FAST FACTS 2011

Today, 38,282 students from across Canada and 142 other countries are enrolled in 18 faculties on five campuses: the original North Campus, South Campus and Michener Park, Augustana Campus based in Camrose, the French-language Campus Saint-Jean and Enterprise Square in downtown Edmonton.

The student body is made up of nearly 30,500 full- and part-time undergraduate students and more than 7,100 graduate students. The university’s Faculty of Extension, located at Enterprise Square, offered lifelong learning activities to another 14,289 students last year. The U of A’s most recent spring and fall convocations saw 6,770 undergraduate degrees and 1,839 graduate degrees distributed.

The University of Alberta had a banner year in research in 2010. The U of A was awarded four Canada Excellence Research Chairs, more than any other institution in Canada. The CERC program was created by the Government of Canada to establish prestigious research chairs in universities across the country, thus attracting and retaining the world’s most accomplished researchers. The value of each CERC award is $10 million over seven years. Forty Tier 1 Canada Research Chairs and 54 Tier 2 Canada Research Chairs were also awarded to the institution; the value of these awards was $13.4 million dollars.

By this fall the Centennial Centre for Interdisciplinary Science will be in full operation, offering an interdisciplinary approach to scientific discovery and exploration that will open the doors of opportunity for more undergraduate and graduate students. Also opening this year is the Edmonton Clinic Health Academy. This project was achieved through a partnership between Alberta Health Services, the Government of Alberta and the University of Alberta. The Academy is a learning and teaching environment where health researchers and clinical teams can work together side by side. It provides an innovative approach to a patient-centred health-delivery system, integrating outpatient care with a new interdisciplinary approach to health sciences education and research.

In addition to being one of the world’s best universities, the U of A is one of the province’s largest employers, with more than 15,000 full- and part-time employees. More than 90,000 direct and indirect jobs in Alberta are supported by the university. A big part of that economic impact comes from TEC Edmonton, a partnership between the university and Edmonton Economic Development Corporation, forged to bring the results of innovation to the benefit of Albertans by fostering commercialization of research. Technology transfer has stimulated economic growth in Edmonton with the creation of 117 portfolio companies and by employing hundreds of people.