University of Victoria

The University of Victoria is a public research university in Victoria, British Columbia. It received university status in 1963 after decades as Victoria College, affiliated first with McGill University and then with the University of British Columbia. The Gordon Head campus occupies a suburban site on the Saanich peninsula. It is a mid-sized comprehensive university with particular weight in oceans, environmental studies and law.

Faculties include Science, Engineering and Computer Science, Social Sciences, Humanities, Fine Arts, Human and Social Development, Education, Law and the Peter B. Gustavson School of Business. Graduate students work in oceanography, earth and climate systems, computer science, public administration, environmental studies and law, including Indigenous legal orders. Ocean Networks Canada operates the NEPTUNE and VENUS cabled ocean observatories from the university.

UVic enrolls about 22,000 students, including a few thousand graduate students, with a notable international share from China, the United States and other Pacific countries. Alumni include climate scientist and politician Andrew Weaver and journalist Ian Hanomansing.

Graduate degrees include the MA, MSc, MEng, MBA, JD, MPA and PhD. Sciences use research supervision; social sciences and humanities mix seminars and a thesis. The Canadian academic year starts in September. Funding includes university fellowships, teaching assistantships and national scholarships; ocean and laboratory groups hire students on grants. Campus life is residential and wooded, a bus ride from downtown Victoria and the harbor.

In the Grad School Navigator directory, University of Victoria lists 21 graduate programs across 17 subjects: 17 master's programs and 3 doctoral programs, with the widest choice in business & management, computer science and mechanical engineering. University of Victoria holds rank 251 in the GSN Overall University Ranking.