University of Waterloo

In July 1957, 74 students began engineering classes at Waterloo College Associate Faculties, initially in two tin-roofed portables in the Waterloo College parking lot. That October they began their first co-op work term, which the university describes as Canada’s first educational work term. In 1958 students moved to the current campus, whose first academic building was the Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Building, later renamed Engineering 1.⁠[2][1]

The University of Waterloo was founded in 1957 as a nondenominational engineering and science faculty associated with the University of Western Ontario and received its Ontario charter in 1959. It pioneered co-operative education in Canada and was the first in the world to establish a faculty of mathematics; it is also home to Canada’s only English-language school of optometry.⁠[3]

Co-op was initially offered only to engineering students; in 1962 physics became the first co-op program outside engineering. In 2002 the university founded the Waterloo Centre for the Advancement of Co-operative Education, later the Work-Learn Institute; the Tatham Centre, opened in 2003, is the largest building dedicated to co-op education and career action at a Canadian university; and in 2006 it began Canada’s only pharmacy co-op program.⁠[1]

On March 9, 2026, the university announced that Bill Rosehart would become its eighth president and vice-chancellor for a five-year term beginning July 1, 2026. A three-time Waterloo graduate, with a BASc in 1996, an MASc in 1997 and a PhD in 2001, he is the first alumnus to serve as president; he was previously provost and vice-president, academic, at the University of Guelph and dean of the Schulich School of Engineering at the University of Calgary. His predecessor, Vivek Goel, a former vice-president and provost of the University of Toronto, served from July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2026. “I am delighted to welcome Dr. Rosehart back to his alma mater,” Goel said.⁠[4][5]

The university has six faculties: Arts, Engineering, Environment, Health, Mathematics and Science. Its main campus covers about 1,000 acres, with three satellite campuses and more than 100 buildings. The School of Architecture is in Cambridge, the Health Sciences campus is in Kitchener and the Digital Media campus is in Stratford. St. Jerome’s University, St. Paul’s University College, Conrad Grebel University College and Renison University College are affiliated with the Waterloo campus.⁠[6][7][3]

University figures show more than 41,000 full- and part-time students in 2025; in 2024/25 international students made up about 15% of undergraduates and 41% of graduate students. About 77% of students take part in co-op; in 2025 more than 120 programs offered co-op, with more than 8,000 employers in over 70 countries and average earnings of C$16,700 for a four-month work term, and 96% of co-op graduates were employed six months after graduation. The university had about 263,000 alumni in 160 countries in 2025 and research funding of C$286 million in 2024/25.⁠[7]

The University of Waterloo has a creator-owned intellectual property policy: researchers keep control of their IP and choose whether to work with the Waterloo Commercialization Office (WatCo). In 2025 New Zealand announced a national IP management policy inspired by its principles that gives researchers a first right to commercialize their work. Its flagship incubator, Velocity, had launched more than 500 companies since 2008 as of 2025. “Researchers and students are not required to work with us — they choose to,” said Scott Inwood, WatCo’s director of commercialization.⁠[8][7]

University of Waterloo: Website: https://uwaterloo.ca/ (opens in a new window); LinkedInLinkedInLinkedIn is a social networking platform for professionals. It was founded in 2002 by Reid Hoffman and others, launched in 2003, and listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2011; after Microsoft acquired it for approximately $26.2 billion in 2016, it became a wholly owned Microsoft subsidiary. Its revenue comes from membership subscriptions, advertising, and recruitment solutions.Open the full entry: https://www.linkedin.com/school/uwaterloo/ (opens in a new window); YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is Google’s video-sharing and creator platform, founded in 2005 by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim and acquired by Google in 2006. Built around video uploading, viewing, and creator earnings, the platform has developed Shorts, YouTube Music, Premium, YouTube TV, and products for children, and is headquartered in San Bruno, California, United States.Open the full entry: https://www.youtube.com/user/uwaterloo (opens in a new window); Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/uofwaterloo/ (opens in a new window); Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/university.waterloo (opens in a new window)⁠[2]