The Vancouver campus is situated on the unceded territory of the Musqueam people in the University Endowment Lands, about 10 km (6 mi) west of Downtown Vancouver. UBC is home to TRIUMF, Canada's national laboratory for particle and nuclear physics, which houses the world's largest cyclotron. In addition to the Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies and Stuart Blusson Quantum Matter Institute, UBC and the Max Planck Society collectively established the first Max Planck Institute in North America, specializing in quantum materials. One of the largest research libraries in Canada, the UBC Library system has over 9.9 million volumes among its 21 branches. The Okanagan campus, acquired in 2005, is located in Kelowna, British Columbia.

Eight Nobel laureates, 71 Rhodes scholars, 65 Olympians, ten fellows in both American Academy of Arts & Sciences and the Royal Society, and 273 fellows to the Royal Society of Canada have been affiliated with UBC. Three Canadian prime ministers, including Canada's first female prime minister Kim Campbell and current prime minister Justin Trudeau have been educated at UBC.