The University of Alberta is a public university with six campus locations in three cities, founded under president Henry Marshall Tory.
The University of Alberta's motto is Quaecumque vera, meaning 'whatsoever things are true.' Its mission is to discover, disseminate and apply new knowledge through teaching and learning, research and creative activity, community involvement and partnerships. Its vision is to inspire the human spirit through outstanding achievements in learning, discovery and citizenship in a creative community, building one of the world's great universities for the public good.
Henry Marshall Tory was the university's founding president.
The university has six campus locations in three cities. North Campus is located in Edmonton, on the edge of the North Saskatchewan River valley, and covers 50 city blocks with 150 buildings. Augustana Campus is located in Camrose and Campus Saint-Jean is a French-language campus in Edmonton. Facilities listed include residences, residence dining meal plans, the Bruce Peel Special Collections, library study room booking, a Career Centre, free and confidential health resources, and First Peoples' House.
The university offers more than 200 undergraduate program options and more than 500 graduate programs. The Faculty of Native Studies, the only faculty of its kind in Canada, provides undergraduate programs specializing in issues of language, culture, land and resources. The university has a bi-cameral governance structure, as set out in the Alberta Post-Secondary Learning Act.
Admission is competitive and includes direct entry from high school based on Grade 12 courses and average. Applicants must meet an English Language Proficiency requirement through language exam scores.
The university is ranked fourth in Canada and in the top 100 in the world in the QS rankings, with 94th worldwide in the June 2025 QS rankings. It had 105 Canada Research Chairs and reports $625M in annual research funding for 2022-23.