Exchange FAQs

This is normal, but you will need to apply for a "Date Change" with the insurance company DCIS. Complete and submit the iMED Date Change Form after arriving in Canada.

The automatic iMED coverage dates coincide with a standard academic term at UBC as follows:

• August 1 for Winter Session Term 1 (September – December)
• December 1 for Winter Session Term 2 (January – April)
• April 1 for Summer Session Term 1 (May – June)
• June 1 for Summer Session Term 2 (July – August)

Most students' research dates are not aligned with UBC's academic terms, therefore most students will need to request to have their coverage dates updated.

Please follow the instructions here, under Student Accounts (CWL Account Upgrader).

If you are still having any trouble signing in, please send an email to service.helpdesk@ubc.ca. Include your UBC ID number, and explain the situation, as well as any screenshots showing errors you are receiving. Please also provide the birthdate that you entered when asked for the default password.

Residence Meal Plans are only required if you are living in Orchard Commons, Totem Park or Place Vanier. If you have been placed in a residence other than the three mentioned above, you are not required to purchase a meal plan as you will have a kitchen in your unit.

For more information about meal plans at UBC, please see this website. Contact Student Housing and Hospitality Services for any questions. 

Apply to obtain your UBC Student ID here. Once your card is ready, an email will be sent with instructions on how to pick up your card at a designated pick-up location. Please bring a piece of government-issued photo ID (usually a passport is sufficient) when you pick up your UBC Card in person.

UBC does not have a centralized repository for storing course syllabi. Students are responsible for contacting the individual instructors and obtaining the course syllabi, if available, on their own.

Detailed course syllabi are not always available in advance of the start of classes and availability varies by academic department. You may contact the instructor who will be teaching the course this year via email and request a current course syllabus.  Contact information of the instructor can be found on Workday under each course. Please click on the course code and then click on the specific section. Please keep in mind that the course syllabi you will receive from the instructors right now may not be the final version. Further, in a few instances, the course syllabi are posted on the course schedule page. This is not common, so if you do not see the course syllabi, please use the method of contacting the instructor.

If you already have MSP or another Canadian provincial or territorial health plan, or your studies are being funded by a third- party organization, you may be eligible to opt out of iMED. Please email your iMED opt-out forms to UBC’s International Student Advising Office at isa@students.ubc.ca.

Students who have been registered into at least one course in the coming term will receive their iMED card via email prior to arrival in Canada. Please check your email “junk” or “spam” folders to see if the email with the iMED card as an attached document had been filtered there. If you do not find it and will be arriving in Canada within a week, please request to have the card resent to you by contacting David Cummings, the iMED insurance provider, at info@david-cummings.com. Please include your name, UBC student number, date of arrival and put "missing iMED card" in the subject field. 

The Medical Services Plan (MSP) is a mandatory health insurance plan, for everyone who lives in British Columbia (B.C. province) for 6 months or longer. Medical fees in BC are very costly, so to protect yourself against surprisingly big bills that can go up to $150 just to see a doctor. With MSP, you will not pay when you seek basic medical care, and the fees for emergency care will be reduced to much less.

• $237 for 3 months of coverage during the waiting period for the Medical Services Plan (MSP) (provincial government health insurance mandatory for those residing in Canada for more than 6 months), or
• $338 for one-term exchange students; and
• $10.54 for a one-time direct billing fee (for Vancouver campus students only)

The fees are charged to your Workday account. Fees are subject to change.
See more information on iMED and MSP.

Shortly after course registration, exchange students are automatically enrolled in iMED, and the fees should appear on Workday. Students will also receive an email from David Cummings Insurance Services (DCIS) approximately one month prior to the start of each academic term, with the iMED insurance card attached. Please watch for the email in your inbox and junk mail folders.

Print your iMED card and keep it with you at all times. The IMED fees will be due before the first week of classes at UBC.