University of Waterloo

University of Waterloo

Former names	Waterloo College Affiliated Faculties (1956–1959)
Motto	Latin: Concordia cum veritate
Motto in English	In harmony with truth
Type	Public university
Established	4 July 1956
Endowment	$335.731 million
Chancellor	Tom Jenkins
President	Feridun Hamdullahpur
Academic staff	1,099
Administrative staff	2,184
Undergraduates	30,600
Postgraduates	5,300
Location	Waterloo, Ontario, Canada 43°28′8″N 80°32′24″W / 43.46889°N 80.54000°W / 43.46889; -80.54000Coordinates: 43°28′8″N 80°32′24″W / 43.46889°N 80.54000°W / 43.46889; -80.54000
Campus	Urban, 450 hectares (1,100 acres)
Colours
Athletics	CIS, OUA 27 varsity teams
Nickname	Waterloo Warriors
Mascot	King Warrior
Affiliations	ACU, ATS, CARL, CBIE, CIS, COU, CUP, CUSID, Fields Institute, IAU, U15, UC.
Website	uwaterloo.ca

The University of Waterloo (commonly referred to as Waterloo, UW or UWaterloo) is a public research university with a main campus located in Waterloo, Ontario. The main campus is located on 404 hectares (1,000 acres) of land in "Uptown" Waterloo, adjacent to Waterloo Park. The university offers academic programs administered by six faculties and ten faculty-based schools. The university also operates four satellite campuses and four affiliated university colleges. Waterloo is a member of the U15, a group of research-intensive universities in Canada. University of Waterloo is most famous for its cooperative education (co-op) programs, which allow the students to integrate their education with applicable work experiences. University of Waterloo operates the largest post secondary co-op program of its kind in the world, with over 19,000 co-op students and 5,200 employers.

The institution was established on 1 July 1957 as the Waterloo College Associate Faculties, a semi-autonomous entity of Waterloo College, then an affiliate of the University of Western Ontario. This entity formally separated from Waterloo College and was incorporated as a university with the passage of the University of Waterloo Act by the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in 1959. It was established to fill the need to train engineers and technicians for Canada's growing postwar economy. It grew substantially over the next decade, adding a faculty of arts in 1960, and the College of Optometry of Ontario which moved from Toronto in 1967.

The university is co-educational, and as of 2016 has 30,600 undergraduate and 5,300 postgraduate students. Alumni and former students of the university can be found across Canada and in over 140 countries. The university ranked 200-300th in the 2015 Academic Ranking of World Universities, 152nd in the 2015–2016 QS World University Rankings, and 179th in the 2015–2016 Times Higher Education World University Rankings. Waterloo's varsity teams, known as the Waterloo Warriors, compete in the Ontario University Athletics conference of the Canadian Interuniversity Sport.