University of British Columbia

The University of British Columbia (commonly referred to as UBC) is a public research university located near Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Established by the provincial legislature in 1908, UBC's historic 4.02 km2 (993-acre) Vancouver campus is located within the University Endowment Lands, about 10 km (6.2 mi) from Downtown Vancouver. The 2.09 km2 (516-acre) Kelowna campus is located in the Okanagan Valley. A satellite campus is located at Robson Square in Vancouver.

A corporation by the name of The University of British Columbia was first incorporated April 26, 1890. Subsequent enactments culminating on March 7, 1908 with another University Act gave the university its current form. The first day of lectures was September 30, 1915, and lectures began at the new Point Grey campus on September 22, 1925. UBC's enabling legislation are the University Act and the University Amendment Act, 2004. The university is the oldest in British Columbia and has the largest enrolment with over 56,000 students at its Vancouver and Okanagan campuses combined. The university library, which comprises 5.9 million books and journals, is the second-largest research library in Canada.

UBC was ranked 2nd among major Canadian research universities by Maclean's Magazine in 2013. The university was ranked 30th worldwide (and 22nd in North America) in the 2012-2013 Times Higher Education rankings, 39th worldwide in the 2012 Academic Ranking of World Universities, and 8th overall in Newsweek's ranking of top universities outside of the United States. In 2011, UBC reported the highest entrance requirements for undergraduate admission in Canada. UBC faculty, alumni, and researchers have won seven Nobel Prizes, 67 Rhodes Scholarships, 64 Olympic medals, and alumni include two Canadian prime ministers.

UBC is consistently included among the top three research universities in Canada, and among the top research universities in the world, both in terms of quality and quantity of research. In 2011, the university reported $549 million per year in research funding, involving over 13,000 faculty and staff. A member of the U15, UBC attracts research funding from government, non-profit organizations and industry through more than 8,000 projects.