University of British Columbia

The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public research university with campuses near Vancouver and Okanagan, in British Columbia, Canada. Established in 1908, it is the oldest university in British Columbia. With an annual research budget of $747.3million, UBC funds 9,675 projects annually in various fields of study within the industrial sector, as well as governmental and non-governmental organizations.

The Vancouver campus is adjacent to the University Endowment Lands, an unincorporated area with multiple beaches and the Pacific Spirit Regional Park. The university is located 10 km west of downtown Vancouver. UBC is also home to TRIUMF, Canada's national particle and nuclear physics laboratory, which boasts the world's largest cyclotron. In addition to the Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies and the Stuart Blusson Quantum Matter Institute, UBC and the Max Planck Society collectively established the first Max Planck Institute in North America, specializing in quantum materials. One of Canada's largest research libraries, the UBC Library system has over 8.3million items (including print and electronic) among its 21 branches. It is visited annually by 3.1 million people or 9.7 million virtually. The Okanagan campus, acquired in 2005, is located in Kelowna, British Columbia.

Those affiliated with UBC include eight Nobel laureates, 75 Rhodes scholars, 231 Olympians with 65 medals won collectively, 306 fellows to the Royal Society of Canada, and 22 3M National Teaching Fellows. Among UBC's alums are Canadian Prime Ministers John Turner, Kim Campbell, Justin Trudeau, and the former Prime Minister of Bulgaria, Kiril Petkov.

Foundation and early years




In 1877, six years after British Columbia joined Canada, the Superintendent of Education, John Jessop, submitted a proposal to form a provincial university. The provincial legislature passed An Act Respecting the University of British Columbia in 1890, but disagreements arose over whether to build the university on Vancouver Island or the mainland.

The British Columbia University Act of 1908 formally called a provincial university into being, although its location was not specified. The governance was modelled on the Provincial University of Toronto Act of 1906, which created a bicameral system of university government consisting of a senate (faculty) responsible for academic policy and a board of governors (citizens) exercising exclusive control over financial policy and having formal authority in all other matters. The president, appointed by the board, was to provide a link between the two bodies and to perform institutional leadership. The Act constituted a 21-mmember senate with Francis Carter-Cotton of Vancouver as chancellor.

Before the University Act, there were several attempts at creating a degree-granting university with help from the universities of Toronto and McGill. Columbia College in New Westminster, through its affiliation with Victoria College of the University of Toronto, began to offer university-level credit at the turn of the century, but McGill came to dominate higher education in the early 1900s.

Building on a successful affiliation between Vancouver and Victoria high schools with McGill University, Henry Marshall Tory helped establish the McGill University College of British Columbia. From 1906 to 1915, McGill BC (as it was called) operated as a private institution, providing the first few years toward a degree at McGill University or elsewhere. The Henry Marshall Tory Medal was established in 1941 by Tory, founding president of the University of Alberta and of the National Research Council of Canada and a co-founder of Carleton University.

In the meantime, appeals were made to the government to revive the earlier legislation for a provincial institution, leading to the University Endowment Act in 1907 and the University Act in 1908. In 1910, the Point Grey site was chosen, and the government appointed Dr. Frank Fairchild Wesbrook as President in 1913 and Leonard Klinck as Dean of Agriculture in 1914. A declining economy and the outbreak of war in August 1914 compelled the university to postpone plans for building at Point Grey, and instead the former McGill University College site at Fairview became home to the university until 1925. On the first day of lectures, September 30, 1915, the new independent university absorbed McGill University College. The University of British Columbia awarded its first degrees in 1916, and Klinck became the second president in 1919, serving until 1944.

In 1917, Evlyn Fenwick Farris became the first woman in Canada to be appointed to the board of governors of a university—aa founding governor of UBC. She was also the first woman to be appointed to the UBC Senate. Active in its formation, the University Women's Club of Vancouver considered UBC its "godchild."

Move to Point Grey
World War I dominated campus life and the student body was "decimated" by enlistments for active service, with three hundred male UBC students in Company "D" alone. By the war's end, 697 male members of the university had enlisted. 109 students graduated in the three war-time congregations, all but one in the Faculty of Arts and Science.

By 1920, the university had only three faculties: Arts, Applied Science, and Agriculture (with the Departments of Agronomy, Animal Husbandry, Dairying, Horticulture, and Poultry). It only awarded the degrees of Bachelor of Arts (BA), Bachelor of Applied Science (BASc) and Bachelor of Science in agriculture (BSA). There were 576 male students and 386 female students in the 1920–21 winter session, but only 64 academic staff, including 6 women.

In the early part of the 20th century, professional education expanded beyond the traditional fields of theology, law, and medicine. Although UBC did not offer degrees in these fields, it began to offer degrees in new professional areas such as engineering, agriculture, nursing, and school teaching. It also introduced graduate training based on the German-inspired American model of specialized course work and the completion of a research thesis, with students completing M.A. degrees in natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities.

By 1922, the student body numbered over 1200 and embarked on a "Build the University" campaign. Students marched through the streets of Vancouver to draw attention to their plight, enlist popular support, and embarrass the government. Fifty-six thousand signatures were presented at the legislature in support of the campaign, which was ultimately successful. On September 22, 1925, lectures began at the new Point Grey campus. Except for the library, science, and Power House buildings, all the campus buildings were temporary buildings. Students built two playing fields, but the university had no dormitories and no social center. However, the university continued to grow.

Soon, however, the effects of the depression began to be felt. The provincial government, upon which the university depended heavily, cut the annual grant severely. In 1932–33, salaries were cut by up to 23%. Posts remained vacant, and a few faculty lost their jobs. Most graduate courses were dropped. In 1935, the university established the Department of Extension. Just as things began to improve, World War II began, and Canada declared war on September 10, 1939. Soon afterwards, University President Klinck wrote:

"' From the day of the declaration of war, the University has been prepared to put at the disposal of the Government all possible assistance by way of laboratories, equipment and trained personnel, insofar as such action is consistent with the maintenance of reasonably efficient instructional standards. To do less would be unthinkable. '"

Heavy rains and melting snowfall eroded a deep ravine across the north end of the campus, in the Grand Campus Washout of 1935. The campus did not have storm drains and surface runoff went down a ravine to the beach. When the university carved a ditch to drain flooding on University Avenue, the rush of water steepened the ravine and eroded it back as fast as 10 ft per hour. The resulting gully eventually consumed 100000 cuyd, two bridges and buildings near Graham House. The university was closed for four and a half days. Afterwards, the gully was filled with debris from a nearby landslide, and only traces are visible today.

Military training on the campus became popular and was later made mandatory. WWII marked the first provision of money from the federal government to the university for research purposes. This laid a foundation for future research grants from the federal government of Canada.

Post-war years
By the end of World War II, Point Grey's facilities could not meet the influx of veterans returning to their studies. The university needed new staff, courses, faculties and buildings for teaching and accommodation. The student population rose from 2,974 in 1944–45 to 9,374 in 1947–48. Surplus Army and Air Force camps were used for both classrooms and accommodations. The university took over fifteen complete camps during the 1945–46 session, with a sixteenth camp on Little Mountain, in Vancouver, converted into suites for married students. Most of the camps were dismantled and carried by barge or truck to the university, where the huts were scattered across the campus.

Student numbers hit 9,374 in 1948; more than 53% of the students were war veterans in 1947–67. Between 1947 and 1951, the university built twenty new permanent buildings. Those included the War Memorial Gym, which was built with money raised primarily by the students and dedicated on October 26, 1951.

In the 1961–62 academic year, the university had an enrollment of 12,602 students, including 798 graduate students. The next year, the single-University policy in the West was changed as existing colleges of the provincial Universities gained autonomy as Universities – the University of Victoria was established in 1963.

Recent history
Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau announced the creation of the Museum of Anthropology at UBC on July 1, 1971. At a construction cost of $2.5million the museum building, designed by Arthur Erickson, opened in 1976. That same year, the university launched a normal school program under the direction of Sally Rogow to train educators on methods to teach students with multiple disabilities or who were visually impaired.

In 1993, UBC concluded its "World of Opportunity" capital campaign that started in 1988. In total the university raised $262 million for the campaign. An additional $72 million in "non-campaign fundraising" was also raised. During the administration of President Strangway, UBC abandoned its previous design and planning process and private donors started to have more influence on building design.

In 2015, UBC concluded its "Start an Evolution" capital campaign. The campaign's quiet phase started in April 2008 and it launched publicly in September 2011. The initial goal was to raise $1.5 billion. The campaign surpassed that goal and raised $1.624 billion.

UBC's 15th president was Professor Santa J. Ono. He assumed the presidency on August 15, 2016. He served previously as the 28th president of the University of Cincinnati. Dr. Martha Piper – who served as the 11th president of the university – served as interim president from September 1, 2015, to June 30, 2016, following the resignation of Dr. Arvind Gupta.

In early May 2020, UBC announced it would be holding a virtual graduation for the class of 2020 amid concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic. The university received $419,248 from the Government of Canada to promote uptake of COVID-19 vaccines among public health leaders, community figures, Indigenous peoples and leadership in municipal government.

On October 3, 2022, Dr. Deborah Buszard was appointed interim President and Vice-Chancellor of UBC.

In July 2023, UBC announced that Carleton University President Benoit-Antoine Bacon would be UBC's new President as of November 1, 2023.

Vancouver
The main campus is located at Point Grey, approximately 10 km from downtown Vancouver. It lies on forcefully taken territory of the Musqueam people. It is near several beaches and has views of the North Shore Mountains. The 7.63 km2 Pacific Spirit Regional Park serves as a green-belt between the campus and the city. Buildings on the Vancouver campus occupy 1.09 e6m2 gross on 1.7 km2 of maintained land. The campus street plan is mostly in a grid of malls (some of which are pedestrian-only). Lower Mall and West Mall are in the southwestern part of the peninsula, with Main, East and Wesbrook Malls northeast of them.

The campus is not within Vancouver's city limits and therefore UBC is policed by the RCMP rather than the Vancouver Police Department. However, the Vancouver Fire Department provides service to UBC under a contract. In addition to UBC RCMP, there is also the UBC Campus Security that patrols the campus. Postage sent to any building on campus includes Vancouver in the address.

UBC Vancouver also has two satellite campuses within the City of Vancouver: at Vancouver General Hospital, for the medical sciences and at Robson Square in downtown Vancouver, for part-time credit and non-credit programs. UBC is also a partner in the consortium backing Great Northern Way Campus Ltd and is affiliated with a group of adjacent theological colleges, which include the Vancouver School of Theology, Regent College, Carey Theological College and Corpus Christi College.

The campus is home to numerous gardens. The UBC Botanical Garden and Centre for Plant Research, the first UBC department, holds a collection of over 8000 different kinds of plants used for research, conservation and education. The UBC botanical garden's original site was at the "Old Arboretum". All that remains of it today are trees planted in 1916 by John Davidson. The old arboretum is now home to many buildings including the First Nations House of Learning. The Nitobe Memorial Garden, built to honor Japanese scholar Inazo Nitobe, has been the subject of more than fifteen years' study by a UBC professor, who believes its construction hides a number of impressive features, including references to Japanese philosophy and mythology, shadow bridges visible only at certain times of year and positioning of a lantern filled with light at the exact date and time of Nitobe's death each year. The garden is behind the university's Asian Centre, which was built using steel girders from Japan's exhibit at Osaka Expo.

The campus also features the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts: a performing arts center containing the Chan Shun Concert Hall, Telus Studio Theatre and the Royal Bank Cinema. It is often the site of convocation ceremonies and the filming location for the 4400 Center on the television show The 4400, as well as the Madacorp entrance set on Kyle XY. It has also been featured as the Cloud 9 Ballroom in the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica (Season 1, Episode 11: Colonial Day).

Since the mid-1980s UBC has worked with property developers to build several large residential developments throughout UBC's campus. Such developments include: Chancellor Place, Hampton Place, Hawthorn Place and Wesbrook Village.

Okanagan


The Okanagan Campus was established in 2005 on what was previously the North Kelowna Campus of Okanagan University College, next to Kelowna International Airport. It was founded in partnership with the Syilx Okanagan Nation and it lies on their ancestral and forcefully taken territory.

The campus had a 2019 enrollment of 10,708 undergraduate and graduate students and has its own academic Senate. UBC Okanagan offers 62 undergraduate and 19 graduate programs in a diversity of disciplines including Arts, Science, Fine Arts, Engineering, Nursing, Human Kinetics, Education, Management, Social Work and Interdisciplinary Graduate Studies. UBC's Faculty of Medicine delivers medical doctor training through the Southern Medical Program with facilities at UBC Okanagan and a clinical academic campus at Kelowna General Hospital.

From 2005 through 2012, the Okanagan campus completed a $450million expansion with construction of several residential, teaching and research buildings. The expansion included the Charles E. Fipke Centre for Innovative Research, University Centre, the Engineering Management and Education building, the Arts and Sciences Centre, Reichwald Health Sciences Centre and several new student residence buildings. The Commons building was opened in 2019 as an expansion to the Library building. Two additional student housing facilities, Skeena and Nechako, opened in 2020 and 2021 respectively.

In 2010, UBC Okanagan campus grew from 105 ha. to 208.6 ha. Like the Point Grey campus, the Okanagan campus attracts Canadian and international students.

UBC Okanagan is currently expanding its campus to downtown Kelowna. Construction on the 43 storey downtown campus building was approved in August 2023 and is expected to be completed by 2027. Eight storeys will be used as academic space for health programs, as the campus will be in close proximity to Interior Health offices and Kelowna General Hospital. The building will also include public engagement spaces, an art gallery, cafes, retailers and 473 rental housing units.

Libraries, archives and galleries
The UBC Library, which has 7.8million volumes, 2.1million e-books, more than 370,000 e-journals and more than 700,000 items in locally produced digital collections, is Canada's second-largest academic library. From 2014 to 2015, there were more than 3.8million on-campus visits and over 9.5million visits to its website.

The library has fifteen branches and divisions across the UBC Vancouver and UBC Okanagan campuses.

The former Main Library underwent construction and was renamed the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre. Opened in April 2008, the Learning Centre incorporates the centre heritage block of the old Main Library with two new expansion wings and features an automated storage and retrieval system (ASRS), the first of its kind in Canada.

UBC has a number of different collections that have been donated and acquired. Major General Victor Odlum CB, CMG, DSO, VD donated his library of 10,000 books, which has been housed in "the Rockwoods Centre Library" of the UBC Library since 1963. After Videomatica's 2011 closure, UBC and SFU acquired their $1.7-million collection. UBC received about 28,000 movie DVDs, 4,000 VHS titles and 900 Blu-ray discs which are housed at UBC Library's Koerner branch on the Vancouver campus. In 2014, renowned art collector and antiques specialist, Uno Langmann, donated the Uno Langmann Family Collection of B.C. Photographs, which consists of more than 18,000 rare and unique early photographs from the 1850s to the 1970s. It is considered the premiere private collection of early provincial photos and an important illustrated history of early photographic methods. In 2016, the library acquired one of the world's most rare and extraordinary books, the Kelmscott Chaucer from 1896. The book was printed in a limited edition of only 438 copies, but there are only 48 copies in the world with its particular type of binding.

The Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery at UBC is mandated to research, exhibit, collect, publish, educate and develop programs in the field of contemporary art and in contemporary approaches to the practice of art history and criticism. The Belkin maintains and manages the university's art collection of over 5,000 objects, including the Outdoor Art Collection and an archive of over 30,000 items. Works from the permanent collection and archives, with an emphasis on recent acquisitions, are exhibited on an annual basis and are also used by other institutions for research and loans. The Belkin has an active publication program and participates in programming that includes lectures, tours, concerts and symposia related to art history, criticism and curating.

CIRS building
The University of British Columbia CIRS building is designed to be net positive in four environmental aspects. It uses energy obtained from the Earth and Ocean Sciences (EOSC) Building to heat itself, which wastes around 900 megawatts due to ten air changes every hour. The building's wood holds nearly 600 tons of carbon, offsetting more carbon than its construction and maintenance created. Sustainable features include a water supply sourced entirely from rainwater, an on-site sewage treatment facility converting waste into reusable water and compost, and the use of wood from pine beetle-killed trees, minimizing the need for logging.

The building relies primarily on solar energy for electricity, and all areas use natural lighting during the day. These green technologies and sustainable operating practices reduce the building's ecological footprint and enhance the well-being of its occupants.

Water conservation initiatives
For over 20 years, UBC has implemented water consumption policies through two initiatives, ECOTrek and UBC Renew. ECOTrek is Canada's largest sustainability project, which involved a massive water and energy-saving initiative, rebuilding almost 300 academic buildings at UBC. This project achieved a World Clean Energy nomination. The water management aspect included updates to toilets, urinals, basins, and water-cooled equipment, along with the installation of steam and water meters to monitor and quantify water consumption across campus.

The UBC Renew project focuses on renovating aging institutional buildings instead of demolishing and constructing new ones. Demolition can have significant environmental impacts, such as soil pollution, increased air pollutants, and higher water consumption. Renovating old buildings helps save large volumes of water and reduces energy costs.

The university retrofitted its facilities with composting toilets; however, these did not function correctly. As of 2019, UBC consumed about four billion liters of water a year, which could fill 1,600 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

Community efforts
Beyond the UBC sustainability team, a student-driven initiative is taking place in making a bottled-water free campus in hopes of reducing bottled water on campus and to encourage students to engage in environmentally friendly behaviors. Production of bottled water puts strain on the environment and increases landfill space. According to the World Wide Fund for Nature 2001 report, about 1.5million tons of plastic is used for bottling 89billion liters of water each year.

Governance and academics
UBC's administration, as mandated by the University Act, is composed of a chancellor, convocation, board, senate and faculties of the university. The board of governors manages property and revenue, while the senate manages the university's academic operation. Both are composed of faculty and students who are elected to the position. Degrees and diplomas are conferred by the convocation, which is composed of alumni, administrators and faculty, with a quorum of twenty members. UBC also has a president, who is the university's chief executive officer and a member of the senate, board of governors, convocation and also serves as vice chancellor. The president of the university is responsible for managing the academic operation of the university, including recommending appointments, calling meetings of faculties and establishing committees.

Past presidents

 * Frank F. Wesbrook (1st President, 1913–1918)
 * Leonard S. Klinck (2nd President, 1919–1944)
 * Norman A.M. MacKenzie (3rd President, 1944–1962)
 * John B. Macdonald (4th President, 1962–1967)
 * F. Kenneth Hare (5th President, 1968–1969)
 * Walter H. Gage (6th President, 1969–1975)
 * Douglas T. Kenny (7th President, 1975–1983)
 * K. George Pedersen (8th President, 1983–1985)
 * Robert H. T. Smith (9th President, 1985)
 * David W. Strangway (10th President, 1985–1997)
 * Martha C. Piper (11th President, 1997–2006)
 * Stephen J. Toope (12th President, 2006–2014)
 * Arvind Gupta (13th President, 2014–2015)
 * Martha Piper (Interim President, 2015–2016)
 * Santa J. Ono (15th President, 2016–2022)
 * Deborah Buszard (Interim President, 2022–2023)
 * Benoit-Antoine Bacon (17th President, 2023–present)

Faculties and schools
UBC's academic activity is organized into "faculties" and "schools". UBC has twelve faculties at its Vancouver campus and seven at its Okanagan campus. UBC Vancouver has two academic colleges: Interdisciplinary Studies and Health Disciplines, while UBC Okanagan has a College of Graduate Studies. At the Vancouver campus, the Faculty of Arts, which dates back to the 1915 Fairview Campus, is the largest faculty with twenty departments and schools. With the split of the Faculty of Arts and Science in 1964, the Faculty of Science is the second largest faculty with nine departments. The Sauder School of Business is UBC's Faculty of Commerce and Business Administration. The School of Architecture offers a program accredited by the Canadian Architectural Certification Board at the bachelor level (B.Arch.) and the master's level (M.Arch.). , a new school was created: UBC Vancouver School of Economics in conjunction with the Sauder School of Business. The university's first inter-faculty school, the School of Biomedical Engineering, was established in 2017 as a partnership between the Faculties of Applied Science and Medicine.

In 2014, UBC created a new "International Programs" designation separate from the traditional definition of a faculty. To accompany this designation, the university created Vantage College to allow international students who do not meet the English language requirements for general admission to enter the university's transition program.

Dual undergraduate degree with Sciences Po
The dual degree program is a highly selective program in which undergraduate students earn two Bachelor of Arts degrees from both Sciences Po in France and UBC in four years. Previously, students could earn one Bachelor of Arts and one Bachelor of Commerce (Sauder School of Business); however, this program was discontinued with the last student intake occurring in September 2017. Currently, students in the dual degree program can only earn a Bachelor of Arts degree from UBC, along with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Sciences Po, which can both be in different majors pertaining to the social sciences. Students spend two years at one of three Sciences Po regional campuses in France (Le Havre, Menton, or Reims), each of which is devoted to a particular region of the world. After two years, students matriculate at UBC. Graduates are guaranteed admission to a Sciences Po graduate program within one-year of graduation.

Reputation
The University of British Columbia has ranked in a number of post-secondary rankings. In the 2022 Academic Ranking of World Universities rankings, the university ranked 44th in the world and second in Canada. The 2024 QS World University Rankings ranked the University 34th in the world and third in Canada. The 2024 Times Higher Education World University Rankings ranked the University 41st in the world and second in Canada. In the 2022–23 U.S. News & World Report Best Global University Ranking, the university ranked 35th in the world and second in Canada. The Canadian-based Maclean's magazine ranked the University of British Columbia third in their 2023 Canadian Medical Doctoral University category and in their 2023 reputation survey. The university was ranked in spite of having opted out – along with several other universities in Canada – of participating in Maclean's graduate survey since 2006. In Newsweek's 2011 global university rankings, the university was ranked eighth among institutions outside the United States and second in Canada (after the University of Toronto).

Along with academic and research-based rankings, the university has also been ranked by publications that evaluate the employment prospects of its graduates. In the Times Higher Education's 2022 global employability ranking, the university ranked 36th in the world and third in Canada.

International partnerships
UBC students can study abroad for a semester or a year at over 200 partner institutions.

Enrollment
The mean admission average during the 2023–24 school year for domestic first-year students was 89–91 per cent. The acceptance rate for domestic applications in 2013 was 50.4 per cent, of which 57.1 per cent enrolled. In 2014/15, UBC employed 3,270 full-time Faculty members, 10,942 non-faculty members and 8,031 students. It reported 871 unpaid employees.

Vancouver enrollment
University of British Columbia has a total of 72,585 students across both campuses. International students, amounting to 20,237, make up 28% of the university's student population. There are 2,303 indigenous students, making up 3.2% of the student population.

Research
The University of British Columbia is a member of Universitas 21, an international association of research-led institutions and the only Canadian member of the Association of Pacific Rim Universities, a consortium of 42 leading research universities in the Pacific Rim. In 2017, the University of British Columbia had the second-largest sponsored research income (external sources of funding) out of any Canadian university, totaling C$577 million. In the same year, the university's faculty averaged a sponsored research income of $249,900, the eighth highest in the country, while graduate students averaged a sponsored research income of $55,200.

The university has been ranked on several bibliometric university rankings, which uses citation analysis to evaluate the impact a university has on academic publications. In 2019, the Performance Ranking of Scientific Papers for World Universities ranked UBC 27th in the world and second in Canada. The University Ranking by Academic Performance 2018–19 rankings placed the university 27th in the world and second in Canada.

The university operates and manages several research centers:
 * In 1972, a consortium of the University of British Columbia and four other universities from Alberta and British Columbia established the Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre. Located on Vancouver Island, the center provides year-round research facilities and technical assistance for biologists, ecologists and oceanographers.
 * The Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies is an interdisciplinary research institute for fundamental research in the Sciences, Social Sciences and Humanities.
 * The UBC Farm is a 24 ha learning and research farm in UBC's South Campus area. It features Saturday Farm Markets from early June until early October, selling organic produce and eggs to the community.
 * TRIUMF, a laboratory specializing in particle and nuclear physics, is also situated at the university. The name was formerly an acronym for Tri-University Meson Facility, but TRIUMF is now owned and operated by a consortium of eleven Canadian universities. The consortium runs TRIUMF through a contribution of funds from the National Research Council of Canada and makes TRIUMF's facilities available to Canadian scientists and to scientists from around the world.
 * BC Centre on Substance Use (BCCSU) and UBC have established Professorships in Cannabis Science in 2018 following Canada's legalization of cannabis.
 * The Centre for the Study of Democratic Institutions is a research institute for the teaching and study of innovation in democratic practice and institutions. Established in 2002, the center conducts research and teaching in cooperation with scholars, public officials, NGOs and students. The center is formally housed in the UBC School of Public Policy and Global Affairs (SPPGA) and operates in association with faculty in the UBC Department of Political Science. It was initially funded from the Merilees Chair through a donation by Gail and Stephen Jarislowsky.
 * The Stewart Blusson Quantum Matter Institute, one of three Canadian research institutes focused on quantum materials and technology research, was established in 2015 with the support of the Canada First Excellence Research Fund and a donation from Stewart Blusson.

In 2017, UBC inked a $3 million research agreement with Huawei for big data and fuel cell technology. The university refused to release the agreement without an access to information request.

Indigenous
UBC's Longhouse is the university's centre for Indigenous activities. The university has an associate dean of Indigenous Education and has developed a governing board and senate policies as well as Aboriginal governed councils within the university structure. UBC offers degrees in First Nations and Indigenous Studies through a program in the Arts Faculty, and a Chinook Diploma Program in the Sauder School of Business; it also runs the Chinook Summer Biz Camp, to foster entrepreneurship among First Nations and Métis high school students. It hosts a Bridge Through Sport Program, Summer Science Program, Native Youth Program and Cedar Day Camp and After school Program. Its First Nations Forestry Initiatives were developed in partnership with specific Aboriginal communities to meet their needs in their more remote areas.

Finances
In 2012–13, UBC's budget exceeded $2billion and the university posted balanced financial results for the fourth consecutive year through strategic revenue diversification, careful management of assets and a continued focus on fundraising for projects across the university. Government grants account for approximately 45% of total revenues. Annual fundraising has nearly doubled in 5 years to reach $213million.

Tuition
Tuition fees vary significantly between Canadian citizens (and permanent residents) and international students. In addition, for both undergraduate and graduate programs, tuition rates vary among the university's faculties. Students must also pay for various living expenses such as housing, food and health care. , these expenses were estimated at around $13,000 CAD per academic year.

Undergraduate tuition
UBC tuition for 2012 was $4,700 before adding other mandatory administrative fees for a Canadian student in a basic 30-unit program, though various programs cost from $3,406 to $9,640. Tuition for international students is significantly higher (2.3–4.6 times higher than domestic students). In 2012, tuition for international students ranged from $16,245 CAD to $25,721 CAD.

In 2001–02, UBC had one of the lowest undergraduate tuition rates in Canada, at an average of $2,181 CAD per year for a full-time program due to a government-instituted tuition freeze.

In 2001, the BC Liberal party defeated the NDP in British Columbia and lifted the tuition freeze. In 2002–03 undergraduate and graduate tuition rose by an average of 30% and up to 40% in some faculties. This has led to better facilities, but also to student unrest and contributed to a teaching assistant union strike.

UBC again increased tuition by 30% in the 2003–04 year, again by approximately 15% in the 2004–05 season and 2% in the 2005–06 and 2006–07 years. Increases were lower than expected because, in the 2005 Speech from the Throne, the government announced tuition increases would be capped to inflation. In 2006–07, the Canadian average undergraduate tuition fee was $4,347 and the BC average was $4,960. In 2014, the board of governors passed a one-time 10% tuition increase for all new incoming international students. In December 2015, UBC's board of governors passed a motion increasing international tuition by more than 46.8% for the academic years 2016–17, 2017–18, 2018–2019. This announcement was met with indignation by many of the university's students as this was the second major increase in international tuition in less than a year, taking total international student tuition fee increases to above 60% within 4 years (minimum international tuition will be bench marked at $35,071 CAD in the year 2018–19).

Graduate tuition
In the academic year 2019/2020, graduate programs assess tuition fees that vary significantly, depending on the program and the student's citizenship. International students without external funding that meet the general eligibility criteria will be supported with guaranteed funding of up to $3,200 per year. Tuition for professional Master's programs varies.

Student representation
The Alma Mater Society of the University of British Columbia, or AMS, represents UBC undergraduate students within the Vancouver campus. The society's mandate is to improve the quality of educational, social and personal lives of UBC students. The AMS lobbies the UBC administration on behalf of the student body, provides services such as the AMS/GSS Health and Dental Plan, supports and administers student clubs and maintains the Student Union Building (aka SUB) and the services it houses. A constituency (undergraduate society) exists within each school and faculty of the university and acts as the subsidiary of the AMS within those schools and faculties.

The Graduate Student Society (GSS), which operates as an independent entity, represents graduate students. A council representing each graduate program and an executive elected by graduate students as a whole governs the GSS.

The university also has elected student representatives sitting on, as voting members, the board of governors (three student representatives) and the academic senate (18 student representatives), as laid out in the British Columbia University Act. Although the university is the official body that elects the students, the university delegates these representative elections to the AMS.

On the Okanagan Campus, the Students' Union Okanagan, or UBCSUO, is the elected representation of the student body. Composed of a board of directors and executive team, the UBCSUO lobbies the administration and provincial government on behalf of the student body, manages the student health and dental plan, as well as hosts social programming throughout the year. The Student Union Offices are located within the University Centre Building. In the wake of the COVID-19 Pandemic, the SUO initiated the Emergency Bursary Program which supported UBC students with nearly $1,000,000 in emergency funding.

Student demographics
In the 2020–21 academic year, females made up 57 per cent of UBC Vancouver's student body and 53 per cent of UBC Okanagan's student body.

Student facilities
The heart of student activity at UBC Vancouver is the centrally located Student Union Building (SUB), which houses offices of many AMS student clubs, over a dozen restaurants and cafes, a pub (commonly referred to as "The Gallery"), a nightclub ("The Pit"), the 425-seat Norman Bouchard Memorial Theatre ("The Norm Theatre"), several shops and a post office. The AMS runs the majority of the SUB's outlets and shops; however, UBC Food Services' recent addition of major corporate outlets has generated controversy. The SUB Art Gallery contains mostly students' works. An underground bus loop to replace the "Grassy Knoll" beside the SUB did not receive funding by Translink. As a result, the administration has cancelled the bus loop project, although the rest of the renovations of the University Boulevard Neighborhood are still under consideration.

On June 1, 2015, the new Student Union Building—called the AMS Student Nest, or simply "the Nest" —opened to students, largely replacing and extending the old SUB in functionality. The Nest, built for $107million, is much larger than its predecessor, and has numerous amenities including a performance centre, an art exhibition space, a large ballroom, a three-storey climbing wall, radio broadcast facilities, a daycare, and a 10,740 square foot rooftop garden and public space with a water feature and outdoor seating. Many of the restaurants as well as the Pit Pub have moved to the Nest under their original name or with new names. AMS Student Nest was designed by B+H Architects in collaboration with DIALOG, opened on June 1, 2015, on UBC's Vancouver campus. The building has an area of 23 700m² with a capacity of 300 people. The structure of the building was worked on by RJC Engineers using primarily wood and steel construction. Other student facilities on campus include the Ladha Science Student Centre (funded through a donation from Abdul Ladha, a levy on Science undergraduate students, the VP Students and the dean of Science) and the Meekison Arts Student Space in the Faculty of Art's Buchanan D building. The UBC Bookstore's locations on the Vancouver campus: the main store at 6200 University Boulevard and a store at Sauder School of Business join the stores at the Okanagan and Robson Square Campuses in offering a variety of products and services. The bookstores return a dividend to UBC each year, which is re-invested in the campus or in student and community organizations.

Greek organizations
While UBC's Greek system is somewhat smaller than its counterparts in the United States, UBC's 19 Greek organizations make up Canada's largest and most active Greek system. The Alma Mater Society recognizes an Inter Fraternal Council (IFC) as a club and weekly meetings of the fraternities under IFC take place at their respective fraternity houses. Greek life has its own division within UBC REC and intense competition between the nine Fraternities for the title of top Athletic Fraternity occur.

There are eleven international fraternities on campus, the first of which was Zeta Psi, in January 1926. Although its disputed, Alpha Delta Phi soon came to campus and chartered 3 months later. However, Zeta Psi and Alpha Delta Phi were preceded by several local fraternities on campus. Other fraternities include Alpha Epsilon Pi, Delta Kappa Epsilon, Psi Upsilon, Sigma Chi, Beta Theta Pi, Phi Delta Theta, Phi Gamma Delta, Kappa Sigma, Zeta Psi and the newly added Phi Kappa Sigma.

The National Panhellenic Conference (NPC) member organizations (sororities) on campus are overseen by the Panhellenic Council. All sororities have a chapter room in the Panhellenic House on Wesbrook Mall; the building also offers housing for 72 college women, with preference given to sorority members.

The eight sororities on the Vancouver campus include Alpha Delta Pi, Alpha Gamma Delta, Alpha Omicron Pi, Alpha Phi, Delta Gamma, Gamma Phi Beta, Kappa Alpha Theta and Kappa Kappa Gamma. The current Panhellenic total is 104. Chapter meetings are held in the chapter's respective rooms each week or in classrooms and Greek-wide or campus-wide events are attended by members of all the sororities and fraternities. Formal recruitment for the sororities begins during the third week of September and is a five-day process consisting of: tours (first two days), invitationals (third and fourth days) and preference. The formal recruitment process ends with Bid Day, where membership bids from each sorority are distributed to prospective members.

Phrateres has traditionally been affiliated with the Greek system since its installation at UBC in 1935. Historical records indicate that for many years, members identified themselves and were recognized as Greek. Members interacted with fraternities on a similar basis as the sororities and participated in many Greek events, such as Songfest and exchanges. However, they presently operate as a self-governing organization under the Alma Mater Society with the closure of their international headquarters in 2001.

Both campuses also have chapters of Sigma Phi Delta and Alpha Omega Epsilon, a professional engineering fraternity and sorority respectively. None of the four chapters are affiliated with the other Greek organizations on campus.

Alpha Kappa Psi (professional business fraternity) too has an active chapter at UBC since 2009. It consists of students from all faculty. They do not have a house and are not affiliated with any other Greek organization on campus.

Alpha Phi Omega (Community service fraternity) founded its first chapter in Canada at UBC in 2015.

Moreover, UBC was ranked among Canada's top party schools by the website Ask Men. UBC was ranked eighth.

Residences


The UBC Point Grey campus has a resident population of about 10,041 students who live in an unincorporated area, outside the City of Vancouver known as Electoral Area A within and partly administered by Metro Vancouver. Neighboring the University Endowment Lands, on-campus residential services are provided by the Province of BC and by UBC. Emergency Planning is administered by Metro Vancouver. Because UBC is not in a municipality, there is no mayor, council, or other democratic municipal representation for on-campus residents, although residents can vote for the director of Electoral Area A. British Columbia's Residential Tenancy Act does not protect UBC residents because university accommodations for students and employees are exempt.

UBC has forecast the need for 6,400 new on-campus beds between 2008 and 2028 "to maintain the current availability of student housing choices in the face of on-going pressures in the Vancouver rental market". From 2009 to 2014, UBC added 1,471 beds for student residents. In 2015, UBC plans to increase the cost of on-campus student housing by 20%, with the exception of year-round residences.

, there are three dormitory style residences on campus, primarily for first and second-year students: Totem Park, Place Vanier and Orchard Commons.

Totem Park, housing about 2,129 students, consists of nine dormitory buildings (Nootka, Dene, Haida, Salish, Kwakiutl, Shuswap, həm̓ləsəm̓, q̓ələχən, c̓əsnaʔəm),and a Commons Block (Coquihalla). All houses, except Shuswap and c̓əsnaʔəm, are co-ed, with alternating men's and women's floors; Shuswap and c̓əsnaʔəm have co-ed floors. The həm̓ləsəm̓ and q̓ələχən houses were opened to Totem Park residents in September 2011 and have single rooms with semi-private or private washrooms in contrast to the other houses' communal floor washrooms. c̓əsnaʔəm was opened to Totem Park residents in September 2017 and has single rooms with communal bathrooms.

Place Vanier, housing 1,370 people, consists of 12 blocks constructed in 1959 (Robson House), 1960 (Okanagan, Sherwood Lett, Mackenzie, Ross, Hamber and Mawdsley Houses), 1961 (Kootenay House), 1968 (Cariboo and Tweedsmuir Houses), 2002 (Korea-UBC House) and 2003 (Tec de Monterrey-UBC House). The buildings vary from male and female only, to alternating gender floors, as well as fully mixed floors. The residences have single and double rooms and each floor has a lounge and communal bathrooms.

Orchard Commons consists of two apartment style buildings, Braeburn house and Bartlett house, with the latter containing a common dining hall and reception area. Orchard Commons houses 1,047 students, with the majority staying in connected single rooms on mixed gender floors, where two same-gender residents share a washroom connecting their adjacent rooms.

Students nineteen and older have suite-style residence options on the Point Grey campus. The Gage Towers consist of three 17-floor towers (North, South and East) primarily for second, third and fourth-year undergraduate students. It consists of three interconnected towers (North, South and East) as well as single student housing (both studio and apartment) in a building. The towers are composed of "quads": four separate pods, each consisting of six individual bedrooms, a bathroom and a kitchen-dining area.

Acadia Park and University Apartments are for student families and couples (where one is a UBC student) and are administered on a year-round basis.

Next to the Acadia Park residence area on the east part of campus is Fairview Crescent, a residence primarily for second- and third-year undergraduate students and many graduate students. The residence consists of an L-shaped pedestrian-only street lined with 4, 5 and six-student (a mix of single-sex and co-ed) townhouses. The Beanery coffee shop is in the middle of the residence. Within a 5-minute walk from Fairview Crescent is the Fraser Hall residence which houses approximately 200 students. Fairview Crescent and Fraser Hall are both governed by the Fairview and Fraser Residence Association.

The Thunderbird residences are primarily for graduate students and fourth-year undergraduate students; they are at the academic core campus' southern edge. The Ritsumeikan-UBC House is a residence with a Japanese cultural setting, named for Ritsumeikan University. It houses Japanese exchange students and Canadian students, who participate in unique inter-cultural programmes. UBC's Urasenke Japanese tea ceremony club uses the residence's tatami room for practice sessions. Two Canadian students are typically paired with two Japanese exchange students.

Marine Drive Residence is on the west side of campus, slightly south of Place Vanier. The first phase, consisting of Building 1 (an 18-floor tower) and Building 2 (a five-floor building commonly called the "Podium") opened in fall 2005. In February 2006, the board of governors approved plans for Marine Drive's second phase, putting an end to the debacle caused by concerns over the view of Wreck Beach (Phase I's Building 1 was reduced from 20 floors to 18). Additionally, building 1 contains the Simon K.Y. Lee Global Lounge and Resource Centre. Phase II consists of Buildings 4 through 6 (two towers and another "Podium", respectively) and also the Commonsblock. Buildings 4 through 6 were all open to students. A separate Commonsblock was completed in summer 2009 and has similar services to the Commonsblock of other residences, such as exercise, game and study rooms. Construction at Marine Drive was completed in February 2010, with the opening of The Point Grill restaurant in Building 4.



The Ponderosa Commons and Orchard Commons residences, completed in 2016 and Brock Commons, opened in the Summer of 2017. The Ponderosa Commons is a multi-purpose building designed for student housing but is also a place for students to gather, study, or eat. The Ponderosa Commons house a Mercante, a popular pizzeria,and Harvest, a popular small-sized grocery shop.

The university has two colleges to accommodate graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and visiting scholars: St. John's College and Green College.

Brock Commons Tallwood House opened in 2017, becoming the tallest mass timber building in the world. Brock Commons South building finished completion and became open for students in June 2024.

Athletics
The University of British Columbia's sports teams are called the Thunderbirds. The Thunderbirds participate in the U Sports Canada West Universities Athletic Association for most varsity sports. However, several varsity teams at UBC compete in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics. , UBC considered joining the NCAA Division II. With a long history of competing in sports, the Thunderbirds have garnered a number of championships. In particular, the women swimmers who had represented UBC had brought back 22 conference championships and 16 national championships.

The University of British Columbia has a number of athletic facilities open to both their varsity teams as well as to their students. The stadium with the largest seating capacity at UBC is the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre. The Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre is home to the varsity ice hockey teams and was also used as a venue for the 2010 Winter Olympics. Other facilities at UBC include Thunderbird Stadium, home to the university's football and soccer varsity teams, UBC Aquatic Centre, home to the university's swimming teams, the War Memorial Gymnasium, home to the university's basketball and volleyball varsity teams and Thunderbird Park, home to the university's many other outdoor varsity teams.

The university has also had a long history of sending a number of students to represent their countries at the Olympics. Since having its first athlete sent to the Olympics in 1928, a total of 231 individuals from UBC have represented their respective countries at the Olympics. The total number of individual medals athletes from UBC had won was 61, with 19 gold, 21 silver and 24 bronze. The majority of these medals won had come from the sport of rowing.

Marching band
UBC's marching band, the Thunderbird Marching Band, was founded in September 2012 and is entirely student-run. The band performs at various Thunderbirds football, basketball, rugby and hockey games, as well as other campus events. It is the only university-level marching band in Western Canada.

Fight songs
Notable among a number of songs commonly played and sung at various events such as commencement and convocation and athletic games are: "Hail, U.B.C" with words and music by Harold King, "High on Olympus" with words by D. C. Morton and music by J. C. F. Haeffner. and "Hail, UBC!" (2009) with words and music by Steve Chatman.

Campus events
A small number of large-scale, campus-wide events occur annually at UBC which are organized by university institutions, the AMS and student constituencies of various faculties and departments. Additionally, a number of unofficial traditions exist at UBC: jumping from the Aquatic Centre's 10-metre diving board late at night and repainting the Engineering cairn so as to advertise other clubs.

Several group athletic events take place at UBC every year. Storm the Wall is an intramural relay race put on by UBC Recreation in April, culminating in the climbing of a 12 ft wall. Day of the Longboat is an intramural event put on at the end of September/early October by UBC Recreation. It is a major voyageur canoe race with teams competing in a 2 km paddle around the waters of Jericho Sailing Centre. The program is operated by over 120 volunteer students and staff who are responsible for operating every aspect of this program. UBC Recreation's student administrators fill various roles including event planning, sport officiating, public relations and building supervision.

Faculty constituencies, such as the Arts Undergraduate Society (AUS) and Science Undergraduate Society (SUS), hold events annually. Many of the major constituencies, such as for Arts, Science and Engineering, hold their own faculty weeks to celebrate their faculties. The events may include keynote speeches, merchandise sales and dances. Arts County Fair was an annual concert and party on the last day of classes in April, put on by the AUS and occurring at Thunderbird Stadium. Past headliners have included Sam Roberts, The New Pornographers and Metric. Due to increasing financial difficulties (mostly resulting from mounting security and related costs) the AUS announced they would not continue the event in 2008. In its place, the Alma Mater Society of UBC hosted the AMS Block Party to celebrate the end of classes.

During the Spring exam season, the Ski & Board Club organizes the Undie Run, a charity event that encourages people to donate their clothes to the Big Brothers & Sisters organization in Vancouver. Students meet at the Student Union Building, remove the clothes they are going to donate and then run around campus in their underwear. Students run through places like the Irvin K. Barber Centre and Place Vanier Residence before ending at the Martha Piper Plaza fountain.

To celebrate the beginning of classes, UBC Orientations organizes several events for first-year students, such as Imagine UBC, GALA and UBC Jump Start. Imagine UBC is an orientation day and pep rally for first-year undergraduate students that replaces the first day of class after Labour Day at UBC Vancouver.

Model United Nations
In March 2012, UBC was the partner Host University of the Harvard World Model United Nations Conference (WorldMUN 2012 Vancouver). As the world's largest student-organized Model UN conference, this was also the largest student conference to have ever been organized by UBC and the largest student conference on Canadian soil. There were 2,200 student delegates and nearly 200 faculty advisors from 270 universities from over 60 countries. The organizing committee amassed over 500 student volunteers from across the UBC campus and the local student community to execute the week-long event.

Engineering student pranks
UBC engineering students have a history of performing pranks which attract national and international attention. UBC does not condone student pranks, nor publicize them (unlike the California Institute of Technology or Massachusetts Institute of Technology; see hacks at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology). Notable incidents include the hanging of the shell of a VW Bug from the underside of the Lions Gate Bridge. Those responsible for the Lions Gate prank have never been caught, nor has it been discovered how the prank was performed.

Notable people
Throughout UBC's history, faculty, alumni and former students have played prominent roles in many different fields. Many UBC alumni and faculty have gone on to win awards including eight Nobel Prizes and 74 Rhodes Scholarships.

Former alumni have won Nobel Prizes: Robert Mundell (Economic Sciences) who graduated from the UBC Department of Economics and Bertram Brockhouse (Physics). Five former faculty members of the UBC have also received a Nobel Prize: Michael Smith (Chemistry), Har Gobind Khorana (Physiology or Medicine), Daniel Kahneman (Economics), Hans G. Dehmelt (Physics) and Carl Wieman (Physics).

Many former students have gained local and national prominence in government. Four Canadian prime ministers have attended UBC: Joe Clark, John Turner, Kim Campbell and Justin Trudeau. Trudeau completed his BEd. at UBC in 1998, and Clark briefly attended UBC law. George Stanley, the Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick and creator of the Canadian flag had also served as faculty. Alumni Mike Harcourt, Glen Clark and Ujjal Dosanjh have been premiers of British Columbia:,  People of UBC Law have also served on the Supreme Court of Canada: former faculty member Beverley McLachlin and alumnus Frank Iacobucci.

Other examples include:
 * Canadian academic, science broadcaster and environmental activist David Suzuki was a professor in UBC's genetics department from 1963 until his retirement in 2001.
 * Joel Bakan, author of The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power, is a professor at the Faculty of Law.
 * Psychologist Albert Bandura is an alumnus of UBC.
 * Actress Evangeline Lilly attended UBC and earned her degree in international relations.
 * Singer/songwriter Dan Mangan attended UBC, earning a BA in English Literature.
 * Author and historian Pierre Berton majored in history at UBC.
 * James Giles (philosopher), philosopher of mind and human relationships, received his BA (Hons) and MA at UBC.
 * Man-in-Motion Rick Hansen was the first student with a physical disability to graduate in physical education from UBC.
 * Director of Artificial Intelligence at Tesla Andrej Karpathy graduated from UBC in 2011 with a MSc in computer science.
 * Opera singers Judith Forst, Ben Heppner and Lance Ryan studied music at UBC.
 * David Cheriton, who graduated from UBC in 1973, is a Google founding investor and computer science professor at Stanford University.
 * Science fiction writer William Gibson, who coined the term "cyberspace", earned his bachelor's degree in English at UBC.
 * Actor Manny Jacinto graduated with a degree in civil engineering.
 * Clint Hocking, creative director of Far Cry 2 and Watch Dogs: Legion, graduated received a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing at UBC.
 * Gabor Maté, an expert in childhood development and trauma, earned his BA at UBC.
 * Kiril Petkov, 17th Prime Minister of Bulgaria and the first alumnus to become a head of government outside of Canada
 * Hong Kong-born Canadian photographer and conceptual artist Theodore Wan received his BFA at UBC in 1975.

UBC alumni have also held important positions in the academia. Notable examples are:
 * Indira Samarasekera, twelfth president of the University of Alberta;
 * Amit Chakma, president of the University of Western Ontario;
 * Muriel Kennett Wales, believed to have been the first Irish-born woman to earn a PhD in pure mathematics.
 * John H. McArthur, dean emeritus of the Harvard Business School;
 * Thomas Franck (lawyer), who was the Murry and Ida Becker Professor of Law at New York University and former editor-in-chief of the American Journal of International Law;
 * David H. Turpin, sixth president of the University of Victoria and thirteenth president of the University of Alberta;
 * Nemkumar Banthia, a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and CEO of IC-IMPACTS.
 * Michiel Horn, member of the Royal Society of Canada and professor emeritus of history at York University;
 * Monica Lam, a computer science professor at Stanford University and founder of Moka5;
 * Frank Iacobucci, a Puisne Justice on the Supreme Court of Canada.
 * Alison Mountz, Canada Research Chair in Global Migration at Wilfrid Laurier University and member of the Royal Society of Canada's College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists.
 * Amalendu Chandra, Indian theoretical physical chemist, professor of chemistry at Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, fellow of the IAS and INSA, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology award.