Founded in 1957, the University of Waterloo is one of Canada’s leading comprehensive universities, with 40,000 full- and part-time students in undergraduate and graduate programs amongst faculties of Applied Health Sciences, Arts, Engineering, Environment, Mathematics, and Science. The UW community also includes four federated university colleges: St. Jerome’s, Renison, St. Paul’s and Conrad Grebel; and more than 30 senate approved research institutes, such as the Water Institute, Waterloo Institute of Nanotechnology (WIN), the Quantum Nano Centre (QNC), and the Schlegel Institute for Aging. The University of Waterloo is home to the world's largest post-secondary co-operative education program, which has placements in many international locations. To enrich student experiences, the University of Waterloo engages in significant numbers of international student exchanges as well as international field trips, student competitions and student participation in various international events. The University is very committed to conducting international research activities in various countries throughout the world and further embraces this commitment to internationalization through activities such as attending research conferences, teaching abroad, working in developing nations and training opportunities, and providing teaching experiences abroad to the world. For more information about Waterloo, visit https://uwaterloo.ca/about/who-we-are/waterloo-facts.
To catalyze and coordinate many of these activities, Waterloo International (WI) serves as a central internationalization service unit within the University of Waterloo. WI is tasked with accelerating and supporting Waterloo’s growing global prominence and internationalization efforts through strategic, collaborative, and stakeholder-focused interactions. In addition to various other functions, Waterloo International is responsible for administering the University of Waterloo international travel safety and security program.
