Established in 1908, three years after Alberta became a province, the University of Alberta has grown to be one of Canada's leading research facilities, focusing on both undergraduate and graduate research. One reason why it is a top leader in research is because it has over 400 exclusive research laboratories, not to mention Canada's only School of Public Health, Canada's most powerful laser, an international residence, superb outdoor and indoor sport facilities, a state of the art engineering teaching and learning complex, and most recent, the new National Institute for Nanotechnology.

The main campus is located along the North Saskatchewan River in Alberta's capital city of Edmonton. The main campus consists of 145 buildings, while the other campus's are much smaller. Other campus's on the university grounds are Campus Saint Jean, a french speaking campus right beside the main building, and Augustana Campus. Augustana is located in Canmore, Alberta roughly 100 km from Edmonton.

The U of A has over 1,500 full time employees with approximatley 37,000 students. One interesting fact is that out of all the faculty members, more than 80 of them have been awarded in the 3M Awards for Teachin Excellence, Canada's highest undergraduate teaching honour.