Teaching Assistantships

Each year, the Department hires a limited number of Teaching Assistants to support its undergraduate courses. These positions play an integral role in helping the Department fulfill its goal of offering its students superior undergraduate teaching and learning experiences. All undergraduate and graduate students (including non-research students) may apply for a TA position. The TA application portal is open for the month of April each year (closing April 30th) for positions commencing the following academic year.

Important Information

Types of Duties

Although the precise duties will vary depending on the course for which an offer/appointment is made, in general TAs can expect to perform the following duties:

  • Laboratory Assistance – providing instruction, guidance, and supervision for laboratory experiments, maintaining a safe and professional laboratory, assisting students with troubleshooting equipment, ensuring laboratory equipment and supplies are used appropriately and put away at the end of each session, marking of laboratory reports.
  • Tutorial Assistance – assisting in or leading tutorial sessions, marking of assignments, preparing written solutions, reviewing of assignments with undergraduates.
  • Marking – marking of assignments.
  • Invigilation of Exams (Mandatory) – is required. All TAs must be available for the full exam period of the term in which they are hired as a TA. TAs may be assigned to invigilate course(s) other those for which they TA.
  • MECH Training (Mandatory) – New TAs and returning TAs must participate in the MECH TA training program and safety orientation. The training is designed to help ensure that TAs are as successful as possible in their roles and properly oriented to our teaching labs/spaces. More information on training will be provided with your offer letter.

Application Process

The Application Process

UBC hires on the basis of merit and is committed to employment equity. We encourage all qualified applicants to apply. At UBC, we believe that attracting and sustaining a diverse workforce is key to the successful pursuit of excellence in research, innovation, and learning for all faculty, staff and students. Our commitment to employment equity helps achieve inclusion and fairness, brings rich diversity to UBC as a workplace, and creates the necessary conditions for a rewarding career.

After reading the information on this page, and completing the required steps listed before applying, you can use the TA portal at the bottom of the page to submit your application. Please note the Department is not in a position to consider financial need in the process of TA appointments.

Application and Hiring Steps

  1. Confirm Your Qualifications - Make sure you're eligible to apply!
  2. Check the List of Available Courses - Find out which courses you want before submitting your application. Are you applying for Mech 2 courses, upper-year courses, or available courses outside of the department?
  3. Submit Your Application - use the correct TA portal for the courses you want to submit your application.

If you receive an Offer

Although we appreciate the interest of all applicants, only the successful candidates will be contacted with further details. If you do receive an offer, there are some additional steps to take:

  1. Accept your Offer - don't forget to tell us you accept the position! If you don't accept in time, we'll need to offer it to the next candidate.
  2. Complete Required Training - complete mandatory training for all employees, as well as TA-specific training and safety orientations.

Read the information below for further details of each step in the application and hiring process.

Qualifications & Requirements

Qualification Requirements for Teaching Assistants

Before you apply to become a Teaching Assistant, please review the qualifications and application requirements:

Qualifications

  • Mastery of the course academic material and subject matter.
  • Possess excellent oral and written English communication skills.
  • Ability to help students learn actively and explain course content in a clear and logical manner.
  • Willingness to respect diverse perspectives, including perspectives in conflict with one’s own.
  • Demonstrates a commitment to enhancing one’s own awareness, knowledge, and skills related to equity, diversity, and inclusion.

Eligibility & Application Requirements

  • Must be a full-time student or recent graduates of UBC.
    • Recent graduates are those who have completed their degree requirements within eight (8) months of the term they are being hired for.
    • Cannot be on leave from your graduate program during the appointment.
  • Must have valid working status.
  • International students must hold and provide an active study permit and SIN for the entirety of their TA appointment.
    • New TAs who do not have an active study permit and SIN cannot TA in the first term.
  • Have an understanding of and will agree to comply with WorkSafe BC, UBC and Departmental Safety Regulations.
  • Must be willing to perform on-campus work for the entire period of the appointment. If you will be out of town for a significant portion of the term, please do not accept a TA position in that term.
  • Must live within British Columbia for the period of the appointment.
  • Must be available to complete the mandatory departmental safety and TA training, as well as the appropriate site-specific lab orientations, before the start of term. Please see training dates listed in the above section.
  • Follow the naming conventions required for the CV upload: Last, First-########-CV.pdf  (#'s to be replaced with your student number)

Review Available Courses

List of Available Courses

Review the courses that have Teaching Assistantships opportunities available before applying, so you know which portal to use and which courses to select.

This list is subject to change annually.

Applying for a general course, or Mech 2 courses, or courses offered by another unit?

Understanding the Application Portals

Application portals are available at the bottom of this page, and correspond to the types of courses the application is for. Candidates must use the application portal relevant to the course they want to apply for, as applicants will only be considered for those roles. Please submit a separate application through each portal, if you wish to apply to those courses (ex. applications for general MECH courses will not be considered for Mech 2 courses - an application would need to be submitted through each portal).

  • Mech Courses Portal - for general 3rd and 4th year courses offered by the Department of Mechanical Engineering (MECH).
  • Mech 2 Portal - applications for second-year MECH courses only.
  • Portal for All Other Courses - applications for courses offered by other units such as Vantage College (VANT) or Applied Science (APSC).

Application portals are available at the bottom of this page.

Accepting a TA Offer

Accepting a TA Offer

TA offers will be sent out as early as end of May and will continue until all positions are filled (which can extend into the start of the academic year). You must respond to TA offers in a prompt manner. Failure to accept an offer within ten (10) working days of receiving the offer via email will be seen as a decline on your behalf, and will result in the position being offered to the next most qualified candidate.

TA positions in our department are employment opportunities, and we expect applicants to act professionally and treat it as such.

  • Withdrawing from a TA position after you have previously formally accepted the post is not an acceptable practice.
  • In accordance with the CUPE 2278 collective agreement, you must inform the department of additional TA-ships to ensure that appropriate hourly limits are not exceeded.

Required TA Training

Required TA Training

In order to be eligible to work as a TA, you must be available to attend the mandatory departmental safety and TA training, as well as the appropriate lab orientations, before the start of term.

  • Training is scheduled for Imagine Day for new TAs and the second week of September for returning TAs.
  • If you have not completed the Lab Orientation segment within the last two years, you must attend if you are applying to TA positions that include lab portions.

We suggest that anyone interested in working as a TA attend the entire MECH TA Training session (including the Lab Orientation) as there may be additional TA opportunities that become available throughout the year. There will be no further training sessions beyond those scheduled, nor is there the opportunity to have individual training.

Required Safety Courses for UBC Employees

To be an eligible TA in Mechanical Engineering, you must complete all courses below before beginning any TA duties. These courses belong to a university-wide training program that all employees are required to complete. The courses are also necessary to gain access to classroom & lab spaces as a TA. 

If you have previously been employed at UBC

  • For returning TAs: You should have already completed all the courses and do not have to repeat them, unless a new version of training has been released. To verify you have completed a course, you will be able to retrieve a certificate which can be found by logging into the online course. If you have outstanding courses for any reason, please ensure you complete all the required courses. 
  • For new TAs: if you have or have held any UBC employee position on Workday, you would likely have completed most courses below. To verify you have completed a course, you will be able to retrieve a certificate which can be found by logging into the online course. Please ensure you complete all the required courses before beginning any TA duties.  

 If you have never held a UBC employee position on Workday, please ensure you complete all the required courses before beginning your TA duties. 

TAs + Union Representation

Union Representation

Be advised that Teaching Assistants at The University of British Columbia (UBC) are represented by the Canadian Union Of Public Employees Local 2278 (CUPE2278) and that a Collective Agreement between UBC and CUPE2278 is in effect. All TAs are required to join the Union as a condition of employment. The collective agreement applies to all TA contracts, and selection of TAs will be done in accordance with the requirements of the Union.

Questions & FAQ

If you have any questions, please review our Frequently Asked Questions document below for additional information.

For any questions not addressed in the FAQ, please email our HR Coordinator, Staff & Students at studenthr@mech.ubc.ca.  If you have questions regarding specific TA duties for a particular course, please contact the course instructor directly.

Apply

Please find the application portals for Teaching Assistantships at UBC Mechanical Engineering below: 

2025/26 Academic Year 

Applications for Teaching Assistant roles for the 2025/2026 academic year are open March 31 – April 30 at 11:59 pm PDT. Please submit a separate application to each portal as needed, using the following links.

NOTE: We have additional roles open since applications began. Please see the list of courses with open TA roles for all openings and which portal to use when applying.

Applications will be accepted after the deadlines above but applicants who submit within noted dates will be will considered first. Although we appreciate the interest of all applicants, only the successful candidates will be contacted with further details. Please note the Department is not in a position to consider financial need in the process of TA appointments. Kindly contact us at studenthr@mech.ubc.ca if you have any questions or concerns.

TA Portal Office Hours

To help applicants understand the TA portal, our HR Team will be hosting online office hours during April on Wednesdays at 10 am.  Please reach out to studenthr@mech.ubc.ca for Zoom details or check your email for the announcement from our Student Services team.