The University of Western Ontario (UWO; branded as Western University, commonly shortened to Western) is a public research university in London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on 455 hectares (1,120 acres) of land, surrounded by residential neighbourhoods and the Thames River bisecting the campus’s eastern portion. The university operates twelve academic faculties and schools. It is a member of the U15, a group of research-intensive universities in Canada.
The university was founded on 7 March 1878 by Bishop Isaac Hellmuth of the Anglican Diocese of Huron as the Western University of London, Ontario. It incorporated Huron College, which had been founded in 1863. The first four faculties were Arts, Divinity, Law and Medicine. The university became non-denominational in 1908. Beginning in 1919, the university had affiliated with several denominational colleges. The university grew substantially in the post-World War II era, and a number of faculties and schools were added.
Western is a co-educational university, with more than 24,000 students, and over 306,000 living alumni worldwide. Notable alumni include government officials, academics, business leaders, Nobel Laureates, Rhodes Scholars, and distinguished fellows. Western’s varsity teams, known as the Western Mustangs, compete in the Ontario University Athletics conference of U Sports.
Reputation
In the 2021 Academic Ranking of World Universities rankings, the university ranked 201–300 in the world and 9–12 in Canada.[94] The 2023 QS World University Rankings ranked the university 172nd in the world and eighth in Canada. The 2022 Times Higher Education World University Rankings ranked Western 201–250 in the world, and 8–11 in Canada. In U.S. News & World Report 2022 global university rankings, the university placed 294th in the world, and tenth in Canada. In Maclean’s 2022 rankings, Western placed ninth in their Medical-Doctoral university category, tied with Université Laval and the Université de Montréal. The university also ranked ninth in Maclean reputation category.
The university has also placed in a number of rankings that evaluated the employment prospects of its graduates. In QS’s 2022 graduate employability ranking, the university ranked 43rd in the world, and third in Canada.[