Since its launch in 1994, the UPCD program has funded more than 100 Tier 2 projects throughout the developing world in an array of disciplines including education, natural sciences and the humanities.

Projects funded through the UPCD program respond to Canada's Official Development priorities, CIDA's poverty-reduction mandate, as well as the development priorities of developing countries in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America and Eastern Europe where the projects take place.

These projects typically include a range of activities, for example: curriculum development, strengthening academic departments and training and further education for professors. Activities involve teams at each of the partner organizations, making them institutional linkages, as opposed to individual grants or collaboration between two professors.