Academic Progress

Graduation

Upon successful completion of their studies masters and doctoral students apply to graduate.  This process is split into two distinct points - conferral of the degree (approval by Senate) and the optional convocation (ceremony).  Conferral happens twice a year - May, and November.  Convocation also occurs twice a year - May and November - with May being the much larger session lasting over a week.

We currently have data from 1991 onwards, with data last retrieved February, 2022.  The information provided here is presented using the conferral dates.

Conferral Year Masters Doctoral Total
1991 989 213 1,202
1992 999 216 1,215
1993 1,116 262 1,378
1994 1,175 277 1,452
1995 1,161 336 1,497
1996 1,144 309 1,453
1997 1,118 332 1,450
1998 1,132 324 1,456
1999 1,216 338 1,554
2000 1,304 342 1,646
2001 1,276 329 1,605
2002 1,442 312 1,754
2003 1,582 328 1,910
2004 1,633 336 1,969
2005 1,640 328 1,968
2006 1,863 343 2,206
2007 1,690 376 2,066
2008 1,746 434 2,180
2009 1,934 461 2,395
2010 2,021 516 2,537
2011 2,097 484 2,581
2012 2,328 528 2,856
2013 2,328 509 2,837
2014 2,262 533 2,795
2015 2,406 572 2,978
2016 2,297 554 2,851
2017 2,406 542 2,948
2018 2,600 529 3,129
2019 2,672 497 3,169
2020 2,645 525 3,170
2021 2,935 479 3,414
2022 2,970 493 3,463

Data for Degrees Awarded 1991 - 2022 (File - Excel 2019 format - 2,156 KB)

Between 1990 and 2021 the number of conferred degrees has risen from 1,202 in 1991 to 3,463 in 2022 which translates to 188% increase in 32 years of conferring graduate level degrees at UBC Vancouver.  Within that time span 58,127 master's and 12,957 doctoral degrees have been conferred - that's 71,084 degrees in total. The numbers for both master's and doctoral conferred degrees have risen over the years, with 1,981 more master's degrees conferred in 2022 than in 1991 (a 200% increase) and 280 more doctoral degrees conferred during the same period (a 131% increase).

Graph showing graduate degrees awarded from 1991 to 2022