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The Áù¾ÅÉ«Ìà is a comprehensive research university that, in its short 41-year history, has grown to take its place among the finest institutions in Canada. Combining the best of long-established university traditions with the City of Calgary's vibrant energy and diversity, the university aims to provide a research and scholarly foundation for students eager to acquire the knowledge and skills essential for a successful personal and professional life.

Our 213-hectare campus provides a beautiful and dynamic setting for scholars in 16 faculties. Our 2,761 academic staff are actively engaged in research and scholarship. More than 27,600 students, including over 1,500 international students from 100 countries, are enrolled in undergraduate, graduate and professional degree programs. The U of C has more than 130,000 alumni living in 130 countries.

As one of Canada's top seven research universities, innovation, discovery and learning are at the heart of all that we do. Our relentless pursuit of quality in our teaching and research programs is guided by our mission to contribute to the well being of the people of Alberta, Canada and the world. Thanks to the sustained efforts of U of C faculty, students, postdoctoral researchers and staff, the U of C's research funding totals $252.5 million. Research brings significant benefits provincially, nationally and internationally, and is the foundation of Alberta's economic and social vitality. Interdisciplinary research is core to the university's teaching and research mandate.

The university offers a high quality undergraduate education that is characterized by the synthesis of research, teaching and learning. We mean to enhance the undergraduate learners' experience by using a student-centred focus that maximizes opportunities to provide a distinctive learning experience that fully integrates the features of a research university. The university is broadening opportunities for students to take inquiry-based courses that lead to greater critical thinking skills, increased exposure to undergraduate research and greater access to leading edge scholars. The university also offers students a variety of experiential, or hands on learning opportunities, including internships, international travel, coop placements and directed research.

The U of C is the first university in Canada to offer a four-year graduation guarantee to students embarking upon four-year degree programs in the faculties of Communication and Culture, Social Sciences, Science and Humanities. The guarantee program offers incoming students an agreement that ensures they will be able to graduate within four years, or the university will pay the tuition for any extra courses needed to finish.

Students at the Áù¾ÅÉ«Ìà will now be officially recognized for their involvement in campus activities outside of the classroom. The co-curricular record is an initiative that encourages and fosters a campus culture of volunteerism and community involvement amongst its students. The project is a first for universities in Western Canada.Ìý

Our effortsÌýraise our global profile, enhanced the quality of our undergraduate and graduate programs, promoted innovation and excellence in scholarly activity and provided significant returns and tangible benefits to our community and economy.

The MacEwan Student Centre is a hub of activity at the university. There is also a museum and arts gallery, four performance theatres, a childcare centre and residences for single students and students with families.

The U of C is pursuing the biggest single capital expansion in its history. The university has embarked updon a plan to add capacity for more students and hose of new teaching and research activities. These major developments, including the Taylor Family Digital Library, a downtown campus, International House and the new Energy, Environment and Experiential Learning building, are fulfilling distinct academic strategies and creating progressive learning environments.

The Faculty of Medicine is located on the south campus adjacent to the Foothills Hospital. Satellite institutes of the university include, the Kananaskis Field Stations, located a short drive from the city on the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains, the Rothney Astrophysical Observatory, located in the foothills south of the city and a campus in Doha, Qatar, offering internationally accredited nursing degrees to students in the Middle East. Development of the university's west campus is currently taking place, and is the site of the new Alberta Children's Hospital.

The Áù¾ÅÉ«Ìà features some of the finest athletic facilities in the country, featuring Canada's only covered speedskating oval and home to the fastest ice in the world. The Oval also houses the Canadian Sport Institute, a high-performance training centre and two Olympic-sized rinks where the reigning women's gold medal hockey team trains. There are also tennis courts, a triple gymnasium, a yoga studio, an Olympic-size swimming pool, weight rooms, jogging tracks and a huge indoor climbing wall. Nearby is the home of U of C Dinos football team, McMahon Stadium.

The Áù¾ÅÉ«Ìà has two governing bodies:

• The Board of Governors is the corporate body charged with the management and control of the University, its property, revenue, business and affairs.
• The General Faculties Council (GFC) is responsible for the academic affairs of the University, subject to the authority of the Board of Governors.

Each Faculty has a Faculty Council empowered to determine the Faculty's programs of study, conduct examinations, provide for the admission of students, determine conditions for withdrawal, and to authorize the granting of degrees, subject to conditions imposed by the General Faculties Council.

The Students' Union and the Graduate Students' Association provide for the administration of the affairs of students and the promotion of their general welfare.

The Áù¾ÅÉ«Ìà combines the best of long-established University traditions with Calgary's frontier spirit of originality and innovation.

Our logo was designed to reflect that spirit. The logo has two components: the Coat of Arms (including the escroll with our motto) and the wordmark. The coat of arms represents and respects our historical roots while the more contemporary wordmark reflects our focus on the future and leading edge.

The Coat of Arms consists of a shield, an escroll containing the motto and the wordmark in either a horizontal (with the wordmark to the right of the crest) or vertical (with the wordmark below the crest) format.

The shield consists of two parts, the upper part (the chief) separated from the lower (the base) by an arched line symbolizing the Chinook arch. The ground colour of the chief is scarlet, commemorating the North West Mounted Police under whose influence Western Canada was settled. Upon this colour is a pair of open books bound in gold. Between the books is a white rose, symbolic of Alberta. The ground colour of the base is gold, indicative of golden sunshine or golden grain. Upon this is a black bull's head with red horns and crossed staves bearing red flags, reminiscent of the family crest of Lt. Col. J.F. Macleod, the NWMP officer who founded Fort Calgary.

Below the shield, printed on an escroll, is the university's motto, "Mo shuile togam suas" (translated as "I will lift up my eyes"), rendered in Gaelic uncial letters. The scroll is white; the draped ends are red. They were granted to U of C in 1966 by Lord Lyon King of Arms at Edinburgh.

The university has three official colours that appear in the Coat of Arms.

Red PMS 485; Gold PMS 116 and Black.

The University has an official tartan that incorporates the U of C's official colours of red, black and gold in its design. It was designed by Jim Odell, a U of C Education and Fine Arts graduate and accredited in a ceremony presided over by Duncan Paisley of Westerlea, President of the Scottish Tartans Society and director of the Register of All Publicly Known Tartans.

Certain formal occasions involve the use of special regalia, the significance of which is now symbolic but most of which has practical origins. In early times the mace was used first as a weapon to protect and second as a symbol of authority.
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The mace carried into Convocation is a symbol of the authority of the Chancellor. It represents the Crown and the authority vested in the Chancellor to grant degrees. It is always carried in front of the Chancellor at Convocation. One interesting tradition in the use of maces is that if the real authority (the Queen) was present in person, the mace would be inverted.