Apply

Double-check that you meet the Go Global eligibility requirements. Whether you choose an exchange, study abroad, summer abroad or research overseas, you must meet all requirements to participate.

Review our Key Dates page to ensure that you apply by the respective deadline(s).

Look up the partner university requirements on each individual partner institution page under the “Who can go?” section and make sure you meet any additional requirements from the partner institution. We also strongly recommend that you research course availability and restrictions at each school you are applying for.

Applicants are encouraged to select three partner institutions in their application as students who only select one partner experience and are not successfully matched are only eligible for a small refund.

Having trouble narrowing down which schools to apply to? Try reviewing some student reports! Once you log-in to the Student Report database, click “Read a Report” to review submissions! Learn about other students personal accounts of their experience at partner schools to see if they are a good fit for you.

• Management/Commerce Students
  • BMGT & BCOM students can take MGMT/COMM-related courses at schools that appear with the “Management (UBCO)” filter on our partner search page
    • BMGT and BCOM students from UBCO cannot take MGMT/COMM-related courses at partners that only appear with the  “Commerce (UBCV)” filter on our partner search page

Supporting documents for your exchange application

All students applying must download and complete the Go Global Proposed Study Plan and Budget Planner in addition to any supporting documents that apply to you.

The Go Global Study Plan and Budget Planner must be uploaded with your application on Gateway.

The budget planner has taken the place of the personal reflection statement. As such, the statement is no longer a required part of the application process.

Some students may require additional documents:

Accessibility

If you are considering applying for a Go Global program and identify with having a disability or pre-existing health condition (mental or physical) which could impact your participation, or if you require academic accommodations, you can contact the following offices to meet with an Accessibility Advisor before the start of the program:

Disability Resource Centre (Okanagan)

Apply to Go Global with your 3 university choices by the deadline.

Application Instructions

You will be applying through Gateway, the online application program. If you’ve already started your application, you can resume from where you left off at any time.

1. Complete and submit your Go Global study plan, budget worksheet and any relevant supporting documents (within Gateway) by the application deadline.
   See below for further details:
   • Select the “-UniWide” or “–UBCO” option (where available) for your selected partner schools
     • Engineering (Applied Science) students should select “-CIE” or “-Engineering” where available (i.e. University of Glasgow-CIE)
   • Each option will have a year listed after it which refers to the respective Winter session.
     • Ex/ “Term 1 2027” refers to Sept – Dec 2027, “Term 2 2027” refers to Jan – Apr 2028, etc.
2. The Go Global fee can be paid through Workday. The fee will not be posted until 1-3 weeks after the Go Global deadline has passed.

Apply now

The Go Global Fee will be posted to Workday after the application deadline and will be posted to your tuition account 1-2 weeks after the application deadline has passed and will be due by the 7th of the following month (e.g. fee posted December 16th, due January 7th). You will be contacted by Go Global once the fee has been posted to Workday, provided with the fee deadline, and prompted to make the payment. Payment of this fee is made through Workday. Once your fee is posted to Workday the methods available to make payment are the same as for your normal tuition payments.

The Go Global Fee is $440.00.

Please ensure you review our Refund & Withdrawal policies.

After you submit your application to Go Global by the relevant deadline, the following steps will occur:

• The Go Global fee will be posted to your UBC tuition account with a week after the application deadline has passed
• Go Global will review your application to ensure you meet eligibility criteria for our program and partner school requirements
• Go Global will seek endorsement from your UBC Faculty for participation in Go Global
• Your application will be reviewed and, where necessary for our competitive partner school options, score your application based on a combination of your academic performance, statement of interest, and the academic suitability of the partner school(s) you have applied for
• We will send you result of your application around:
  • Round 1 results: early-February
  • Round 2 results: late-May/early-June

Once you have received your matching result, apply to your host university once you have been nominated by Go Global.

Then, you’ll want to:

• Make a more detailed budget based on your matched partner school
• See a selection of courses at the host university that will count towards UBC course credits in the transfer credit portal
  • Note that only courses taken by UBC students and approved in the last five years are listed, many more courses are available at each of our partner institutions than those that are listed
• Talk to an Academic Advisor about your degree requirements
• Map out your courses needed to graduate, including exchange and study abroad, with the Go Global Study plan.

You can learn more on our Prepare to Go page.

Although it might seem scary at first, you can learn a lot about yourself by pushing beyond your comfort zone. This is a chance for you to get lost and then find yourself in an entirely new setting. Are you looking for a new culture or new courses? Below are some questions you should consider when trying to decide on your choices for your partner universities.

Country/region

• Is there a country or area of the world that has always sparked your interest?

Size of city

• Do you want to be in a big city, a university town, or a small town?

Size of campus

• Does campus size or style matter?
• Do you want to experience a campus similar to or different from UBC’s Okanagan campus?

Costs     

• What is the cost of living? Does it fit your budget?
• Going on exchange is not as expensive as you may think. For more information on financing your exchange, check out the money matters section.

Personal benefits

• What are my personal goals for exchange?
• What do I want to get out of the experience?

What learning outcomes do you want to achieve while away? Studying abroad is an excellent opportunity to challenge yourself academically.

Length of stay

• Do you want to go for Term 1, Term 2, both terms, a split-year (Term 2 then Term 1), or a summer?
• How does the partner university’s terms compare to UBC’s terms? If you would like to go on exchange in Term 1 and return to UBC for Term 2, check the term dates of your partner university. Some universities’ fall terms end in January (after Term 2 has begun at UBC).

Language of instruction

• Do you want to be in an English-speaking country? You can often study in English in non English-speaking countries.

Language training

• Do you want to study another language? You have many options for this, depending on your language proficiency (PDF). For example, you can study French in France or study in Spanish in Spain.

Academic benefits

• What are your academic goals for exchange?
• Would studying in a specific location benefit your degree? You could practice Japanese in Japan, study earth science in Iceland, or see original Renaissance art in-person.
• Would studying at a specific university benefit your degree? Some of our partner universities are agricultural universities or social science institutions, while others offer a broad range of programs.

See how courses transfer back by looking through the list of pre-approved courses in the transfer credit portal (note that only courses approved in the last five years are listed, many more courses are available at each of our partner institutions than those that are listed).

As part of our agreement with partner universities, students receive UBC credit for all academic courses taken abroad.

We suggest you keep the following in mind when you search for courses on partner university websites.

Unique course offerings

• Partner universities will often have courses that are not offered by UBC.

Courses in English

• Many universities offer courses in English. For example, English is the language of instruction at Koç University in Turkey, and universities in Scandinavia, Mexico, and Korea offer a wide selection of courses in English.

Courses in other languages

• If you want to take courses in a foreign language (excluding language courses), you will have to meet language proficiency requirements.
• Download and fill out the language proficiency assessment form (PDF) if you are planning to take courses in a foreign language at an exchange university.

Different academic structures

• Faculties and departments at our partners may be structured differently than at UBC. For example, at UBC we have separate faculties for Forestry and Land and Food Systems, but at the University of Copenhagen, they are departments within the university’s Faculty of Life Sciences.

University lingo

• The terminology surrounding academic programs may be different than UBC’s. For example, in the UK courses are modules and majors are courses. In addition, credit systems can vary.

Course restrictions

• Some subject areas may not be open to exchange students at your partner university, or there may be a limit to how many courses you can take in a particular department. To find out if such restrictions exist at your partner university, refer to the partner university’s exchange website.