The University of Alberta, is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford, the first premier of Alberta, and Henry Marshall Tory, the university’s first president. It was enabled through the Post-secondary Learning Act.
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.
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.
Reputation
The University of Alberta has ranked in a number of post-secondary rankings. In the 2021 Academic Ranking of World Universities rankings, the university ranked 101–150 in the world and 5–6 in Canada. The 2023 QS World University Rankings ranked the university 110th in the world, and fourth in Canada. The 2022 Times Higher Education World University Rankings ranked the university 125th in the world, and sixth in Canada. In the 2022 U.S. News & World Report Best Global University Ranking, the university ranked 135th in the world, and fifth in Canada. The Canadian-based Maclean’s magazine ranked the University of Alberta sixth in their 2022 Canadian Medical Doctoral university category. The university was ranked in spite of having opted out — along with several other universities in Canada — of participating in Maclean’s graduate survey since 2006.
Along with academic and teaching rankings, the university has also been ranked by publications that evaluate the employment prospects of its graduates. In the Times Higher Education’s 2021 global employability ranking, the university ranked 136th in the world, and sixth in Canada. In QS’s 2022 graduate employability ranking, the university ranked 99th in the world, and fifth in Canada.