Master of Science in Interdisciplinary Oncology (MSc)

Admission Information & Requirements

Research Information

Tuition & Financial Support

Tuition

Fees	Canadian Citizen / Permanent Resident / Refugee / Diplomat	International
Application Fee	$116.25	$168.25
Tuition *
Installments per year	3	3
Tuition per installment	$1,875.34	$3,294.66
Tuition per year (plus annual increase, usually 2%-5%)	$5,626.02	$9,883.98
Int. Tuition Award (ITA) per year (if eligible)		$3,200.00 (-)
Other Fees and Costs
Student Fees (yearly)	$1,144.10 (approx.)
Costs of living	Estimate your costs of living with our interactive tool in order to start developing a financial plan for your graduate studies.

* Regular, full-time tuition. For on-leave, extension, continuing or part time (if applicable) fees see UBC Calendar.
All fees for the year are subject to adjustment and UBC reserves the right to change any fees without notice at any time, including tuition and student fees. Tuition fees are reviewed annually by the UBC Board of Governors. In recent years, tuition increases have been 2% for continuing domestic students and between 2% and 5% for continuing international students. New students may see higher increases in tuition. Admitted students who defer their admission are subject to the potentially higher tuition fees for incoming students effective at the later program start date. In case of a discrepancy between this webpage and the UBC Calendar, the UBC Calendar entry will be held to be correct.

Financial Support

Applicants to UBC have access to a variety of funding options, including merit-based (i.e. based on your academic performance) and need-based (i.e. based on your financial situation) opportunities.

Program Funding Packages

The mandatory minimum stipend for a full time IOP MSc graduate student (Canadian or international) is $30,000 per year. This stipend may be derived from competitive scholarships and/or from the Supervisor’s research funding. Admission to the IOP requires a commitment from the Supervisor to ensure the student will be supported to the minimum funding level for the duration of their studies. Students are not permitted to self-fund their graduate program.

Students must pay tuition from their stipend, with the tuition amount depending on whether the student is domestic or international (see above).

The minimum duration of the annual stipend is normally 2.5 years for an MSc student. If the student has not completed their program requirements after 2.5 years, continued funding is at the discretion of the Supervisor and will depend on satisfactory academic and research progress in consultation with the student’s Supervisory Committee. The Supervisor must inform the student in writing at least six months prior to the end-date of the student's stipend (copied to the IOP office). Termination of funding for other justifiable reasons must be approved by a majority of the IOP Executive Committee.

Funding Statistics

Based on the criteria outlined below, 27 students within this program were included in this study because they received funding through UBC in the form of teaching, research, academic assistantships or internal or external awards with a mean of $17,852 and a median of $11,919.

This results in a net balance (any funding provided to the student minus tuition and fees) mean of $9,495 and median of $3,559.

2 students received Teaching Assistantships. Median TA funding based on 2 students was $5,829.
8 students received Research Assistantships. Median RA funding based on 8 students was $30,242.
27 students received internal awards. Median internal award funding based on 27 students was $3,000.
7 students received external awards. Median external award funding based on 7 students was $11,667.

Study Period: Sep 2023 to Aug 2024 - funding for full-time Thesis-Required Master's students enrolled in three terms per academic year in this program across years 1-2. Mean and median values might mask variability in sources and amounts of funding received by individual students. Beyond year 2, funding packages become even more individualized.
Review methodology

Scholarships & awards (merit-based funding)

All applicants are encouraged to review the awards listing to identify potential opportunities to fund their graduate education. The database lists merit-based scholarships and awards and allows for filtering by various criteria, such as domestic vs. international or degree level.

Graduate Research Assistantships (GRA)

Many professors are able to provide Research Assistantships (GRA) from their research grants to support full-time graduate students studying under their supervision. The duties constitute part of the student's graduate degree requirements. A Graduate Research Assistantship is considered a form of fellowship for a period of graduate study and is therefore not covered by a collective agreement. Stipends vary widely, and are dependent on the field of study and the type of research grant from which the assistantship is being funded.

Graduate Teaching Assistantships (GTA)

Graduate programs may have Teaching Assistantships available for registered full-time graduate students. Full teaching assistantships involve 12 hours work per week in preparation, lecturing, or laboratory instruction although many graduate programs offer partial TA appointments at less than 12 hours per week. Teaching assistantship rates are set by collective bargaining between the University and the Teaching Assistants' Union.

Graduate Academic Assistantships (GAA)

Academic Assistantships are employment opportunities to perform work that is relevant to the university or to an individual faculty member, but not to support the student’s graduate research and thesis. Wages are considered regular earnings and when paid monthly, include vacation pay.

Financial aid (need-based funding)

Canadian and US applicants may qualify for governmental loans to finance their studies. Please review eligibility and types of loans.

All students may be able to access private sector or bank loans.

Foreign government scholarships

Many foreign governments provide support to their citizens in pursuing education abroad. International applicants should check the various governmental resources in their home country, such as the Department of Education, for available scholarships.

Working while studying

The possibility to pursue work to supplement income may depend on the demands the program has on students. It should be carefully weighed if work leads to prolonged program durations or whether work placements can be meaningfully embedded into a program.

International students enrolled as full-time students with a valid study permit can work on campus for unlimited hours and work off-campus for no more than 24 hours a week during academic sessions.

A good starting point to explore student jobs is the UBC Work Learn program or a Co-Op placement.

Tax credits and RRSP withdrawals

Students with taxable income in Canada may be able to claim federal or provincial tax credits.

Canadian residents with RRSP accounts may be able to use the Lifelong Learning Plan (LLP) which allows students to withdraw amounts from their registered retirement savings plan (RRSPs) to finance full-time training or education for themselves or their partner.

Please review Filing taxes in Canada on the student services website for more information.

Cost Estimator

Applicants have access to the cost estimator to develop a financial plan that takes into account various income sources and expenses.

	2023	2022	2021	2020	2019
Applications	35	30	34	24	38
Offers	19	17	17	8	24
New Enrolment	18	16	11	6	20
Total Enrolment	38	30	32	30	30

Research Supervisors

Supervision

Students in research-based programs usually require a faculty member to function as their thesis supervisor. Please follow the instructions provided by each program whether applicants should contact faculty members.

Instructions regarding thesis supervisor contact for this program

All applicants need firm commitment from a supervisor prior to applying.

Advice and insights from UBC Faculty on reaching out to supervisors

These videos contain some general advice from faculty across UBC on finding and reaching out to a supervisor. They are not program specific.

This list shows faculty members with full supervisory privileges who are affiliated with this program. It is not a comprehensive list of all potential supervisors as faculty from other programs or faculty members without full supervisory privileges can request approvals to supervise graduate students in this program.

Aparicio, Samuel (Breast cancer, genome sequencing )
Bally, Marcel Bertran (Pancreas centre)
Baumbusch, Jennifer (long-term residential care, family caregiving, Intellectual Disability, nursing care of older adults )
Benard, Francois (Medical isotopes Radioisotopes Nuclear Medicine Cancer Imaging Molecular imaging of cancer Radionuclide therapy, Cancer division, radiology, pancreas centre)
Bennewith, Kevin (Oncology; Molecular Pathology & Cell Biology; Cancer research; Solid tumour microenvironment; Hypoxia; Metastasis research; Pre-metastatic niche; Targeting hypoxic tumour cells in therapy; Radiation biology)
Brooks-Wilson, Angela (Bioinformatics; Clinical oncology; Genetic medicine; Genomics; cancer families; cancer genetics; genetic susceptibility; human genetics; longevity; Super seniors)
Brown, Carolyn Janet (Epigenetics and epigenomics; Other basic medicine and life sciences; Gene regulation and expression; Genomics; Developmental genetics (including sex determination); Applied Genetics; Chromosomes: Structure / Organization; DNA methylation; Epigenetic control of gene expression; Gene Regulation and Expression; Genes escaping X-chromosome inactivation; Long non-coding RNAs; X-chromosome inactivation; XIST RNA)
Campbell, Kristin (Clinical oncology; Physical therapy; Rehabilitation medicine; Breast Cancer; Exercise Physiology; oncology; physical function; Physiology; Quality of Life and Aging; rehabilitation)
Cherkasov, Artem (Drug design; Bioinformatics, Molecular modeling; Proteomics; Artificial intelligence; Antibiotics )
Collins, Colin (translational genomics where mathematics, genomics, computer science, and clinical science converge in diagnostics and therapeutics)
Cox, Michael (genetic testing, experiences of hereditary risk, social and ethical implications of genetics, interpersonal and family communication, qualitative research, narrative and story, Prostate cancer)
Daugaard, Mads (Cancer progression and metastasis; Mechanisms of carcinogenesis; Cancer Diagnosis and Detection; Cancer biology; Cancer diagnostics; Cancer therapy; Cell Signaling and Cancer; Cell Therapy of Cancer; Chemotherapy; DNA damage response pathways; glycobiology; Immunotherapy; Radiotherapy; Cell stress and Cancer; Cell stress signalling in cancer)
Dedhar, Shoukat (molecular biology, molecular biology as it relates to disease; developing new theraputics for cancer; how brain cells (neurons)make connections, therapeutics for cancer; molecular genetics and cancer; medical research, cancer, inflammatory diseases, cariovascular diseases, Cellular proteins, extracellular martrix, integrins, signal transduction, calreticulin, protein kinase, gene expression, cell differentiation)
Dong, Xuesen (Cancer progression and metastasis; Gene and molecular therapy; Prostate Cancer; Drug development; RNA splicing and Gene Regulation; Hormone Dependent Cancers; Endocrine Regulation)
Drew, Yvette
Evgin, Laura
Garnis, Catherine (Cancer biology; Tumor progression; Oral premalignant lesions; Head and neck cancer; RNA biology, microRNAs; Alternative splicing; Biomarkers)
Gleave, Martin (Infectious diseases, interdisciplinary oncology, prostate)
Haase, Kristen (Nursing, n.e.c.; oncology; Older Adults; Geriatric oncology; Health systems research; Mixed Methods Research; Qualitative research; Self-management; E-health)
Hieter, Philip (Molecular biology of eukaryotic chromosome transmission )
Hirst, Martin (Bioinformatics; Clinical oncology; Genomics; Immunology; Microbiology; Carcinogenesis; Cellular Differentiation; Epigenomics; Leukemia; Molecular Genetics)
Holt, Robert (Immunogenetics, Metagenomics - Infectious agents in Cancer, Cancer Genomes, Neurobiology, DNA Sequencing)
Howard, Fuchsia (health service needs of vulnerable, high-risk survivors of acute life-threatening illness, specifically, cancer survivors and survivors of critical illnesses; hereditary cancer prevention and risk management and psychosocial and ethnocultural factors that shape health and illness experiences)
Huntsman, David (hereditary cancer, molecular pathology, cancer biomarkers, Pancreas centre)
Jiang, Xiaoyan (Cancer drug development and therapeutics)

Overview

What makes the program unique?

Quick Facts

Admission Information & Requirements

Program Instructions

1) Check Eligibility

Minimum Academic Requirements

English Language Test

TOEFL: Test of English as a Foreign Language - internet-based

IELTS: International English Language Testing System

Other Test Scores

Prior degree, course and other requirements

Prior Degree Requirements

Document Requirements

2) Meet Deadlines

3) Prepare Application

Transcripts

Letters of Reference

Statement of Interest

Supervision

Instructions regarding thesis supervisor contact for this program

Citizenship Verification

4) Apply Online

Research Information

Program Components

Facilities

Tuition & Financial Support

Tuition

Financial Support

Program Funding Packages

Funding Statistics

Scholarships & awards (merit-based funding)

Graduate Research Assistantships (GRA)

Graduate Teaching Assistantships (GTA)

Graduate Academic Assistantships (GAA)

Financial aid (need-based funding)

Foreign government scholarships

Working while studying

Tax credits and RRSP withdrawals

Cost Estimator

Career Options

Enrolment, Duration & Other Stats

ENROLMENT DATA

Completion Rates & Times

Disclaimer

Research Supervisors

Supervision

Instructions regarding thesis supervisor contact for this program

Advice and insights from UBC Faculty on reaching out to supervisors

Sample Thesis Submissions

Related Programs

Same specialization

Further Information

Specialization

UBC Calendar

Program Website

Faculty

Academic Unit

Program Identifier

Classification

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