Why Grad School at UBC?

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Academic Excellence

UBC is a global centre for research and teaching, consistently ranked among the top public universities in the world.

International

Times Higher Education ranked UBC as the most international university in North America in its "World University Rankings 2024.”

Modern Facilities

UBC invested more than $1.5 billion dollars into infrastructure and facilities in the past few years.

Innovative

UBC is a catalyst for innovation with more than 2,500 collaborative research partnerships, 200+ spin-off companies, and 450+ licensing agreements for its technologies across the world.

Degree Program Choice

At UBC, you can choose from more than 300 graduate degree program options and 2200+ research supervisors. You can even design your own program.

Supportive

UBC focuses on your success and offers dozens of professional development events and career sessions over the course of your program.

Fantastic Location

Vancouver has it all: sea, parks, mountains, beaches and four seasons per year, including beautiful summers and mild, wet winters with snow in the mountains.

Entrepreneurial

Seed funding, tech accelerator, incubator, executives in residence - UBC provides support for all stages of venture creation, from ideation, through business model creation, to company building.

Every year, UBC attracts outstanding students from around the globe to our world-class academic environment. Why do they choose the University of British Columbia?

Denali YoungWolfe

Hosted on unceded xʷməθkʷəy̓əm territory, UBC is a place where world class Indigenous academics and knowledge keepers come together. This is a centre of excellence, and I am grateful to be here.

Eric Simons

For an archaeologist who works with living people on the British Columbian coast, UBC offers three attractive strengths: 1) UBC’s archaeology program is housed in the university’s Department of Anthropology, a situation that encourages anthropologically-focused...

Samuel Adeyanju

I first heard about UBC during one of the classes I took with a professor during my second year of undergrad in Nigeria. The professor described how prestigious the university was, having had his sabbatical there in the early 2000s. After completing my...

A. Saskia Wolsak

UBC has been incredibly supportive to me during my Master's of Science (2017) and now for my PhD. This support has been financial in the form of fellowships, academic in the presence of world class teachers and fellow students, as well as physical - providing...

David Champagne

It was mostly following a need to meet new networks of activists, policy markers and scholars in my field. But also, to discover some of the most creative and relevant contemporary research in sustainability and political economy. Moreover, I wanted to learn from...

Jennica Nichols

UBC uniquely offers an Interdisciplinary Studies PhD program where I worked with two co-supervisors to design a doctoral degree that built upon my work experience. I was able to pick classes tailored to my research goals. I also have been lucky to be co-mentored...

Maj Britt Jensen

UBC and my program are the specific environment that will guarantee that rigorous critique and subversive creativity, research and artistic practice can be pursued simultaneously without having to organize any of the parts into a hierarchy; in-depth research,...

Daphne Ling

I came to UBC in 2011 to work full-time in Prof. Adele Diamond’s lab. I had gotten in touch with her when I had freshly graduated with my BSc and she had flown me out for an interview and subsequently created a position for me. I am fortunate that Prof. Diamond,...

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Here are some more reasons why UBC is the chosen academic destination for some of the world’s most promising young scholars:

Our People. Exceptional people come to UBC. Some of the world’s most exciting scientists, artists, adventurers, entrepreneurs, humanitarians and intellectual leaders come together in our academic community—including graduate students! At UBC you can expect wise mentoring and supportive staff to help guide you to success. And of course, the lifelong friendships and intellectual partnerships you’ll develop as a member of our community will be among the most lasting benefits of a UBC graduate education.

Our Programs. UBC offers more than 300 Graduate Degree Programs in nearly every academic field imaginable, and opportunities to pursue cutting-edge transdisciplinary study that crosses traditional boundaries. There is sure to be a program offered that aligns with your interests.

Our Research. UBC is a research powerhouse. UBC attracts $759 million per year in research funding from government, non-profit organizations and industry through 10,000 projects and UBC researchers file more than 250 patents a year. Many programs have state-of-art new buildings and facilities. At UBC you will work side by side with passionate scholars as you delve into the most meaningful questions of our world.

Our Values. UBC has a passionate vision for preparing exceptional global citizens and promoting a civil and sustainable society. Graduate students are a crucial element of promoting and living these values in our University community.

Our Setting. Learning at UBC means enjoying a superb campus in one of the planet’s truly spectacular regions—beautiful British Columbia. Vancouver is BC’s cosmopolitan urban centre, providing a temperate climate, safe streets, a vibrant arts and cultural scene, and a welcoming, culturally diverse population. And if you are from outside Canada, you probably already have a positive impression of our country—a peaceful, progressive society that welcomes all ethnicities, nationalities, and creeds into its cultural fabric.

So, is UBC right for you? Only you can know for sure. But by choosing UBC you are undoubtedly joining a supportive community at the world’s leading edge of graduate education and research.