UBC Applied Science adding 338 new domestic student spaces starting in 2024
The UBC Faculty of Applied Science is adding 338 new domestic seats across the Vancouver and Okanagan campuses. This will increase opportunities for Canadian students, and increase the number of engineers available to work on the grand, twin challenges of climate change and human inequity.
Starting in fall 2024, the Faculty will gradually add 180 spaces in undergraduate chemical, computer, and integrated engineering, and 58 spaces in biomedical engineering — all at UBC Vancouver. One hundred undergraduate engineering spaces will be added at UBC Okanagan.
“UBC Applied Science graduates the world over are helping solve the twin, grand challenges of climate change and human inequity,” said James Olson, Dean, UBC Faculty of Applied Science. “Thanks to the BC Government’s investment into engineering education, there’ll soon be even more engineers trained to create a cleaner, more equitable economy where everyone can thrive.”
The expansion opens up more impactful, high-paying engineering careers for students like Coralie Tcheune, a fifth-year Applied Science undergraduate student. "My experience in Applied Science has been instrumental in shaping my career trajectory. The BC Government’s recent investment in STEM education not only opens doors for more students but also demonstrates a commitment to fostering innovation and opportunity in British Columbia.”
At the announcement event, Tcheune spoke about how the education, professional development opportunities offered at UBC have helped build her technical skills and given her workplace experience, all before even graduating.
The announcement was made at UBC by BC’s Minister of Jobs, Economic Development and Innovation, the Honourable Brenda Bailey.
“The students who will be filling these hundreds of seats at UBC will help increase the supply of talent into the province’s rapidly expanding tech sector,” said Bailey. “These graduates will be rewarded with well-paying careers while helping to advance health care and research to improve life for British Columbians, and build our clean, innovative economy of the future.”
The announcement also added new student seats within the faculties of medicine, pharmaceutical sciences and science. UBC’s total of 778 new spaces will be added over six years, including an investment of $5.4 million in capital funding to equip and renovate labs and classrooms, and a total of $17.7 million in start-up and on-going operating funding over the first three years of the planned expansion.
