U15 (universities)

U15 (universities)

The U15 is a group of 15 leading research-intensive universities in Canada. The U15 was formed in 1991 as an informal biannual meeting of university executive heads and the group has yet to incorporate. The U15's primary activity is in joint research programs. The chairmanship of the U15 rotates among the executive heads of the fifteen universities. The 15 organizations hold the majority of the Canada Research Chairs nationwide. CRC allocations are proportional to the amount of grant funding from the three federal granting agencies (NSERC, CIHR, and SSHRC); thus, U15 institutions receive the majority of all government research funding in Canada. Every member institution of the U15 had placed within the top 16 of Research Inforsource's 2010 Canada's Top Research University rankings, where the rankings are based on the sponsored research income of the university. The only non-U15 member to place in the top 16 was the University of Guelph, which was ranked 14th.