The School of Human Kinetics at UBC is open to admission from applicants who have completed high school in Canada, transfer students and international students. Canadian high school graduates must meet the general admission requirements of the university. This means that students must have graduated high school and completed the minimum prerequisite courses in English (grade 12 level) and three other non-specified grade 12 courses. Grade 11 courses must be completed in the areas of English, math, science and social studies. International and transfer students must meet these requirements also. Transfer students can be admitted based on their transferred credits if they have more than 24 hours to transfer, or if less, a combination of their high school and college credits.
Graduate student applicants must have a bachelor's degree with an average of 76 percent or higher in upper division courses. They must also submit a statement of purpose, two sets of transcripts, an application for a teaching assistantship and three reference letters from faculty members familiar with their aptitude.
The undergraduate curriculum at UBC has three separate streams of study or tracks that students can follow en route to their bachelor's degree: interdisciplinary studies, kinesiology and health science, and health and physical education. Each program has slightly different requirements, but each requires a total of 120 credit hours for completion. Although the course requirements may differ, each program requires students to complete general education courses, 30 credit hours in human kinetics, a total of 48 credit hours in upper-division coursework, and 18 credit hours in electives, 12 of which must be upper-division courses.
At the graduate level, UBC offers both a master's degree and a doctorate in the field. Students pursuing a master's degree must designate whether they intend to pursue a master's thesis or not. Those who do must then designate their intended field of study: Socio-Managerial, Behavioral or Natural/Physical Science. Non-thesis students choose from among these as well. Both programs require a total of 30 credit hours. Of these, one course must be completed in the field of research methods. Students can complete up to six credits of upper-division undergraduate courses related to human kinetics. Thesis students complete an additional nine hours of coursework along with 12 hours of thesis work; non-thesis students complete 18 hours of coursework and submit a graduating paper worth three credit hours.
Doctoral students have individualized study programs based on their research interests. Students must develop a plan of study with the aid of their faculty adviser, complete the coursework, pass the comprehensive examinations and have their thesis proposal approved. After completing the final thesis, doctoral candidates must then pass one final oral examination defending the thesis.