Educational Administration and Leadership (EDAL)

General Eligibility

To be eligible for admission to a master’s degree program at UBC, applicants must hold a four-year bachelor’s degree (apart from applicants from Quebec) with a minimum overall average in the B+ range (at UBC 76%) in third- and fourth-year courses prescribed by the Department concerned as prerequisite to the master’s program.

Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies - Minimum Academic Requirements: Canadian or U.S. Credentials
http://www.grad.ubc.ca/prospective-students/application-admission/minimum-academic-requirements-canadian-or-us-credentials

Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies - Minimum Academic Requirements: International Credentials
http://www.grad.ubc.ca/prospective-students/application-admission/minimum-academic-requirements-international-credentials

English Requirements

English Proficiency Test Score: Applicants whose degrees are from a university outside Canada in which English is not the primary language of instruction must present evidence of competency to pursue studies in the English language prior to being extended an offer of admission. Acceptable English language proficiency tests for applicants to graduate studies are:

• TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language): Minimum score of 600 (paper version), 250 (computer version), 92 with a minimum of 22 in each component (iTB) is required for admission to all programs in Educational Studies. Visit TOEFL’s website
• IELTS (International English Language Testing Service): Minimum overall band score of 6.5 with no other component score less than 6.0.
• MELAB (Michigan English Language Assessment Battery): Minimum overall score of 81.

Tests must have been taken within the last 24 months at the time of submission of your application. The official test score must be sent directly from the test centre to Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies at UBC. Please follow the instructions on score submission on the Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies website: https://www.grad.ubc.ca/prospective-students/application-admission/english-language-test.

All General Admission Requirements for Graduate Study.

We are looking for students with academic strength and a track record of leadership. Applicants need:

1. Leadership experience, demonstrated in schools or formal or informal community settings
2. A minimum of 3 years successful teaching experience in public or independent schools or in community education settings

All General Admission Requirements for Graduate Study.

We are looking for students with academic strength and a track record of leadership. Applicants need:

1. Leadership experience, demonstrated in schools or formal or informal community settings
2. A minimum of 3 years successful teaching experience in public or independent schools or in community education settings
3. Demonstrated practical curriculum development or revision experience

Please see the EDST MA requirements at MA in Educational Studies.

EDST 532: Leadership in Educational Organizations

Explores various conceptions and understandings of leadership from classical writings, through traditional leadership studies, to more post-modern conceptions. Students consider the role of objectivity, research, ethics, and values as they refine their personal approach to educational leadership.

EDST 581: Leadership, Administration and the Aims of Education

This course focuses on the particular responsibilities of Canadian schools and especially education. Students are expected to articulate their own conceptions of education and apply these conceptions to various aspects of schooling including teaching, leadership and administration

EDST 582: The Study of Organization in the Educational Context

Classical and emerging perspectives on organizations. Different ways in which schools may be conceived and be administered. Instructional strategies include seminars, discussions, hands-on activities and simulations. Application of knowledge to organizations within which students work.

Most EDAL students complete 501 and 553 for their capstone experience. These courses should be taken close to the end of your program.

EDST 501: Research Traditions in Educational Administration

Permits students to become informed consumers of research and to ask fundamental questions regarding claims to knowledge. Incorporates the development of strong analytic skills and the exercise at synthesizing skills needed both in the program and as educational leaders.

EDST 553: Group Inquiry in Educational Administration (Capstone Project)

Team projects devoted to a substantial issue in educational administration. Students develop important research, analytic and synthetic skills. Use of data-gathering techniques and the writing of a research report.

EDST 508: Review of Research Methods in Education

This course is designed to assist students to write their graduating paper by introducing them to various methods of inquiry, offering peer support and consultation, completing any required ethics applications, and by working through various issues associated with writing a research paper.

Every candidate for a degree must make formal application for graduation. For important application information, dates, and deadlines, please visit the graduation information available on the Student Service Centre (SSC) website.

Full details are posted on UBC’s Graduation website.

EDST 550: The Role of the School Principal

Concerned with understanding the practice of school leadership. The work of the principal is seen through various lenses: managerial, political and educational. Students are encouraged to integrate these views into their own conception of practice.

EDST 551 : Personnel Administration in Education

An overview of staffing issues such as recruitment, placement, transfer, dismissal, appeal procedures and bargaining practices. Performance evaluation techniques. Motivation of personnel from various perspectives. Issues and cases in staff development.

EDST 508: Seminar on Educational Leadership in the BC Context

This course may only be taken in conjunction with full participation in the UBC/BCPVPA Short Course offered each summer. It provides a structured opportunity to reflect in more depth on the issues raised in the Short Course and gives students an opportunity to develop a project based on their practice.

NOTE: Students pay the regular UBC course fees as well as the fee for the Short Course.

EDST 517: Improvement of Instruction through Supervision

Introduction to the philosophy and practice of supervision. Examination of literature, videotapes, and classroom teaching. Discussion and practice of both formative and summative evaluation. The supervision cycle is studied and practiced. Students analyze teaching and are made aware of relevant political considerations.

EDST 531: Politics of Educational Governance

Overview of issues associated with power, influence, authority, and control in education. A review of conflict and interest groups in education based on recent actions. Micropolitics at the school level, district and board level politics, and influences of politics at the provincial level. Case studies on the politics of innovation.

EDST 548: Teacher Unions and Education

This course examines teacher unionism and labour-management relations in education within a North American historical context, within the context of the broader union movement in Canada, and within the broader economic, social, and political context nationally and globally. Teacher unions are presented as complex organizations that represent a variety of intersecting interests related to teachers’ roles as employees, professionals, and concerned citizens.

EDST 554: Administration and Educational Policy

Development of the knowledge and skills useful to the educational administrator in policy development, implementation, and analysis. Students consider ethical dimensions, formulate policies and update policy manuals, and learn processes for policy implementation. Guest lecturers and use of a journal.

EDST 555 : Educational Finance

Covers an understanding of how budgets are raised, allocated, and spent for K–12 education in BC. Addresses the principles of finance and applies them to a variety of problems such as budgeting, staffing and fundraising. The impacts of reforms such as decentralization are discussed. Guest speakers offer differing points of view on relevant issues.

EDST 556 : Leadership and Administration of the Educational Programs

Offers students an opportunity to explore issues related to the administration of a school-wide educational program in the context of issues of equity, excellence, and social justice. Students investigate research and popular opinion related to such topics as grouping and tracking, assessment, teaching and learning styles, multiculturalism, and ESL instruction.

EDST 557: Professional Ethics for School Leaders

In this course we will draw upon readings in ethics and upon our own professional experience to address three broad, interrelated questions. The first question, which is the focus of the course, concerns ethical decision-making: How can we develop our capacity for sound professional judgment on issues with ethical or moral dimensions? The second question concerns moral leadership: How can we contribute to the creation and flourishing of ethical school communities? The third question concerns moral pluralism: How should we understand and work with conflicting points of view on fundamental moral issues

EDST 552: School Law

Introduction to basic legal concepts and terminology. Students develop an awareness of the statute law and case law that pertains to education in BC. They focus on the information needed for legal action, but not on detailed legal rules. Topics include rights, special education, liability for accidents, crime, and copyright.

EDST 561: Practicum Simulation of School Leadership and Administration

Aimed at the improvement of administrators’ decision-making and communication skills, this course presents problems that elementary and secondary principals face. Using a critical strategies format with a considerable number of case studies, students’ insights and understandings of school organizations are increased.

EDST 565: Alternative Programs and Independent Schools

Students examine in depth the challenges and issues concerning mission, governance, leadership, curricular focus, funding, staffing, parental roles, and accountability. Debates, visiting speakers, presentations and critiques are used to compare and contrast both public alternatives and independent programs.

EDST 565: Organizational Learning in Education

This course aims to develop understanding and basic skills relating to the engagement of organizational members in collaborative incremental and transformational learning and change. Although the emphasis is on public schools, the theory and processes discussed are broadly applicable to a variety of other organizations.

EDST 565: Identity and Power in Work Organizations

This course will explore issues of identity and power as they apply across a variety of organizations, including K–12 schools, post-secondary education, and business. Identity is defined and examined using a variety of theoretical lenses. The central questions addressed in the course are: How do individuals come to identify, disidentify, or underidentify with organizations in which they work, and how is this process influenced by the way management treats employees, by organizational policies and practices, and by external policies that affect the organization? The course aims to develop understanding related to processes of engaging organizational learning in collaborative, incremental, and transformative learning and change.

EDST 565: Leadership is a Funny Business

It’s funny -- the leader is responsible for ensuring that there is the plan intended to guide the group methodically toward its goals, and is subsequently responsible for managing things when it becomes clear that the plan is not what is happening.  How can we, as leaders, be both thoroughly prepared and gracefully adaptable?  How can we have clear expectations and standards while adjusting to contextual imperatives and embracing the needs and contributions of individual colleagues and children? Perhaps the contrary-filled business of leadership can be embraced by embracing the contraries themselves, strengthening the imagination, welcoming alternatives, looking again and askance, keeping a humble and hopeful stance.

EDST 579: School-Community Relations

The course addresses the social, political, and economic forces impacting school-community relations and the role played by educational leadership in this regard.

EDST 580: Directed Study

A student links up with a professor and investigates a problem of special interest that is not covered in depth in the course work. Some problems may be selected from the student’s place of work. The student and professor maintain contact by meeting, telephone, faxes, and e-mail. Registration is by manual methods, not on line.

EDST 590: Graduating Paper

An opportunity to focus on an administrative problem in depth that is of particular interest to the student. Often involves assembling the relevant knowledge, collecting information from the student’s school district, and submitting the results to the student’s employer. The paper may take many forms, including original research, critical literature review, a case analysis, or a proposal for educational policy.

EDST 598: Field Experience

Individually tailored, this is an opportunity to spend time shadowing an educator in a school, district office, or other workplace usually during three full-time weeks in May. Students complete a journal and assess their experience in light of what they have learned in their course work. Supervised jointly by a faculty member and an administrator. Most accessible to full-time students.

EDST 599: Master’s thesis

Consult the Handbook of Graduate Studies on the website of the Faculty of Graduate Studies at http://www.grad.ubc.ca

Graduate and Undergraduate Courses with Aboriginal/Indigenous Content at the University of British Columbia

 GRADUATE LEVEL

Faculty of Education: Educational Studies

Summer 2016 Term 2A

• EDST 565B – Indigenous Existential Resistance (Sundance)

Winter 2016/2017 Term 1

• EDST 545 – Indigenous Inquiry and Research (Ts”kel elective)
• EDST 578 - Multiculturalism and its Critical Alternatives: Diversity in Education and Society (SCPE Elective)

Winter 2016/2017 Term 2

• EDST 505 – First Nations Education and Change (SCPE elective)
  • A critical exploration of some of the foremost considerations in researching and writing the history of North American Indigenous education. Giving particular attention to Indigenous scholars, this seminar examines some of the historical and ethnohistorical literature from Canada, the United States and international settings.  This course takes the perspective that educational change has occurred in at least two ways. For First Nations, the contexts for learning have shifted historically from community based traditional education to government/church operated residential schools, to community operated band schools and tribal universities. At the same time, there have been Indigenous/ postcolonial challenges to universities’ educational goals and purposes raising questions about research methodologies and epistemologies. A central theme in Indigenous historiographies of education is what constitutes a decolonizing approach to memory and the meaning of events in the past.
• EDST 546 – Indigenous Epistemology and Methodology - (Ts”kel elective on campus, SQEL program off campus)
  • The course will introduce students to Indigenous principles regarding conduct for implementing research in Indigenous contexts. Increasingly, we see the approaches used to undertake research in Indigenous contexts as led by Indigenous peoples’ themselves, situated within their own understandings of the nature of interdependent relationships and ontological responsibilities. When communities do undertake partnerships with the academy, the intent is to work through academic discourse that supports Indigenous intellectual and spiritual traditions. The course also provides opportunities to advance graduate students’ own research projects through the lens of Indigenous research methodologies, practices, and protocols.

Faculty of Education: Curriculum and Pedagogy

Summer 2016 Term 2B

• EDCP 467A/EDCP 532 – Theories and Dimensions of Place-Based Education: Ecohumanist, Critical and Indigenous Lenses (Place-based Learning in Huu-ay-aht Territory)
  • On the west coast of Vancouver Island, Nuu-chah-nulth peoples, including Huu-ay-aht First Nation, have occupied their homelands along the mountains and seas for thousands of years. This intensive two-week course offers undergraduate and graduate students an opportunity to engage directly in the emerging realm of place-based learning. The course is structured around foundational questions, such as, “How are people and place connected in ecologically unique landscapes?” and “What can we learn from the relationship between land, water, history, and contemporary revitalization efforts in the region?” Through incorporating various forms of experiential learning and field research projects, the course aims to enhance students’ discernment regarding the mutually constructed nature of coastal eco-places, and to foster a critically reflective understanding of local history as foundational to place-connected knowledge systems.

 Winter 2016/2017 Term 2

• EDCP 539 - Narrativity, Ecopedagogy and Indigeneity
  • Through seminars, course readings, and experiential learning, the power of narrative is explored as it intersects with ecological and Indigenous knowings and practices toward a more multi-storied, just, and ecologically sustainable world.
• EDCP 532 – Theories and Dimensions of Place-Based Education: Ecohumanist, Critical and Indigenous Lenses (on-campus option)
  • The course is structured around foundational questions, such as, “How are people and place connected in ecologically unique landscapes?” and “What can we learn from the relationship between land, water, history, and contemporary revitalization efforts in the region?” Through incorporating various forms of experiential learning and field research projects, the course aims to enhance students’ discernment regarding the mutually constructed nature of coastal eco-places, and to foster a critically reflective understanding of local history as foundational to place-connected knowledge systems. Focus in this section of EDCP 532 is on the Lower Mainland region, while the short summer intensive version takes place in Nuu-chah-nulth homelands.

Faculty of Education: Educational Technology

Winter Term 1

• ETEC 521: Indigeneity, Technology, and Education (MET elective)
  • This course explores central concerns of globalization and Indigenous peoples related to educational policy and practice. As colonialism has expanded, it has taken new technological forms; Indigenous people have been uniquely positioned to both challenge technology and to utilize it for their own purposes of identity expression and political mobilization. This course raises questions about the dilemmas of cultural expression in a postmodern internet age while surveying the sites where Indigenous people have employed computer and distance learning technologies to reinvigorate languages, oral traditions, and art forms that were in decline previously.

Faculty of Education: Language & Literacy Education

Offered in 2015

• LLED 565D – Indigenous Language and Cultural Education: Local and Global Perspectives
  • This seminar provided an opportunity for students from multiple sites to engage in the comparative study of issues associated with education of Indigenous peoples and communities on an international scale with an emphasis on the role of language and culture. Students participated in a hybrid course with students and faculty in Alaska, Arizona, Hawaii, and New Zealand via polycom (an audio-video conferencing system) on a weekly basis.

Summer 2016 Term 2

• LLED 565B – Materials Development for Indigenous Language Learning and Teaching
  • Utilizing multimedia technology allows for materials to be developed and disseminated, expands the domains in which the language is used, provides relevance, significance and purpose, and also provides for preservation of Indigenous languages. Students will learn and be exposed to various types of low-, mid- and high- technology initiatives that have been used to document, revitalize, promote and maintain languages.

Faculty of First Nations and Indigenous Studies:

Winter 2016/2017 Term 1

• FNIS 533D - Indigenous Feminisms
  • The first half of the course will examine the roots of contemporary Indigenous feminism and the current framing of the field as a project and as a theoretical perspective by contemporary scholars.  The second half of the course will take up key issues of Indigenous feminist politics as a movement: 1) violence against Indigenous women (activism, art and analysis) and 2) rebuilding Indigenous forms of governance.

• FNIS 533F – Indigenous New Media
  • Students will contextualize and comparatively analyze Indigenous new media from 1990 to the present moment.  New media is loosely defined as digital, interactive and/or networkable content that involves user feedback and creative interaction, such as net and video art, video games, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), interactive installation, podcasts and stereoscopic photography.  Focus will be on Internet art and curation, interactive websites and audio maps.

• FNIS 533R – Theory & Methods Seminar
  • Beginning with the critical discourse around identity and related subjects of whiteness, race, sexuality and gender in Canada and the US, the course will turn to cultural analysis of settler national identities and myth-making, the making of history/narrative, theorizing settler colonialism, and end with critical discourses of Indigenous feminisms, Indigenous resurgence, and Indigenous research methodologies.

• FNIS 533S – Indigenous Geographies: Our Home on Native Land
  • Indigenous peoples’ identities and worldviews emerge from longstanding relationships to place fostered through active connections to land and water, the supernatural world and non-human kin with shared territorialities. This course focuses on Indigenous peoples, spaces and issues through an examination of the themes of: 1) Indigenous peoples place-based relations, 2) Colonialism and de-territorialization, 3) Re-territorialization, resistance and spatial negotiations of settler colonialism.

Winter 2016/2017 Term 2

• FNIS 533G – Indigenous Legal Traditions
  • This winter, Nuu-chah-nulth legal scholar Johnny Mack will be teaching this course for non-Law students on the relationships between Indigenous law, state law, and policy.

• FNIS 533Q – Queer/Two-Spirit Indigenous Studies
  • This course considers the cultural contexts, scholarship, literature, and artistic expressions of queer/LGBT/two-spirited Indigenous people, both as an academic area of study and as lived experience and relationship. Drawing on Indigenous traditions of gender and sexual diversity, two-spirit political activism, and relevant research, and engaging Indigenous and intersectional feminisms, queer/LGBT and gender studies, and Indigenous Studies more broadly, we will undertake a deep engagement of the interventions, complications, and provocations in this area and what’s at stake in doing this work.

• FNIS 533T – Indigenous Theatre and Film
  • This course is designed to introduce students to a variety of medias and theoretical sources to shape an understanding of contemporary Indigenous Theatre and Film in North America. During this course we will acquire a working knowledge of Indigenous Theatre and Film history and criticism written by Indigenous practitioners to more fully understand how culturally specific worldviews and practices manifest during creation, collaboration and performance processes.

Faculty of Applied Science: School of Community and Regional Planning

Winter 2016/2017 Term 2

• PLAN 548P - Current Issues in Planning: Indigenous Community Planning
  • The intent of the course is to introduce substantive knowledge of contemporary Indigenous community planning, built on a foundational understanding of the political, social and cultural protocols and values, history, philosophy, social structure,  traditional  knowledge,  and  ecology  of  First Nations,  Inuit  and  Metis  peoples.

Faculty of Library, Archival, and Information Sciences

Winter 2016/2017 Term 2

• LIBR 569A 002 – Information Practice and Protocol in Support of Indigenous Initiatives
  • This course prepares students to work effectively with Indigenous peoples, communities and organizations in support of ongoing developments in Indigenous culture and languages, self-governance, treaty negotiation and litigation.

UNDERGRADUATE LEVEL

Faculty of First Nations and Endangered Languages Program

Winter 2016/2017 Term 1

• FNEL 381 – Biocultural Diversity: Language, Community, and the Environment
  • Critical exploration of the links between linguistic, biological and cultural diversity; including connections with linguistic relativity, linguistic identity, language and place; and strategies for collective, interdisciplinary action to promote and support the protection of languages, cultures, and the environment.

•  FNEL 389 – Collaborative Heritage Research in First Nations Languages: Practicum and Workshop
  • Hands-on experience planning and producing a Breath of Life Language Reclamation Workshop for endangered BC First Nations languages, during which community-based researchers access and interpret relevant heritage resources at UBC and other local institutions for the revitalization of their languages.

 Winter 2016/2017 Term 2

• FNEL 382 – Lexicography for Endangered Languages
  • Foundational concepts in the discipline of compiling, editing, managing and hosting dictionaries, also known as lexicography. Special focus on the technical and ethical considerations for community-based lexicography projects for endangered and BC First Nations languages.

• FNEL 482 – Heritage Resources in Endangered First Nations Languages Revitalization
  • Examines the complementary and intersecting roles of libraries, archives, and museums in collections acquisition, development, curation, preservation, and access traditions pertaining to First Nations languages, to explore how each can contribute to endangered language and cultural heritage sustainability.

Faculty of First Nations and Indigenous Studies

Winter 2016/2017 Term 1

• FNIS 310 – Theory Seminar
  • Adapting and integrating current conceptual paradigms in the humanities, social sciences, performing arts, and Indigenous studies into approaches in First Nations/Indigenous Studies, including identity construction, political and cultural self-determination, representation, essentialism/authenticity, ethics, and decolonization.

Winter 2016/2017 Term 2

• FNIS 320 – Methods Seminar
  • Responsible and community-based research from a critical Indigenous perspective; methods for identifying and assessing research materials, critical analysis, oral history/qualitative research interviewing and analysis, and research ethics in the design and implementation of community-based student research projects.

Faculty of History

Winter 2016/2017 Term 2

• HIST 302 – History of the Indigenous Peoples of North America
  • Indigenous peoples from pre-contact to the present in Canada and the U.S. Topics include colonial frontiers, disease, fur trade, government policies, environment, gender, religion, oral narratives, activism, urbanization, and identity.

Faculty of Law

• It may be possible to request permission to enroll in or audit courses such as Law 352 – Aboriginal Peoples and Canadian Law (Winter Term 1); Law 353 – Aboriginal and Treaty Rights (Winter Term 2)

Faculty of Political Science

Winter 2016/2017 Term 1

• POLI 316A – Global Indigenous Politics
  • The political dynamics of Indigenous peoples politics on the global level; the legal and practical realities of colonization as a global Indigenous experience; current global Indigenous political issues and avenues of Indigenous resistance.

School of Social Work

Winter 2016/2017 Term 1 and 2

• SOWK 425/SOWK 510 – First Nations Social Issues
  (510 offered in Winter 1, 425 in Winter 2)
  • Contemporary social issues facing First Nations peoples and communities examined in the context of the history of Euro-Canadian/First Nations relations; the impact of Euro-Canadian institutions upon First Nations peoples; implications for social policy and social work practice. Past and current influences of social work practice in justice/corrections, health, education, employment, economic development, self- government and Aboriginal rights are also considered within a holistic framework which can inform effective practice with Aboriginal individuals, families and communities.

Applications should be submitted online at www.grad.ubc.ca/apply/online. All of the following components of an application must be received by the department’s Graduate Program Assistant before the file can be reviewed by the appropriate admissions committee.

a. Online UBC application form. When you submit an online application at www.grad.ubc.ca/apply/online, the completed form is automatically forwarded to the Graduate Program Assistant. Non-refundable processing fee payable to UBC. See the cover of the official UBC application form for the exact amount.

b. Upload digital copies (.pdfs) of official transcripts. See Digital Copies of Official Transcripts tab for details.

c. Three references – The purpose of the references is to give as complete an idea as possible of your relevant background and capacity to complete the degree. Two of the references should be from a course instructor or other person able to assess your academic ability. Other suitable referees include a supervisor, president, academic dean, or another person to whom you are, or have been, accountable in employment or as a volunteer. The reference letters must be in English. If the original letter is in another language, the letter must be accompanied by a certified English translation. There are three possible formats for references:

• Electronic references: In the online application system, applicants are asked to provide an email address for each referee. Once the online application has been submitted, a unique link will be emailed to each referee, allowing them to log in to a secure site and submit an online reference or upload a reference document as an attachment.
• Letters of reference: Your referee may wish to send a paper letter. Paper letters of reference should be on referee’s official letterhead and signed. It must be mailed directly by the referee to the EDST Program Office to the following address in a sealed and endorsed envelope.

  EDST Program Assistant

  Department of Educational Studies, Faculty of Education

  Ponderosa Commons North (Oak House)
  2005 - 6445 University Boulevard
  Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
  V6T 1Z2

• Reference forms: UBC provides a general reference form. Your referee may fill out this form and mail it directly to the EDST Program Office in a sealed and endorsed envelope.

Notes:

1. 1. 1. All references must be sent by referees directly. Reference letters or forms submitted by the applicant will not be accepted.
      2. The application system and department are unable to accept referee emails from Hotmail, Yahoo, Gmail, MSN or other free email accounts.
      3. By “sealed, endorsed envelope” we mean that the envelope needs to be sealed and that the signature of the referee be placed over the seal (i.e., partially on the flap and partially on the rest of the envelope).

d. Statement of intent. You need to describe in one to two pages your specific interests in pursuing a graduate degree and precisely why you are applying to the Department of Educational Studies, and to the program in Educational Administration and Leadership (EDAL). This statement should highlight the following:

• your background and experience
• description of your anticipated area(s) of enquiry
• the contribution you bring to the faculty and the profession that will be developed during your program of study.

Curriculum Vitae / Resume

Please provide a CV as evidence of your potential to succeed in EDST at the graduate level.

After submitting your application, it is the applicant’s responsibility to ensure that all supporting materials are submitted by the application deadline. The Admissions Committee will only review completed applications. You can check the status of your application and supporting materials through the online application system.

For any components of the application that cannot be uploaded, they can be submitted to the department’s graduate program assistant at the following address (Please note: faxed & emailed reference letters will not be accepted):

Applicants from outside Canada should be aware of additional requirements that may apply. Please read the following to determine which of these requirements may apply to you.

International Transcripts and Translation Requirements

See International Transcripts and Translation Requirements tab for details

Entering Canada

To enter Canada, a “Student Authorization” (Student Visa) is required. Apply as soon as possible to the nearest Canadian Consular or Immigration Office since it may take 8–10 weeks for processing. For applicants applying from the People’s Republic of China it may take 3–6 months. Applying for a Student Authorization requires a UBC letter of admission/acceptance; a valid passport; and evidence of adequate funds for tuition, maintenance of the student and, if married, the student’s spouse and children, plus travel funds to and from Canada. Please consult the Immigration Canada website: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/index.asp.

If the application for a visa is approved, the UBC letter of admission/acceptance will be returned to the student and must be retained for presentation to the Immigration Officer at the Canadian point of entry.

Canadian Transcripts

UBC has changed its application document requirements.

If you are applying to begin study in 2016 or beyond, you will normally scan and upload digital copies (.pdfs) of official required documents in the application system. These are considered "unofficial documents". These uploaded copies of your official documents will be used for initial evaluation of the applicant.

Conditional admission offers may be made based on documents uploaded to the application system. However, admission offers will not be finalized and applicants will not be allowed to register in a graduate program until one set of all required official academic records are received and validated by the University.

UPLOADING UNOFFICIAL COPIES OF TRANSCRIPTS IN THE APPLICATION SYSTEM

Applicants with Canadian transcripts (other than UBC) must obtain an official paper transcript for every post-secondary institution they have attended.  UBC transcripts are not required.

Each transcript should be scanned as an individual .pdf file and then uploaded to the application system as indicated. They should be named: "Applicant Full Name-Document Description.extension"

Examples:

Kelly Smith-University of Waterloo Transcript.pdf
Kelly Smith-CV.pdf
Kelly Smith-Journal of Neurosciences Paper.pdf

Transcripts must be scanned front and back. All pages of one transcript, front and back, should be uploaded as a single file (rather than a separate file for each page).

OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPTS

To be considered official, academic records must either be received in official university envelopes, sealed and endorsed by the issuing institution, or be sent via secure electronic delivery by the issuing institution.

If you have been offered admission conditional upon receipt of official documentation, you must provide UBC with one set of official transcripts for every postsecondary institution you have attended for the equivalent of one year or more of full-time study. UBC reserves the right to also require any individual applicant to provide official transcripts for study of less than one year duration. Do not send official transcripts before receiving an offer of admission unless you have received special instructions from the graduate program to which you have applied.

Documents being provided to meet conditions of admission should be sent directly to:

Graduate & Postdoctoral Studies
University of British Columbia
6371 Crescent Rd
Vancouver, BC CANADA  V6T 1Z2

CURRENT AND FORMER UBC STUDENTS

You do not need to submit UBC transcripts as part of your graduate application, as this data is already available through the student database system. However, be aware that you are still responsible for submitting transcripts from all other post-secondary institutions that you have attended (e.g., exchange year, transfer year, etc.).

International Transcripts and Translations

UBC has changed its application document requirements.

If you are applying to begin study in 2016 or beyond, you will normally scan and upload digital copies (.pdfs) of official required documents in the application system. These are considered "unofficial documents". These uploaded copies of your official documents will be used for initial evaluation of the applicant.

Conditional admission offers may be made based on documents uploaded to the application system. However, admission offers will not be finalized and applicants will not be allowed to register in a graduate program until one set of all required official academic records are received and validated by the University.

UPLOADING UNOFFICIAL COPIES OF REQUIRED DOCUMENTS IN THE APPLICATION SYSTEM

Applicants with transcripts from non-Canadian post-secondary institutions must obtain an official paper transcript for every post-secondary institution they have attended.

Each transcripts should be scanned as an individual .pdf file and then uploaded to the application system as indicated. Otherwise, they should be named: "Applicant Full Name-Document Description.extension"

Examples:

Peng Zhang-Peking University Transcript.pdf
Peng Zhang-Peking University Transcript English Translation.pdf
Peng Zhang-CV.pdf
Peng Zhang-Journal of Neurosciences Paper.pdf

Transcripts must be scanned front and back. All pages of one transcript, front and back, should be uploaded as a single file (rather than a separate file for each page).

If you have transcripts that are issued in a language other than English, then in addition to uploading digital copies of the documents in their original language, you must also upload a certified literal English translation of your transcripts from your home university's translation service or certified English translator.

Please consult the document scanning and uploading instructions provided within the online application for detailed instructions.

OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS

To be considered official, academic records must either be received in official university envelopes, sealed and endorsed by the issuing institution, or be sent via secure electronic delivery by the issuing institution.

After being offered admission: If you have been offered admission conditional upon receipt of official documentation, you must provide UBC with one set of official transcripts for every postsecondary institution you have attended for the equivalent of one year or more of full-time study. UBC reserves the right to also require any individual applicant to provide official transcripts for study of less than one year duration.

If an official transcript does not indicate the degree name and the degree conferral date, then an official copy of the degree certificate must also be submitted

If your university issues only one original copy of transcripts/degree certificates:

Make photocopies of your original academic records and send them to your home university. Ask your home university to:

• verify that the photocopies are consistent with their records.
• attest that the copies are true photocopies and stamp them with an official university stamp.
• put the attested, stamped photocopies in sealed envelopes endorsed by the Registrar.
• mail the sealed, endorsed envelopes directly to Graduate & Postdoctoral Studies.

If your transcripts are issued in a language other than English:

• arrange to have a set of all official transcripts issued in their original language.
• obtain a certified literal English translation of your transcripts from your home university's translation service.
• send both the original transcripts and the literal English translation to UBC Graduate & Postdoctoral Studies.

If your home university does not provide English translations of transcripts:

• make a photocopy of your copy of your transcripts. Do not open a sealed, endorsed envelope containing transcripts intended for submission to your program.
• take the copy to a certified English translator and ask them to provide a complete, word-by-word, literal English translation.
• tell the translator to put both the original language photocopy and the English translation into a sealed envelope, and endorse the envelope by signing across the seal.
• send the sealed, endorsed envelopes from the translator to UBC Graduate & Postdoctoral Studies.
• send your original transcripts in the original language to UBC Graduate & Postdoctoral Studies.

Note: Academic records must be translated in their entirety, including any information that appears on the reverse side of any document.

UBC does not accept the following:

• photocopies that have not been stamped, attested and endorsed by the Registrar at your home university
• documents in envelopes that have been opened
• documents that do not arrive in sealed envelopes endorsed by the issuing institution or certified translator
• documents that arrive without the official seal of the university
• photocopies notarized by a notary public
• photocopies endorsed by a lawyer, professor, judge etc.
• unofficial translations
• non-literal translations

Do not send academic records that are not in sealed and endorsed envelopes. It will only delay the processing of your application.

Documents being provided to meet conditions of admission  should be sent directly to:

Graduate & Postdoctoral Studies
University of British Columbia
6371 Crescent Rd
Vancouver, BC CANADA  V6T 1Z2

Note that fees are subject to change by the University.

Tuition for Masters Programs

Tuition fees for EDAL Masters Programs are found on the UBC Calendar website.

Tuition for PhD and EdD Programs

Tuition fees for EDAL PhD and EdD Programs are found on the UBC Calendar website.

Deadlines for applications

Deadlines for On-Campus EDAL programs can be found on the EDST website.

Deadlines for Off-Campus EDAL programs can be found on the PDCE website.