The University of Victoria is the oldest post-secondary institution in British Columbia. First established in 1903 as Victoria College, an affiliated college of McGill University, it gained full autonomy and degree-granting status through a charter on July 1, 1963.

Quick facts:

• 22,020 students (undergraduate and graduate)

• 5,000 employees, including 900 full-time faculty members

• 580+ patents filed to date

• 1,145+ invention disclosures to date

• 169 start-up companies to date

• #1 among Canadian comprehensive universities for preparing career-ready students (2019 Times Higher Education Global University Employability Ranking)

• Consistently the top university in North America for international research collaboration (Leiden, 2011-19)

The University of Victoria has ranked in a number of post-secondary rankings.

• In the 2022 Academic Ranking of World Universities rankings, the university ranked 301–400 in the world and 13–17 in Canada.

• The 2023 QS World University Rankings ranked the university 359th in the world, and fourteenth in Canada.

• The 2023 Times Higher Education World University Rankings ranked the university 301–350 in the world, and 14–15 in Canada.

• In the 2022–23 U.S. News & World Report Best Global University Ranking, the university ranked 327th in the world, and 13th in Canada.

• The Canadian-based Maclean's magazine ranked the University of Victoria second in their 2023 Canadian comprehensive university category.

Along with academic and research-based rankings, the university has also been ranked by publications that evaluate the employment prospects of its graduates. In the Times Higher Education's 2022 global employability ranking, the university ranked 183rd in the world, and seventh in Canada. In QS's 2022 graduate employability ranking, the university ranked 301–500 in the world, and 10–17 in Canada.