The University of Alberta, also known as U of A or UAlberta, is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford,^[6] the first premier of Alberta, and Henry Marshall Tory,^[7] the university’s first president. It was enabled through the Post-secondary Learning Act.^[8]

The university is considered a “comprehensive academic and research university” (CARU), which means that it offers a range of academic and professional programs that generally lead to undergraduate and graduate level credentials.^[9]

The university comprises four campuses in Edmonton, an Augustana Campus in Camrose, and a staff centre in downtown Calgary. The original north campus consists of 150 buildings covering 50 city blocks on the south rim of the North Saskatchewan River valley, directly across from downtown Edmonton. 39,000 students from Canada and 150 other countries participate in 400 programs in 18 faculties.

The university is a major economic driver in Alberta. Its impact on Alberta’s economy is estimated at $12.3 billion annually, or five per cent of the province’s gross domestic product.

Faculties and colleges[edit]

See also: Faculties and departments of the University of Alberta The Mechanical Engineering Building The Earth Sciences building The chapel of St. Joseph’s College

The university has 18 faculties:

Faculty of Agricultural, Life and Environmental Sciences focuses on natural, biological, and human resources.^[51] The faculty is home to the Devonian Botanic Garden in Devon, Alberta. The garden runs a series of winter hardiness trials on trees, shrubs, herbs, annuals and bulbs. The garden collection consists of Primula, Meconopsis, Allium Rosa (shrub), alpines, and herbs and plants traditionally used by Aboriginal Peoples. There is a microfungus collection and a herbarium that contains more than 4,800 livery genotypic filamentous fungi.^[52]
Alberta School of Business offers MBA, BCom, PhD, ExecEd, Exec MBA, and Master of Financial Management degrees.
Faculty of Arts is home to a spectrum of arts programs and departments, from Anthropology and Community Service Learning to History and Women’s Studies.
Augustana Campus is located in a satellite campus in Camrose, Alberta. It comprises the departments of Fine Arts, Humanities, Physical Education, Science, and Social Sciences.
Campus Saint-Jean is a francophone faculty with programs in Sciences, Fine Arts and Languages, Social Sciences, and Education.
Faculty of Education offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in elementary and secondary education, or a combined program. The School of Library and Information Studies is also a part of this Faculty.
Faculty of Engineering offers undergraduate degrees in five engineering departments. Students can choose to specialize in the following disciplines: Chemical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Engineering Physics, Materials Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Mining Engineering and Petroleum Engineering.
Faculty of Extension offers more than 300 courses in over 30 programs focusing on lifelong Continuing Education and Professional Development. Among the faculty’s contributions to Alberta’s educational and cultural life are the creation of the CKUA public radio station in 1927 and the Banff School of Fine Arts in 1933.
Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research maintains more than 170 programs in graduate studies.
Faculty of Law is the oldest law school in Western Canada.^[53] It is home to interdisciplinary institutes of constitutional studies, health law, science policy and law reform in Alberta.^[54]
Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry has 20 departments, seven divisions, eight research groups, and 31 centres and institutes. The faculty is internationally known for research in diabetes, obesity, virology, cardiology, cancer and spinal injury rehabilitation.^[55]
Faculty of Native Studies is Canada’s only stand-alone faculty of native studies. The faculty began offering a master’s program in the 2012–13 academic year.^[56]
Faculty of Nursing is one of Canada’s largest nursing faculties, and was the first in Canada to offer a fully funded PhD program.^[57]
Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences is one of Canada’s largest and finest pharmacy faculties. Its students excel nationally, achieving the highest combined score on the Pharmacy Examining Board of Canada exam in 2009, 2010 and 2012.^[58]
Faculty of Kinesiology, Sport, and Recreation focuses on the studies of human movement through sport science, kinesiology, physical education, physical activity and health, and tourism studies.^[59] The Faculty of Kinesiology, Sport, and Recreation offers four undergraduate programs: Bachelor of Arts in Recreation, Sport and Tourism; Bachelor of Physical Education; Bachelor of Physical Education/Bachelor of Education (five-year combined degree offered in conjunction with the Faculty of Education); and Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology.^[60]
Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine is North America’s only stand-alone faculty dedicated to rehabilitation science, physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech-language pathology. The faculty is a research leader in musculoskeletal health, spinal cord injuries, seniors’ health, and use of communication technologies to support local community care.^[61]
School of Public Health was established in March 2006 as Canada’s first stand-alone faculty with a sole focus on public health.^[62] In October 2012, it became the only school in Canada and only the second outside the United States to be accredited by the U.S. Council on Education for Public Health.^[63]
Faculty of Science is made up of seven departments (Biological Sciences, Chemistry, Computing Science, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Mathematical and Statistical Sciences, Physics, and Psychology.) The faculty includes 6 E.W.R. Steacie Memorial Fellowship winners, 16 winners of Rutherford Awards for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, 26 Canada Research Chairs, 5 iCORE Chairs, 3 NSERC Chairs, 2 Alberta Ingenuity Centres of Excellence, and 10 members of the Royal Society of Canada. It has more than 70 Bachelor of Science (BSc) programs in 39 subject areas.^[64]

The university has two affiliated colleges:

St. Joseph’s College offers undergraduate courses in applied ethics, philosophy, religious education and theology, for credit in degree programs with arts options. The college also offers specific courses for education students intending to teach within Alberta’s Catholic school system.^[65]
St. Stephen’s College offers graduate degree, diploma and certificate programs in theological studies, with courses designed to allow distance learning.

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