Every year, UBC releases a report of data on student demographics, admission, enrolment and retention rates, and every year, The Ubyssey breaks down the 60 pages of data down to what you need to know.
Here’s what was in this year’s report for the 2022/23 academic year.
How many students go to UBC?
72,585 students attend UBC, with 60,607 enrolled at UBC Vancouver and 11,978 at UBC Okanagan. Undergrads make up the majority of students on both campuses, as roughly 80 per cent of UBC’s total population.
Where do students come from?
Across both campuses, there are 19,909 international students from over 160 countries, with the majority coming from China, India, the US and Iran.
The report highlighted the increase of UBC Okanagan’s international student population. 115 countries were represented by 2,666 students in 2022/23, compared to 20 countries represented by 86 students in 2005/06, the campus’s first operational year.
How many students does UBC admit?
UBC admits undergraduate students based on their academic transcripts and personal profile. According to the report, the university’s admission requirements are “designed to select students who are the most likely to succeed in their learning and to thrive on campus.”
In September 2021, UBC started to use EducationPlannerBC, a province-wide application systems service. This change allowed students to complete multiple applications for BC universities without “having to re-enter the same information for each application,” read the report. Despite this change, the number of all submitted undergraduate applications fell from 58,305 in 2021/22 to 56,431 in 2022/23.
According to the report, over 89,000 "personal profile reviews" were scored for applicants to UBC for the 2022/23 admissions cycle. The mean grade range of all courses completed in grade 12 for successful undergraduate applicants was 89–91 per cent at UBC Vancouver and 85–87 per cent at UBC Okanagan. Personal profiles are read and scored by at least two trained readers, which consist of UBC staff, faculty and alumni, according to the report. Fourteen per cent of admitted students would not have been admitted with a grades-only admission model.
This year’s undergraduate admissions rate was 49 per cent for UBC Vancouver and 73 per cent for UBC Okanagan.
UBC’s graduate programs have a 23 per cent admissions rate at the UBC Vancouver campus and 24 per cent on the UBC Okanagan campus. The graduate application numbers have decreased from 31,098 across both campuses in 2021/22 to a current total of 29,386, but are 17 per cent above 2020 levels, according to the report.
Indigenous enrolment
Indigenous enrolment at both campuses has been gradually increasing. UBCO has 2,666 domestic Indigenous students in 2022/23, an increase of 57 students from 2021/22, while UBCV has 17,243 Indigenous students, an increase of 439 from the previous year.
The Enrolment Report collects data on Indigenous students based on self-identification during the admissions process, so the report states that their numbers are likely underestimated.
Retention: Once they’re in, do students stay at UBC?
The percentage of first-year students who came back for a second year has remained relatively steady for the past three years across domestic, international and Indigenous students at both Vancouver and Okanagan campuses.
The only shift is a 15 per cent drop in Indigenous student retention at UBC Okanagan. 90 per cent of Indigenous first years in 2020/21 continued to second year, whereas only 75 per cent of 2021/2022 of Indigenous first years enrolled as second years in 2022.