Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPU) is a public undergraduate degree-granting polytechnic university in British Columbia, Canada, with campuses in Surrey, Richmond, Cloverdale, Whalley, and Langley. KPU is one of the largest institutions by enrolment in British Columbia garnering a total of 20,000 students and 1,400 faculty members across its five locations, encompassing the Metro Vancouver district. KPU provides undergraduate and vocational education including bachelor's degrees, associate degrees, diplomas, certificates, apprenticeships, and citations in more than 140 diverse programs. The term kwantlen means "tireless runner."
The school operates largely as an undergraduate polytechnic university, but also serves as a vocational school offering apprenticeships for the skilled trades as well as citations, certificates, and diplomas for skilled technicians and workers in support roles in various professional fields related to academia, engineering, high technology, accountancy, business administration, financial services, hospitality, nursing, medicine, architecture, and criminology.
Kwantlen Polytechnic was founded as Kwantlen College in 1981; as a response to the growing need for expanded vocational training across the Fraser Valley. In 1995, it became a university college. In 2008, the provincial government announced its intention to amend the University Act to appoint Kwantlen University College a polytechnic university. The legislation renaming the university college to university received royal assent on May 29, 2008, and KPU began operation as Kwantlen Polytechnic University on September 1, 2008.Queen's Printer, Victoria. Votes and Proceedings of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia 4th Session, 38th Parliament, May 29, 2008. Retrieved on: September 6, 2008 KPU became a member of the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC) on October 24, 2008. Also in affiliation with KPU are the International Association of Universities (IAU), the Colleges and Institutes Canada (CICan), the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU), the Canadian Bureau for International Education (CBIE), and the Canadian University Press (CUP).
The Globe and Mail Canadian University Report ranked KPU among the top post-secondary institutions in terms of enrolment across Canada, earning numerous grades in the A-to-B range in categories such as quality of teaching and learning, career preparation, student satisfaction and information technology. Published in Maclean's magazine in 2015, the National Survey of Student Engagement also listed KPU among the top Canadian institutions in terms of student participation, educational practices, and quality of education.
As of 2017/18, international enrolment at KPU had grown from 525 a decade earlier, to over 6,000. The school had to temporarily shutdown international enrolment due to the volume of applications. In 2018 KPU voted to increase international tuition by 15%.
From 2018 to 2023 KPU's tuition revenue from international students grew from $52 million to nearly $128 million, while its revenue from Canadian students shrank from $40 million to $36 million.
History Beginnings Kwantlen College was formed in 1981 by separation from Douglas College. There were more than 200 suggestions in a contest to name the new South Fraser region college. The winning entry "Kwantlen" was submitted by Stan McKinnon. "Kwantlen" comes from the name of the Kwantlen First Nation in whose traditional territory the university is located. Chief Joe Gabriel of the Kwantlen First Nation gave permission for the college to use the Kwantlen name.
Following a provincial government initiative designed to increase access to degree programs in British Columbia that began in 1988, five community colleges were granted authority to offer baccalaureate degrees. These five institutions— Cariboo, Fraser Valley, Kwantlen, Malaspina, and Okanagan—were renamed university colleges. Initially, they offered degrees under the aegis of one or more of the three provincial universities. In 1995, they were awarded the authority to offer degrees in their own right. Also in 1995, the province of British Columbia enacted legislation changing the institution's name to Kwantlen University College.
Expansion and growth
Transition to university
In 2005, Kwantlen University College began a campaign to convince elected officials at the municipal and provincial levels, and various key community leaders, to support its efforts to become a university. Removing "college" from its official name would require approval from the government of British Columbia. In its case for the university status, Kwantlen's administrators claimed the change to Kwantlen University would:
Enhance Kwantlen's ability to help British Columbia become the best educated, most literate jurisdiction in North America; and Bring multiple benefits to the fastest growing region in BC and help BC achieve long-term growth and prosperity.
In 2007, Murray Coell, Minister of Advanced Education and Minister responsible for Research and Technology was joined by special advisor Geoff Plant, to release the Campus 2020 report that recommends Kwantlen University College become Kwantlen University.
On April 22, 2008, British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell announced that Kwantlen would become Kwantlen Polytechnic University. On April 22, 2008, the provincial government announced its intention to amend the University Act to make Kwantlen a polytechnic university, in recognition of its "versatility in providing academic, trades and horticultural training." The legislation renaming the University College to University received royal assent on May 29, 2008.
By 2017 the university agreed to lease space for a private high school intended to teach Mainland Chinese citizens intending to enter Western university systems.
AUCC membership On October 24, 2008, KPU became a member of the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC).
Although the AUCC is not an official government accreditation body, its standardized membership benchmarks and requirements for members serves to ease a student's ability to transfer from undergraduate to graduate programs across Canada and the world.
Campuses KPU campuses are all in British Columbia's Lower Mainland. They are located in:
Surrey, Cloverdale, and in the City Centre Richmond and Langley
KPU Tech (Cloverdale) KPU Tech, formerly known as KPU Cloverdale is the second newest of the five KPU campuses, opened in April 2007. The Cloverdale campus replaced the aging Newton campus facilities which had served as the home for trades training since Kwantlen's inception. The Cloverdale building is certified as a LEED Gold building and houses KPU's Trades & Technology programs, which include appliance servicing, automotive servicing, carpentry, farrier science, masonry, parts and warehousing, welding, plumbing, and CADD technologies.
KPU Langley The Langley campus is home to the university's School of Horticulture - which includes a field lab, greenhouses, and gardens. The Institute for Sustainable Horticulture (ISH) is also housed on this campus. The Langley campus is also home to the university's nursing programs.
The award-winning KPU Brewing and Operations is also located on this campus. KPU Langley also offers science programs, and has biology, chemistry, physics, and geology labs with industry-standard equipment.
KPU Richmond KPU Richmond was KPU's first official campus, established in 1981 when the institution split from Douglas College. In 2018, the campus underwent major renovations with the addition of the Wilson School of Design (WSD), named after Chip and Shannon Wilson. In January 2018, the new WSD facility officially opened its doors beside the KPU Richmond campus. This includes teaching studios and labs, gallery space and 3D printers. The campus is also home to many art and business courses as well as many science courses. The physics in modern technology program and part of the sustainable agriculture program is also based out of the Richmond Campus.
KPU Surrey KPU Surrey, often called the main campus, is the largest of the five campuses and offers a range of courses across multiple faculties. It is the primary location for the university's Melville School of Business and Office of the President. It is also home to research facilities like the Applied Genomics Centre and the Lifespan Cognition Lab.
KPU Sport and Recreation department operates out of Surrey, where the university's gymnasium and fitness centre, along with many recreational facilities, are located.
KPU Civic Plaza KPU Civic Plaza, the newest and smallest campus at KPU, opened in Spring 2019 in 3 Civic Plaza, a new skyscraper in the city centre. The campus occupies five of the lower floors of the building. It was designed to focus on post-baccalaureate education for mature students as well as business education.
Academics KPU has over 140 different programs across seven distinct faculties — Academic and Career Preparation, Arts, Business, Design, Health, Science and Horticulture, and Trades and Technology — where students can pursue a degree, diploma, certificate, citation, or work towards completing an apprenticeship.
KPU Farm Schools KPU operates three farms that offer "Farm School" training as a non-credit continuing education program. The Tsawwassen First Nation Farm School, the Richmond Farm School and the Sik-E-Dakh Farm School teach students applied sustainable farming practices and include a farm incubator program for alumni.
Libraries KPU has a library on all of its campuses, with the exception of Civic Centre. The largest library is on the Surrey campus with smaller program focused collections available in Richmond, Langley, and Cloverdale. KPU students and faculty have access to millions of items through the library, including online journal and newspaper articles, print and ebooks, streaming media and more. Items from other parts of Canada and around the globe can also be accessed through the library's free interlibrary loans service.
KPU library recently launched the χʷəχʷéy̓əm Indigenous Collection at the Surrey, Richmond and Langley campuses, with Cloverdale to follow. Each collection has a theme focused on programs taught on that campus.
Student enrolment KPU has an enrolment of more than 20,000 students annually and over 12,000 FTE (full-time equivalency) students annually. KPU's region (Richmond, Delta, Surrey, White Rock and Langley) has a population of over 800,000.
Faculty and employees As of winter 2024, faculty and staff number over 1,400. Over 70 faculty are involved in active sponsored research projects. KPU was named one of BC's Top Employers for the fourth consecutive year in 2024.
Cooperative education KPU offers cooperative education in several degree programs including Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Business Administration, Bachelor of Technology as well as diploma programs. Such programs include dedicated work-placement semesters that match their field of study, in addition to regular studies.
Program transferability KPU offers many transferable courses to other educational institutions, often leading to direct transfers into second-year or third-year studies at other post-secondary institutions. To aid in this, KPU is a part of the BC Transfer Guide Website, an online resource for planning and understanding transfer in the BC post-secondary education system.
New program development KPU now offers a BSc in Physics for Modern Technology based on the Richmond campus. In February 2023, the university started offering metal fabrication as a 23-week foundation program.
In 2020, the university launched a new graduate certificate in sustainable food systems and security.