UBC Okanagan set to welcome 6,015 students

First-year students up 14 per cent, graduate students up 39 per cent

UBC Okanagan is preparing to welcome 6,015 students starting next week. Total enrolment is up by 690 students from this time last year, and includes 1,502 first-year students — a 14 per cent increase over last year and the largest-ever incoming group of new students for the Okanagan campus.

Total undergraduate student enrolment for UBC Okanagan is 5,609, including 408 upper-year transfer students. Total graduate student enrolment is 406, a growth of 39 per cent.

Significant gains have been seen in student numbers from the Okanagan region — this year, 532 new UBC Okanagan students come from Okanagan school districts, up from 465 last year. The Okanagan campus will welcome 314 students from areas of Canada outside B.C., up from 271 last year.

“Students from the Okanagan and other areas of B.C. are choosing to study at the same university that students from across Canada and around the world are choosing — UBC Okanagan,” says Doug Owram, Deputy Vice Chancellor. “They are coming here for an intimate learning environment, and to pursue a degree from a school ranked among the world’s top 35 universities.”

UBC’s campuses in Kelowna and Vancouver are seeing a large increase in international students. The number of first-year international students on the Vancouver campus has grown by 22 per cent to more than 975. Similar increases have been experienced in Kelowna with more than 115 first-year international students for the winter session, bringing UBC Okanagan’s total number of international students to 337 this year. UBC’s international students come from 140 countries, with the top countries of origin outside of B.C. being the U.S. and China.

At UBC’s Vancouver campus, incoming first-year students number 5,931, eight per cent more than the same time last year. The campus will also welcome 1,569 upper-year transfer students, and the total undergraduate student enrolment is currently 36,771, a growth of four per cent. The total graduate student enrolment is currently 9,350 — also a growth of four per cent.

The winter term begins at UBC Okanagan September 8 with Create, a day of orientation activities across campus for all first-year and other students new to UBC Okanagan.

2009 Okanagan Campus Facts

• Undergraduate: 5,609 (5,032 as of Aug 26, 2008)
• Graduate: 406 (293 as of Aug 26, 2008)
• Total: 6,015 (5,325 as of Aug 26, 2008)

Total number of international students at UBC Okanagan: 337

Okanagan 2009 Admission Requirements

Tuition

• First-year Arts students will pay a base tuition of $4,430 at both UBC Vancouver and Okanagan campuses
• Tuition for international undergraduate students covers the full cost of their education; an international first-year Arts student will pay a base tuition of $20,300 at both campuses
• The base level tuition for research master’s and doctoral programs is $4,098

Awards and Financial Aid

• UBC will provide $4.3 million dollars at UBC Okanagan in student financial support in the form of awards, bursaries, scholarships and fellowships.

Housing

• 1,374 student housing spaces at UBC Okanagan.
• First-year students living on-campus at UBC Okanagan pay residence fees of $3,614 for a single room in a traditional-style residence, or $4,215 for a single room in a modified-traditional style residence, and $2,490 for the minimum convenient meal plan.

For more information about UBC Vancouver enrolment, please see:
http://www.publicaffairs.ubc.ca/media/releases/2009/mr-09-104.html

— 30 —