Founded in 1966 and situated close to the Rocky Mountains, the University of Calgary is a public research university based in the city of Calgary, in Alberta, Canada.
It attracts around 30,000 students, around 25,000 of which are undergraduates, 6,000 are graduates, and around 500 are postdoctoral fellows.
About 3,000 or so of its student body are international, hailing from around 125 countries.
Through the university’s study abroad programme, it sends more than 1,100 students each year to over 80 destinations worldwide. This is made possible by partnerships and collaboration agreements with universities in 140 countries.
As well as the main institution in Canada, the university has a campus in Doha, Qatar, which opened in 2007. Across its faculties, the university has close to 1,823 faculty members in total with over 50 per cent of them holding a degree from an overseas university.
The university also operates 50 research institutes and centres.
Its endowment is valued at around $790 million and it has a research income that amounts to $325 million.
It has an alumni network of over 160,000. Among them are former Canadian prime minister, Stephen Harper, and the astronaut Robert Thirsk, who holds the Canadian record for the longest space flight and most time spent in space.
Among the university’s traditions is ‘Bermuda Shorts Day’ (BSD), an annual event in April that marks the last day of classes. As well as wearing shorts on BSD, students attend a huge event on campus that features bands, barbecues and beer gardens.
The University of Calgary is Canada’s leading next-generation university; a living, growing and youthful institution that embraces change and opportunity with a can-do attitude in Canada’s most enterprising city. The university has a clear strategic direction to become one of Canada’s top five research universities by 2016, grounded in innovative learning and teaching, and fully integrated with the community of Calgary. Supporting industry and businesses locally, nationally and internationally, the University of Calgary strives to serve the community and reflect its values, while working to find solutions to some of the most challenging problems facing society today. As a major Canadian research-intensive institution, the University of Calgary has 14 faculties, 53 departments and more than 200 academic programs. The University of Calgary also has 77 Canada Research Chairs, generated $325 million of sponsored research income in 2013-14 and is home to 85 research centres building knowledge in areas including health, social sciences, business and energy and the environment. The University of Calgary is on the cusp of transformational change guided by a bold vision and ambitious plans. Among universities younger than 50 years, we currently rank first in Canada and among the top 10 worldwide, according to the QS ranking.
