Okanagan University College (OUC) was a public, post-secondary educational institution (c. 1990 to 30 June 2005) based in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada.
In the 1980s, a Kelowna community group began a concerted effort, lobbying the British Columbia provincial government for better access to undergraduate university programs.
New faculty in the degree programs continued to lobby for changes in the institution's mandate, eventually helping to establish a new community group, "University 2000", with the slogan "OU?
The goals of this group were to further expand the university college's postsecondary role, principally by adding graduate studies and research to OUC's mandate.
In December 2002 the British Columbia Progress Board submitted a report to the provincial government, recognising the need to further expand postsecondary opportunities in the valley.
The progress board, chaired by UBC president Martha Piper, recommended that the province consider extending "the mandate of an existing provincial University to Kelowna...", and "the mandate of the British Columbia Institute of Technology to Kelowna and Prince George..."[1] The provincial government responded by quietly beginning negotiations with the University of British Columbia.
The OUC board was dismissed, being replaced by a public administrator (initially Jim Soles, Assistant Deputy Minister, Ministry of Advanced Education; and later Dr. Peter Meekison).