UBC has a lot of students — in total, there are 70,024 students spread across UBC Vancouver and UBC Okanagan.
Every year, UBC releases an annual enrolment report detailing overall student numbers, admissions statistics, Indigenous student enrolment and more. The Ubyssey has broken it down this year’s report for you.
How many students go to UBC?
Of the 70,024 students that go to UBC, 58,462 are enrolled at UBC Vancouver and the remaining 11,562 are at UBC Okanagan. Undergraduates make up approximately 80 per cent of students at UBC and are the majority on both campuses.
How has enrolment changed over the past five years?
Trends in domestic student enrolment appear unchanged amid the pandemic, with UBC’s domestic enrolment growing by 4.9 per cent. Much of that comes from UBC Okanagan undergraduates.
After years of steady growth, international student enrolment has taken a dip. While there were more international students enrolled this year than last at UBC Okanagan, a drop in enrolment at UBC Vancouver brought the overall international student headcount down to 98 per cent of what it was last year.
How many students does UBC admit every year?
UBC takes into account both applicants’ personal profiles and their academic average when making undergraduate admissions decisions. According to the report, UBC assessed over 81,000 personal profiles for 2020/21 undergraduate admissions. For successful applicants, the mean grade range for all courses completed in senior year was 89–91 per cent at UBC Vancouver and 82–84 per cent at UBC Okanagan. This year’s admission rate was 57 per cent.
UBC’s graduate programs appear significantly harder to get into with a 24 per cent admission rate on both campuses. COVID-19 had heavily impacted graduate admissions, according to the report. “While institutions in Canada did not take the steps of some of their American counterparts with the elimination of entire intakes, it is likely that programs exercised caution in their admission for September 2020.”
UBC plans a one per cent reduction in domestic full-time enrolments and a 0.2 per cent reduction every year afterward. According to Vice-Provost and Associate Vice-President, Enrolment & Academic Facilities Pam Ratner, international enrolments are expected to remain steady through fiscal year 2022/23.
“Right now, the focus of the university is to balance the desire to return to the much-missed aspects of university life that have been curtailed over the past year with the guidance we receive from public health officials, and the provincial and federal governments,” she said in a statement to The Ubyssey.
How has Indigenous enrolment changed over the past 5 years?
Indigenous student enrolment has continued to climb. In the 2020/21 academic year, UBC enrolled a total of 2,042 indigenous students. Despite enrolling only 18 per cent of all domestic students, UBC Okanagan accounted for 35% of UBC’s Indigenous student enrolment.
How many UBC first years stayed on?
It appears that COVID-19 hasn’t had a big effect on the amount of students sticking around. The retention rate, which is the percentage of full-time first years from last year who enrolled this year, has remained steady.
The six-year completion rate of the 2014/15 cohort was 70 per cent overall at UBC Okanagan and 81 per cent at UBC Vancouver. However, that rate was lower for Indigenous students — 63 per cent for both campuses.
In a statement to The Ubyssey, Director of the First Nations House of Learning Dr. Margaret Moss said that two common concerns regarding retention, unstable finances and unstable housing, are “two challenges that Indigenous families commonly face.”
“Indigenous populations are often hit harder with the pandemic realities, be it greater susceptibilities in families and communities as well as access to healthcare, access to tools and educational supports and other issues,” said Moss. “So, it would be almost expected that there would be challenges that will interrupt progress.”
Where do UBC international students come from?
Across the two campuses, UBC international students in 2020/21 came from at least 140 countries. China was the most popular country of origin for international students on both campuses.
“It’s challenging to anticipate with any certainty where the university may see more or less students from internationally,” said Damara Klaassen, executive director of the International Student Initiative, adding that a variety of factors affect what countries students apply to UBC from.