History, Affiliations and Rankings

The Oblates of Mary Immaculate founded the College of Bytown in 1848 as a bilingual Catholic college; students studied in both English and French from the start. The newly renamed College of Ottawa was elevated to university status by royal charter in 1866, and it was granted pontifical status in 1889. The Oblates gave up control of the University in 1965, and it became a provincially funded secular institution. The college is affiliated with the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU), Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC), Association of Colleges and Universities of the Canadian Francophonie (ACUFC),  Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL) and Canadian Bureau for International Education (CBIE).  

Infrastructure, Campuses and Courses

The University of Ottawa, located in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, is a bilingual public research university. The main campus is situated on 42.5 hectares (105 acres) in Ottawa's Downtown Core, adjacent to the Sandy Hill residential neighbourhood and the Rideau Canal. The University of Ottawa Faculty of Medicine, the University of Ottawa Faculty of Law, the Telfer School of Management, and the University of Ottawa Faculty of Social Sciences are among the ten faculties that administer the university's academic programs. The University of Ottawa offers more than 550 undergraduate and graduate programs.

Accomplishments and Alumni 

On-campus, the University of Ottawa has four LEED-certified buildings. It is the first campus in Ontario to eliminate the use of bottled water. It is Canada's seventh Fair Trade Certified campus. The Sustainable Development Committee (SUSCOM) at the University of Ottawa has adopted Plymouth University's 4C model of campus sustainability to address different aspects of sustainability specific to a campus context. Campus, Community, Culture, and Curriculum are the four C's. The University of Ottawa stays in touch with our more than 200,000 alumni who are working and making an impact in all the corners of the world. Some of the notable names are Peggy Tseng, Model, Caspar Tsui, Secretary for Home Affairs of Hong Kong and Denis Coderre, Former Mayor of Montreal.

Student Diversity and Visiting Companies

There are over 37,000 students enrolled at the university, out of 21,904 are female. There are over 6,540 overseas students enrolled at the university in undergraduate programs. In the graduate degrees, overall 16.4% of students come from international backgrounds. To provide the best overall student experience at the University of Ottawa, there are over 100+ student organisations that operate independently or are managed by one of the university’s services. They have clubs ranging from academic to athletic to political in nature, so there is bound to be something for everyone. On average, the university has a graduate employment rate after two years of graduation of 90%.