Mathematics, assembled mathematics representatives from six other British Columbia universities and colleges for the following purposes:
- To promote mutual awareness of mathematics programs in the province.
- To announce contemplated course or program changes.
- To discuss particular concerns raised by the institutions.
The minutes of that initial two-day meeting record that Eugene McDaniels (Columbia Junior College), E. D. Pepper (Notre Dame University), John Peregrym (Selkirk College), Ronald Harrop and Steve Thomson (Simon Fraser University), R. D. James and Hugh Thurston (University of British Columbia), S. A. Jennings and D. E. Kennedy (University of Victoria), and J. A. Moore and E. W. Konesky (Vancouver City College) were in attendance. This charter group agreed to call itself the British Columbia Committee on the Undergraduate Programme in Mathematics and to reconvene in February 1968.
Early meetings of the BCcupm devoted considerable time to a detailed examination of each of the first- and second-year mathematics courses offered by member institutions. Course content, entrance requirements, evaluation procedures, textbooks and course transfer expectations were presented and debated. Among the benefits of these meetings were a developing spirit of co-operation in maintaining quality post-secondary mathematics instruction in British Columbia, and the establishment of further communication pathways within the mathematics community. Meetings of the BCcupms were held at university or college sites throughout the province contributing considerably to a further sense of community.
Although the community of educators in statistics from various departments had since 1998 already been recognised through the establishment of a separate Statistics Subcommittee of the BCcupm, the BCcupm moved in 2004 to change formally its name to “The British Columbia Committee on the Undergraduate Programme in Mathematics and Statistics”, the BCcupms.
BCcupms 