Dalhousie University is a large public research university in Nova Scotia, Canada, with three campuses in Halifax, a fourth in Bible Hill, and a second medical school campus in Saint John, New Brunswick. Dalhousie offers more than 4,000 courses, and 180 degree programs in 12 undergraduate, graduate, and professional faculties. The university is a member of the U15, a group of research-intensive universities in Canada.
Dalhousie was established as a nonsectarian college in 1818 by the eponymous Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia, George Ramsay, 9th Earl of Dalhousie. The college did not hold its first class until 1838, until then operating sporadically due to financial difficulties. It reopened for a third time in 1863 following a reorganization that brought a change of name to “The Governors of Dalhousie College and University”. The university formally changed its name to “Dalhousie University” in 1997 through the same provincial legislation that merged the institution with the Technical University of Nova Scotia.
There are currently two student unions that represent student interests at the university: the Dalhousie Student Union and the Dalhousie Association for Graduate Students. Dalhousie’s varsity teams, the Tigers, compete in the Atlantic University Sport conference of Canadian Interuniversity Sport. Dalhousie’s Faculty of Agriculture varsity teams are called the Dalhousie Rams, and compete in the ACAA and CCAA. Dalhousie is a coeducational university with more than 18,000 students and 130,000 alumni around the world. The university’s notable alumni include a Nobel Prize winner, 91 Rhodes Scholars, and a range of senior government officials, academics, and business leaders.
Reputation
The 2021 Academic Ranking of World Universities ranked Dalhousie University 201–300 in the world and 9–12 in Canada. The 2023 QS World University Rankings ranked the university 308th in the world, and twelfth in Canada.The 2022 Times Higher Education World University Rankings placed Dalhousie 251–300 in the world. In the 2022 U.S. News & World Report Best Global University Ranking, the university placed 317th in the world, and 12th in Canada. In terms of national rankings, Maclean’s ranked Dalhousie eighth in their 2022 Medical Doctoral university rankings. Dalhousie was ranked in spite of having opted out – along with several other universities in Canada – of participating in Maclean’s graduate survey since 2006.
Dalhousie also placed in a number of rankings that evaluated the employment prospects of its graduates. In the Times Higher Education’s 2022 global employability ranking, Dalhousie placed 186th in the world, and eighth in Canada. In QS’s 2020 graduate employability ranking, the university ranked 301–500 in the world, and 10–16 in Canada.