UBC Facts & Figures (2009/2010)

• About UBC
• UBC’s Campuses
• Teaching and Learning
• Our Students
• International Students at UBC
• Citizenship of International Students (Top 10 Countries)
• Degrees Awarded
• Faculty and Staff
• Nobel and UBC
• Economic Impact
• Research Innovation and Funding
• UBC Financial Facts
• Alumni
• UBC Sustainability
• UBC Library Overview

For additional stats, please visit the UBC Planning and Institutional Research (PAIR) web site.

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About UBC

The University of British Columbia is a global centre for research and teaching, consistently ranked among the 30 best universities of the world. Surrounded by the beauty of the Canadian West, UBC embraces bold new ways of thinking that attract exceptional students and faculty. It is a place where innovative ideas are nurtured in a globally connected research community, providing unparalleled opportunities to learn, discover and contribute. UBC is a place of mind.

UBC at a Glance

• 54,125 students
• 7,570 international students
• $549 million per year in research funding
• 140 companies spun off from UBC research
• $10 billion in economic impact
• 10,551 degrees granted in 2008/09
• First Canadian university to achieve targets set by the Kyoto Protocol
• One of Canada’s Best Diversity Employers for the third consecutive year
• 250,000 alumni in 120 countries
• Four-year public university
• Coeducational and secular

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The UBC Campuses

UBC’s two main campuses are situated in Vancouver and in Kelowna in the Okanagan Valley. In addition, UBC has a downtown presence in Vancouver at UBC Robson Square and at the Great Northern Way campus, located south east of downtown Vancouver.

Surrounded by the ocean, the city and 763 hectares of forested park land, the Vancouver campus is UBC’s largest campus with twelve faculties. The campus is located 20 minutes from the heart of downtown Vancouver.

The Okanagan campus has seven faculties and is located in the city of Kelowna in the Okanagan Valley. Since opening in 2005, the 209 hectare campus has doubled in size.

UBC Robson Square offers a wide variety of executive, technology, and professional development programs, in addition to arts and humanities courses, live performances, international events, and public forums.

The Great Northern Way campus is a collaboration between UBC, Simon Fraser University, Emily Carr University of Art + Design, and the BC Institute of Technology. The campus provides an integrated environment with programs offered by each partner institution.

UBC’s Faculty of Medicine academic programs are provided at 75 health care facilities including 22 large tertiary and medium regional hospitals for both undergraduate and post graduate medical students.

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Teaching and Learning

UBC holds an international reputation for excellence in advanced research and learning, offering a wide-range of innovative programs in the arts, sciences, medicine, law, commerce and other faculties to its students.

UBC advances learning and teaching by expanding learning opportunities outside the classroom. This includes informal educational settings and enriched learning opportunities–co-op placements, international service learning, and community service learning.

Nobel prize-winning physicist Carl Wieman chose UBC to launch The Carl Wieman Science Education Initiative. It aims to understand why students struggle with scientific concepts, to research more effective ways to teach and to improve the ability of students to meet the challenges of tomorrow.  Now underway in seven departments, 26 faculty members are involved, 24 courses have been transformed and thousands of students have been impacted.

• 18 Faculties, 14 Schools, 3 Colleges
• 234 undergraduate programs, 250 graduate programs
• 2,191 students participated in community service learning initiatives

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Our Students

Vancouver campus

Undergraduate	Full-time	25,631
	Part-time	12,313
	Total	37,944
Graduate	Full-time	8,161
	Part-time	991
	Total	9,152
Total		47,096

Okanagan campus

Undergraduate	Full-time	5,078
	Part-time	1,474
	Total	6,552
Graduate	Full-time	369
	Part-time	108
	Total	477
Total		7,029

• 54,125 students
• 883 Aboriginal students
• Four Rhodes Scholars in the last five years
• Over 90% of first year full-time students go on to second year
• Average entering grade–89.5% (Vancouver campus) and 82.2% (Okanagan campus)
• Bachelor’s Degree completion rate–direct entry students:76.7%, transfer students: 72.6%

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International Students at UBC

Undergraduate	4,899
Graduate	2,671
Total	7,029

International students are those attending UBC on a student visa, work permit, or other visa, and do not include landed immigrants or refugees. They come to UBC from over 145 countries and comprise 12.6% of the total student population.

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Citizenship of International Students (Top 10 Countries)

Undergraduate Students

China	903
United States	825
South Korea	547
Japan	272
Hong Kong	158
Mexico	154
U.K.	147
Indonesia	128
Malaysia	126
India	115

Graduate Students

United States	578
China	536
Iran	291
India	171
Mexico	85
Germany	72
U.K.	65
Bangladesh	57
South Korea	51
Japan	45

For students wishing to take part in exchange programs, UBC has exchange agreements in place with over 150 partner universities.

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Degrees Awarded (Results for 2009)

Vancouver Campus Undergraduate Students

Bachelor of Arts	2,205
Bachelor of Science	1,177
Bachelor of Commerce	581
Bachelor of Applied Science	669
Bachelor of Education	678
Bachelor of Human Kinetics	209
Diploma in Accounting	250
Bachelor of Science in Nursing	163
Bachelor of Science (Pharmacy)	146
Other Undergraduate Degrees	813
Total	6,891

Okanagan Campus Undergraduate Students

Bachelor of Arts	260
Bachelor of Science in Nursing	79
Bachelor of Science	129
Bachelor of Education	106
Bachelor of Management	76
Bachelor of Social Work	40
Other Undergraduate Degrees	18
Total	708

Vancouver Campus Graduate Students

Master of Science	320
Master of Arts	305
Doctor of Philosophy	443
Master of Education	271
Doctor of Medicine	220
Master of Business Administration	168
Other Graduate Degree	931
Total	2,658

Okanagan Campus Graduate Students

Master of Science	4
Master of Arts	15
Master of Education	13
Other Graduate Degrees	24
Total	44

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Faculty and Staff

Faculty	3,694
Staff	9,727
Total	13,421

• UBC faculty members achieved an average score of 4.13 out of 5 on Student Evaluations of Teaching, with over 73% of professors scoring above 4
• Seven Nobel prize winners, among current or former faculty and alumni
• 12 3M National Teaching Fellows 10 Royal Society members and over 180 Royal Society of Canada members
• 367 Killam teaching prize winners
• Of the 2,572 full time faculty members, 33% are women

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Nobel and UBC

• Prof. Carl Wieman, a Nobel laureate renowned for his leadership in science education and received the 2001 Nobel Prize in Physics, joined UBC in 2006. Wieman is currently on leave while he fulfills the role of Associate Director for Science in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP).
• UBC Professor, the late Michael Smith won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1993 for his groundbreaking work in reprogramming segments of DNA.
• UBC alumnus Robert A. Mundell won the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences in 1999 for his work in the comparative economics of fixed and flexible exchange rates. Mundell also received a UBC honorary degree in 2000.
• UBC alumnus Bertram N. Brockhouse won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1994 for the development of neutron spectroscopy.
• Hans G. Dehmelt, who won the 1989 Nobel Prize in Physics for the development of the ion trap technique, built his first electron impact tube in 1955 in the George Volkoffs laboratory at UBC.
• H. Gobind Khorana, who won the 1968 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, conducted research at UBC from 1952 to 1960 through an appointment with the British Columbia Research Council.
• Daniel Kahneman, who won the 2002 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences, was a professor at UBC from 1978 to 1986.

Nobel Laureates who have received a UBC honorary degree:

• Amartya Sen, the 1998 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences  (2011)
• Mario José Molina, the 1995 Nobel Prize for Chemistry (2011)
• In April 2004, UBC conferred honorary degrees on three Nobel Peace Prize winners, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and Dr. Shirin Ebadi
• Anthony J. Leggett, the 2003 Nobel Prize in Physics (2005)
• Sydney Brenner, the 2002 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (2004)
• Sir John Eccles, the 1963 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (1966)

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Economic Impact

With a total economic impact of $10 billion in local income and over 39,700 jobs, UBC contributes strongly to the economy of BC and Canada. $5 billion results from the impact of UBC’s research upon the BC economy (new knowledge, knowledge transfer, spin-off companies), $2.6 billion results from increased income for the local UBC-educated workforce, $1.9 billion results from direct, indirect, and induced spending in the local economy, and another $600 million is generated by visitor and student spending.

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Research Innovation and Funding

Companies formed (cumulative)	140
New patents filed	245
Active license agreements	327
License agreements completed	34
Invention disclosures	133
Technology licensing revenue	$5.8 million

UBC ranks in the top ten universities in North America in commercializing research and for its patent activity in the Life Sciences. As one of the world’s leading universities, UBC makes a meaningful contribution to innovation capacity in Canada and internationally.

UBC attracts $550 million per year in research funding from government, non-profit organizations and industry through more than 7,000 projects.

Research Funding by Sector

Industry	$47,900,000
Government and other	$501,800,000
Total funding	$549,700,000

Grant Counts by Sector

Industry	1,073
Government and other	6,686
Total funding	7,759

Donor funding

UBC’s students, researchers, scholars and teachers have had a significant impact on our world, much of it made possible by the support of UBC’s donors. Last year UBC received a total of $176.6m in donor gifts from alumni, parents, students, corporations, foundations and other friends help UBC to make a lasting impact on our world.
UBC Report on Giving

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UBC Financial Facts

Download the full financial statements for 2010 (PDF).

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Alumni

• More than 250,000 UBC alumni in 120 countries
• Asia-Pacific Regional Office opened in May 2005 in Hong Kong to serve and support alumni, faculty and students in the Asia-Pacific region
• Notable alumni include Nobel laureate and economist Robert Mundell, Former Canadian prime ministers Kim Campbell and John Turner, Author and historian Pierre Berton, Man-in-Motion Rick Hansen, Opera singers Ben Heppner and Judith Frost.

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UBC Sustainability

As an early adopter of green campus initiatives, UBC has grown to become a thriving community of sustainability teachers and students, researchers, and operational experts.  Under the theme of “campus as a living laboratory,” the UBC campus forms a nexus of interdisciplinary activities in research, teaching and learning, and campus operations, allowing us to truly integrate and practice social, economic and environmental sustainability where we live, learn and work. www.sustain.ubc.ca

• UBC is building The Centre for Interactive Research on Sustainability, North America’s greenest building
• UBC became Canada’s first university to adopt a sustainable development policy and to open a campus sustainability office
• UBC is one of the most sustainable post-secondary campuses in the world, earning top grades in the Sustainable Endowments Institute’s College Sustainability Report Card.
• UBC is the first Canadian university to announce it has achieved greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions targets set by the Kyoto Protocol and to set bold GHG reduction targets for the future
• William Rees, a professor at UBC’s School of Community and Regional Planning, originated the “eco-footprint” concept and continues to develop the method with his graduate students
• UBC offers more than 300 sustainability-related courses

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UBC Library Overview

The UBC Library is the 2nd-largest research library in Canada. Its collection include 5.4 million volumes, 5.2 million microforms, more than 808,000 maps, audio, video and graphic materials and nearly 56,000 serial subscriptions. The library has more than 261,000 e-books, the largest biomedical collection in Western Canada, and the largest Asian-language collection in Canada.

Over 300 staff members work at more than 20 branches / divisions, including three branches at teaching hospitals, and at the Okanagan and Robson Square campuses.