Speech Sciences

at UBC's

Vancouver Campus

Speech Sciences is an interdisciplinary program with courses from Linguistics, Psychology, and the School of Audiology and Speech Sciences. You'll study research methods, language structure, child development and language acquisition, anatomy and physiology, experimental psychology, and instrumental phonetics.

Visit program website

Program information

  • Campus: Vancouver
  • Faculty: Faculty of Arts
  • Degree: Bachelor of Arts
  • Length 4 yrs
  • Co-op Yes
    You can combine your studies with full-time, paid work at top local and international organizations.
  • Honours No
    You can study intense specialization in a single field.

The Speech Sciences program is designed to prepare you for graduate work in speech-language pathology or audiology. The program has an interdisciplinary structure administered by the Linguistics Department, with courses from Linguistics, Psychology, and the School of Audiology and Speech Sciences.

You will study research methods, language structure, child development and language acquisition, anatomy and physiology, experimental psychology, and instrumental phonetics. Coursework focusses on normal language. Work on language disorders is not generally undertaken until the graduate program.

Campus features

As an undergraduate student in the Speech Sciences program, you’ll have an opportunity to explore and gain experience in various research labs housed at the Faculty of Medicine’s School of Audiology and Speech Sciences, including the Adult Language Processing and Disorders Lab and the Child Language Lab.

Your future

Career opportunities vary widely across a range of fields including audiology, speech-language pathology, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, public health, computational linguistics, communications, education, and others.

There are many career paths that can combine your academics, skills, and experience with your different interests, including:

  • Art or Music therapist
  • Artificial intelligence designer
  • Audiologist
  • Audiometric technician
  • Communication disorders assistant
  • Communications manager
  • Education consultant
  • English-as-a-second-language teacher
  • Human resources specialist
  • Speech pathologist

Careers with Speech Sciences

Program requirements

English-language requirements

English is the language of instruction at UBC. All prospective students must demonstrate English-language competency prior to admission. There are numerous ways to meet the English Language Admission Standard.

General admission requirements

IB Diploma Programme

  • Completed IB Diploma, including at least three Higher Level courses.

IB Certificate Courses

  • IB Certificate courses (Standard and Higher Level) may be used in an admissions average if you are graduating from a recognized high school curriculum that can be used as your basis of admission.
  • IB Math Applications and Interpretations SL, or IB Math Studies, do not satisfy the math requirement for admission to UBC’s science-based programs, the Faculty of Management, the UBC Sauder School of Business, or the Vancouver School of Economics.

Degree-specific requirements: Arts

  • No specific courses required beyond those needed for general admission

Related courses

The following subject categories are particularly relevant for this degree. Consider taking courses in these areas in your junior year and senior year.

  • Language Arts
  • Mathematics and Computation
  • Second Languages
  • Social Studies
  • Visual and Performing Arts
Visit program website