The University of Waterloo is a comprehensive public university in the city of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. The school was founded in 1957 by Drs. Gerry Hagey and Ira G. Needles, and has since grown to an institution of more than 30,000 students, faculty, and staff. The school is notable for being the first university in North America to create a Faculty of Mathematics, and for having the largest co-operative education program in the world.[citation needed] Waterloo maintains one of the lowest endowments of all large Canadian universities, something officials have been trying to improve over the last 10 years. The school is also known for having more company spin-offs than any other Canadian university, and as such, the university has been called the “Silicon Valley of the North”. The enrollment for Fall 2009 was 24,891 undergraduate and 3,497 graduate students, with 1,030 full-time faculty members and 2,190 staff. The school has approximately 140,000 alumni in 141 countries. The university press, @UW and The Boar (Arts Faculty) are members of CUP. Other university newspapers include Imprint (The Official Student Newspaper), The Iron Warrior (Engineering), and mathNEWS (Math).

University of Waterloo
Motto Concordia cum veritate
(In harmony with truth)
Established 1957
Type Public
Endowment $214 million
Chancellor V. Prem Watsa
President David Lloyd Johnston
Faculty 1,030 full-time
Staff 2,190
Undergraduates 24,891 full-time, 1,670 part-time
Postgraduates 3,497 full-time, 797 part-time
Location Waterloo, ON, Canada
Campus Urban/Suburban, 4km2 (1000 acres)
Sports teams Waterloo Warriors
Colours Gold, black, and white
Nickname UW
Affiliations AUCC, IAU, COU, ATS, CIS, CUSID, OUA, Fields Institute, Ontario Network of Women in engineering, CBIE, CUP
Website uwaterloo.ca

The university’s main campus is set upon 32 hectares (80 acres) at the foot of Mount Royal in Downtown Montreal. A second campus, the Macdonald Campus, is situated on 6.5 square kilometres (1,600 acres) of fields and forested land in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, 30 kilometres west of the downtown campus. With 21 faculties and professional schools, McGill offers degrees and diplomas in over 300 fields of study, including medicine and law. Although the language of instruction is English, students have the right to submit any graded work in English or in French, except when learning a particular language is an objective of the course. Over 34,000 students attend McGill, with international students comprising one-fifth of the student population.

McGill is recognized for its award-winning research and participates in research organizations both within Canada and in the world, including the G13, the Association of American Universities, and Universitas 21. Its undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools consistently ranks the top university in national rankings such as those published by Maclean’s, and among the top 50 universities in regional and worldwide rankings, including the Times Higher Education (THE) – QS World University Rankings and Shanghai Jiao Tong University’s Academic Ranking of World Universities. With around 200,000 living alumni worldwide, students and professors at McGill have been recognized in fields ranging from the arts and sciences, to business, politics, and sports. Notable alumni include six Nobel Laureates(out of eight Nobel Laureates affiliated with the university), three astronauts, two Canadian prime ministers, four justices of the Canadian Supreme Court, three foreign leaders, nine Academy Award winners, three Pulitzer Prize winners, and twenty-five Olympic medalists. A nation-leading 130 students have also won Rhodes Scholarships to pursue graduate studies at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom.

McGill University
Motto Grandescunt Aucta Labore (Latin)
Motto in English By hard work, all things increase and grow
Established 1821
Type Public university
Endowment C$763 million
Chancellor H. Arnold Steinberg
Principal Heather Munroe-Blum
Faculty 6,061
Staff 9,345
Undergraduates 23,758
Postgraduates 8,756
Location Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Campus Urban
Downtown: 32 ha (80 acres)
Macdonald Campus: 6.5 km² (1,600 acres)
Former names University of McGill College (1821–1885)
Colours Red
White
Mascot Marty the Martlet
Athletics 49 varsity teams
McGill Redmen (men’s)
McGill Martlets (women’s)
Affiliations AAU, G13, Universitas 21, ATS, CUSID, UArctic, AUCC, CIS, QSSF, CBIE.
Website www.mcgill.ca

Academically, the University of Toronto is noted for influential movements and curricula in literary criticism and communication theory, known collectively as the Toronto School. The university was the birthplace of insulin and stem cell research, and was the site of the first practical electron microscope, the development of multi-touch technology, the identification of Cygnus X-1 as a black hole, and the theory of NP completeness. By a significant margin, it receives the most annual research funding of any Canadian university.

The Varsity Blues are the athletic teams that represent the university in intercollegiate league matches, with particularly long and storied ties to gridiron football and ice hockey. The university’s Hart House is an early example of the North American student centre, simultaneously serving cultural, intellectual and recreational interests within its large Gothic-revival complex.

The University of Toronto ranked as the nation’s top medical-doctoral university in Maclean’s magazine for twelve consecutive years between 1994 and 2005, and places 24th in the Academic Ranking of World Universities, 18th in the Newsweek global university ranking, and 29th overall in the Times Higher Education ranking. The university has educated two Governors General and four Prime Ministers of Canada, four foreign leaders, fourteen Justices of the Supreme Court, and has been affiliated with nine Nobel laureates.

University of Toronto
Latin: Universitas Torontonensis
Motto Velut arbor ævo (Latin)
Motto in English As a tree through the ages
Established March 15, 1827
Type Public university
Endowment C$1.286 billion
Chancellor David Peterson
President David Naylor
Faculty 2,551
Staff 4,795
Undergraduates 33,371
Postgraduates 11,638
Location Toronto, Ontario, Canada
43°39′42″N 79°23′42″W / 43.66167°N 79.395°W / 43.66167; -79.395Coordinates: 43°39′42″N 79°23′42″W / 43.66167°N 79.395°W / 43.66167; -79.395
Campus Urban, 71 hectares (176 acres)
Former names King’s College (1827–1849)
Colours Blue White
Nickname Varsity Blues
Athletics CIS, OUA, CUFLA
44 varsity teams
Affiliations AAU, ACU, AUCC, G13, IAU, URA, WUN
Website utoronto.ca

York supports a student population of approximately 60,000 and staff of 7,000, as well as 200,000 alumni worldwide. It has eleven faculties, including the Faculty of Science and Engineering, Schulich School of Business, Osgoode Hall Law School, Glendon College, Faculty of Fine Arts, Faculty of Health and the Faculty of Environmental Studies, as well as 24 research centres.

York University has always enjoyed a strong participation in the Canadian Space Program. The Faculty of Science and Engineering is Canada’s primary research facility into Martian exploration and has designed several space research instruments and applications currently used by NASA.

York University

Motto: Tentanda via
(“The way must be tried”)
Established: 1959
Type: Public
Endowment: $306 million (CAD)
Chancellor: Roy McMurtry
President: Mamdouh Shoukri
Staff: 7,000
Undergraduates: 45,890
Postgraduates: 4,796
Location: Toronto, ON, Canada
Campus: Urban / suburban, 2.17 km²
Sports teams: York Lions
Colours: Red and white
Affiliations: AUCC, IAU, COU, CIS, OUA, CUSID, Fields Institute, Ontario Network of Women in engineering, CBIE, CUP.
Website: yorku.ca