Western University

Western University is a public research university in London, Ontario, founded in 1878 as the Western University of London, Ontario and long known as the University of Western Ontario. It grew from a church-linked college into a full public university with professional schools in business, medicine, law, and engineering. The main campus lies in north London along the Thames River and includes a set of undergraduate residential colleges.

It comprises faculties of Arts and Humanities, Science, Social Science, Engineering, Health Sciences, Information and Media Studies, Education, Law, and Music, together with the Ivey Business School and the Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry. Ivey teaches the MBA and related degrees by the case method. The Robarts Research Institute and London Health Sciences Centre hospitals are the main biomedical research sites.

About 38,000 students are enrolled, including several thousand in graduate and professional programs. International students are a growing share, especially in business, engineering, and health. Alumni include physician Margaret Chan, later Director-General of the World Health Organization, former Ontario premier David Peterson, and astronaut Roberta Bondar, who completed a master's degree at Western.

Graduate degrees include the M.A., M.Sc., Ph.D., Ivey MBA, J.D., and M.D. Medicine and dentistry place students in London hospitals; Ivey uses case discussions and group work rather than lecture-heavy coursework. Terms run from September to April, with a summer research period. Graduate students live in campus residences or in rental housing in north London, a mid-sized city southwest of Toronto.

In the Grad School Navigator directory, Western University lists 41 graduate programs across 29 subjects: 29 master's programs and 10 doctoral programs, with the widest choice in biology, chemical engineering and chemistry. Western University holds rank 151 in the GSN Overall University Ranking.