The University of British Columbia

EXPLORE OUR PROGRAMS

The Graduate Degree Programs offered by the Department are:

• Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Electrical and Computer Engineering
• Master of Applied Science (M.A.Sc.) in Electrical and Computer Engineering
• Master of Applied Science (M.A.Sc.) in Biomedical Engineering
• Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Biomedical Engineering
• Master of Engineering (M.Eng.)

Prospective students should be familiar with the requirements and advantages of the various programs BEFORE selecting a program of study on their applications.

EXPLORE OUR RESEARCH GROUPS

The Electrical and Computer Engineering Department is loosely structured around the following five research areas:

• Biomedical Technologies
• Communication Systems
• Computer and Software Systems
• Energy Systems
• Micro and Nano Technologies

EXPLORE OUR FACULTY MEMBERS

Please explore the personal web pages of the faculty members listed in the Professors and Instructors section of our Faculty Listing.

Applicants to all programs must have a faculty member who is willing to supervise their graduate program before they will be admitted to graduate studies in the department. It is not necessary to contact a supervisor before applying. All applications which are complete and approved for circulation by the Associate Head for Graduate Affairs are made available to all faculty members.
 


Applicants are not expected to find a supervisor(s) prior to the application submission. However, you are encouraged to indicate any preferred supervisor or research group you are interested in working with on the online application.

UNDERSTAND THE ADMISSIONS PROCESS

There are two adjudication stages in the Admissions Process: one at the Departmental level and another at the University level.


Admission Requirements.

At the Departmental level, your application is reviewed by the Associate Head Graduate Students prior to circulation to faculty members. Individual faculty members will consider your overall eligibility, comparing and contrasting your stated research interests with their research programme’s objectives. If a faculty member wishes to extend an offer of admission, he or she will inform the Department and we will submit a Recommendation For Admission to the Faculty of Graduate Studies. Additionally, please review ECE's supplementary Admission Requirements.

At the University level, your application is reviewed by the Faculty of Graduate Studies to ensure that you meet the University's minimum requirements. If they agree with our Recommendation, they will send you an Offer Of Admission.  Review the Faculty of Graduate Studies' Admission Procedures. In particular, note the section detailing the Admission Requirements and the section detailing the Application Components and Required Documents.

 

 

GATHER SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS

We will require the following documents:

• Official Transcript
• CV
• A UBC-specific Statement of Purpose
• An English proficiency exam (if required)
• three letters of support from referees

 

An Official Transcript (OT) from each post-secondary institution (college, university, etc.) that you have attended. 
You are required to send us a PDF version and mail us two physical copies (endorsed by the issuing institution and in a sealed envelope). We will use the physical copy to verify the PDF version but all evaluations of your application will be based on the PDF version. The same applies to your required Degree certificates/diplomas and official translations if required.

A recent Curriculum Vitae (CV).
You are required to send us a PDF version of your CV. Your CV should outline professional employment experience, education, publications, and awards which you feel should be taken into account in considering your application for admission and/or scholarships. Please ensure that you list the titles of research projects / graduation theses. If your thesis or other writing is available online, please consider including HTML links. 

A UBC-specific Statement of Purpose (SP).
You are required to submit a PDF version of a succinct (two pages maximum) Statement of Purpose outlining your goals for your degree program. Specifically, you should detail why you would like to come to UBC to engage in studies leading to a degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering. Please describe your aptitude and motivation for graduate study in your area of research interest, including your preparation for this field of study, your academic plans or research goals, and your future career goals. Additionally, please indicate whether you have been awarded or have applied for any scholarships (e.g.: NSERC PGSM/PGSD, CIHR PGSM/PGSD, China Scholarship Council, etc.) and include amount of funding, duration of funding, etc.

An English proficiency exam (if required).
If you are an applicant from outside Canada in which English is not the primary language of instruction, you are required to submit results of an English proficiency examination. Due to their electronic results submission, we strongly prefer TOEFL to other examiniation agencies. Please ask TOEFL to submit their examination report to UBC using the institiution code 0965 (UBC) and department code 66 (ECE).

A scan of your Permanent Residency card (PR) or Student Visa (SV) (if required).
If you are a Permanent Resident of Canada, you are required to submit a PDF scan of both sides of your Permanent Residency card or, if you have not yet obtained a card, of your Record of Landing in Canada. If you have entered Canada on a Student Visa, you are required to submit copies of these documents if you have them. You do not need to obtain these documents in order to apply!

Three reference letters

Your application requires three letters of support from referees. At least one of your references should detail your academic achievement and how you would perform in a graduate level degree program. Please be sure to contact prospective individuals in advance of your application so that you have their contact information prior to accessing the online application system. Specifically, for each referee, you will need to provide:

• first name
• last name
• email address
• contact information at his/her institution
• title or position held

Please let your prospective referees know that the online application system will email them asking for a reference to be entered. We strongly prefer that referees submit their references via the online application system.

SUBMIT YOUR APPLICATION

• Open an online application (this process will create your eight digit, UBC student number)
• Create an ECE Service Request
• Submit your documents electronically
• Submit your documents physically

 

PREPARE YOUR ANSWERS

The online application system will ask several ECE-specific questions. Please prepare your answers to the following questions in advance of beginning the online application.

• I am interested in joining the following Research Groups. Please enter zero or more comma separated acronyms from the following (e.g.: BIOT, COMM, EPES).

 

Acronym	Research Area
BIOT	Biomedical Technologies
COMM	Communication Systems
COSE	Computer and Software Systems
EPES	Energy Systems
MINA	Micro and Nano Technologies

• I am interested in working with the following Faculty Members. Please enter zero or more comma separated email addresses as enumerated on our Faculty Listing. (e.g. aamodt, tims).

• I am unable to accept an offer of admission that does not include financial support. Please enter only one of: true/false.

• I have submitted or plan to submit a separate application for admission into the Biomedical Engineering Program. Please enter only one of: true / false.

• I have read the ECE Graduate Admissions guide available at /admissions/graduate/apply/. Please enter only one of: true / false.

 

OPEN AN ONLINE APPLICATION

Follow the step-by- step instructions and enter your contact information, academic information and the program to which you are applying.

Start here (MASc/PhD): http://www.grad.ubc.ca/prospective-students/application-admission/apply-online

Start here (MEng): https://secure.engineering.ubc.ca/instructions

 

CREATE AN ECE SERVICE REQUEST

At the Department, we will keep track of your application using our Request Tracker (RT) system. We will use this system to communicate with you during the application process, You will use this system to submit your electronic documents directly to us.

To create a Request in RT, please email gradapp [at] ece [dot] ubc [dot] ca with a subject line of:

"GradApp AY2012 - STUDENT NUMBER> - <LAST NAME>, <FIRST NAME>"

For example, if your name was Luca Filipozzi and your student number was 79820104, then you would email gradapp [at] ece [dot] ubc [dot] ca with a subject line of:

"GradApp AY2012 - 79820104 - Filipozzi, Luca"

The Request Tracker system will send you an automated response indicating that it received your Request.  This automated response will indicate the six-digit tracking number, the so-called "RT Number". For example purposes, suppose that this number is 123456.

 

SUBMIT YOUR DOCUMENTS ELECTRONICALLY

Save your documents / scans in PDF format. Only PDF format will be accepted. Name the files as detailed below.   Please do NOT send documents other than those requested below.

• OT - Original Transcripts
Save as "<STUDENT NUMBER>-OT.pdf" (for example, 79820104-OT.pdf).
Additional instruction: please concatenate the scans for all your original transcripts into one PDF file.

• CV - Curriculum Vitae
Save as "STUDENT NUMBER>-CV.pdf" (for example, 79820104-CV.pdf).

• SP - Statement of Purpose
Save as "STUDENT NUMBER>-SP.pdf" (for example, 79820104-PR.pdf).

• PR - Permanent Residency Card (if required)
Save as "<STUDENT NUMBER>-PR.pdf" (for example, 79820104-PR.pdf).

• SV - Student Visa (if required)
Save as "<STUDENT NUMBER>-SV.pdf" (for example, 79820104-SV.pdf

Email these PDF files to rt+<RT Number>@ece.ubc.ca (for example, rt+12345 [at] ece [dot] ubc [dot] ca).

 

SUBMIT YOUR DOCUMENTS PHYSICALLY

Finally, you must submit physical versions of your official transcripts, official translations, and degree certificates (if applicable). Make sure that you mark each envelope with the RT Number (e.g.: "RT 123456"). This will enable us to process your physical documents more quickly. Please send your documents to:

Graduate Admission
UBC Electrical and Computer Engineering
5500 –

2332 Main Mall
Vancouver BC V6T 1Z4
CANADA

 

CONTACT

The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering uses a Service Request tracking system. After you have submitted your application and generated a Service Request, to ask a question of an ECE staff member, please do so by emailing rt+<RT Number>@ece.ubc.ca. This will cause your question to be directed to the staff member responsible for your application and will cause your question to be answered more promptly.

Graduate Admission
 UBC
Electrical and Computer Engineering

5500 - 2332 Main Mall

Vancouver BC V6T 1Z4

CANADA

 

Please do not send general questions regarding admission to gradapp [at] ece [dot] ubc [dot] ca. 

 

For general questions (e.g.: what is the deadline or what supporting documents are required), please direct admission questions to help [at] ece [dot] ubc [dot] ca.