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About UW

Just the Facts

  • Chancellor: Mike Lazaridis
  • President and Vice-Chancellor: David L. Johnston
  • Board Chair: Bob Harding
  • Full-time undergraduate students: 22,368*
  • Part-time undergraduate students: 1,974*
  • Full-time graduate students: 3,023*
  • Part-time graduate students: 613*
  • Faculty: 977
  • Staff: 2,251
  • Alumni: 135,000
  • Graduates in 140 countries
  • Size of campus: 1,000 acres (400 hectares)
  • Motto: Concordia cum veritate (In harmony with truth)
  • Colours: Gold, black, and white
  • Founded: July 1957

* Fall 2007

See UW's 2007 PERFORMANCE INDICATORS report from Institutional Analysis and Planning

  • At 79.3 per cent, our graduation rates are above the provincial average of 75.4 per cent. **
  • The overall employment rate for Waterloo graduates of 2003 was 93 per cent after six months and 97 per cent after two years, above the provincial average of 92.2 and 96.8 per cent. **
  • At 7.3 per cent, Waterloo students' overall default rate on Ontario Student Loans is below the provincial average of 10.6 per cent. **

** MTCU benchmark figures provided by Institutional Analysis & Planning: Key Performance Indicators

Waterloo has long been recognized as the most innovative university in Canada. We are committed to advancing learning and knowledge through teaching, research, and scholarship in our faculties, colleges, and schools.

Our six faculties:

Our federated university and affiliated colleges:

Our seven faculty-based professional schools:

The Balsillie School, founded in 2007, is a collaborative initiative of the University of Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier University, with the support and involvement of the Centre for International Governance Innovation. The School of Pharmacy opened in 2008, anchoring a new Kitchener health sciences campus that will include a facility for McMaster University’s Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine.

What sets us apart is how we go about accomplishing our mission. From the beginning, Waterloo has been an outward-looking university, aware of and responsive to the needs of society.

We have the largest post-secondary co-operative education program in the world, and our students graduate with the knowledge, skills, and practical experience required to solve today’s complex and pressing problems and to embrace future challenges.

But producing the leaders of tomorrow is just part of our mission. A research-intensive university, we’re committed to discovering new knowledge and finding ways to use that knowledge for the benefit of all.

We are the national leader in the transfer of ideas and technology to the private sector. More Canadian high-tech and knowledge-based spin-off companies trace their roots to the University of Waterloo than to any other school.