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, although 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.

History

The U15 was formed in 1991 as the Group of Ten, or the G10. Formed as a informal biannual meeting of university executive heads, the original members included the University of Alberta, University of British Columbia, Laval University, McGill University, McMaster University, Université de Montréal, Queen's University, University of Toronto, University of Waterloo and The University of Western Ontario. In 1999, the ten universities created the Group of Ten data exchange network. The group was expanded in April 2006 when Dalhousie University, the University of Calgary and the University of Ottawa were added to the group, and becoming the Group of Thirteen, or the G13. The group was again expanded in February 2011, when the University of Manitoba and the University of Saskatchewan joined the group. The group was renamed from the G13, to the U15.

Membership

University	Location	Founded	Year joined	Research income ($,000)
Dalhousie University	Halifax, Nova Scotia	1818	2006	125,147
Université Laval	Québec City, Québec	1663	1991	307,928
McGill University	Montréal, Québec	1821	1991	469,729
McMaster University	Hamilton, Ontario	1887	1991	395,364
Queen's University	Kingston, Ontario	1841	1991	197,016
University of Alberta	Edmonton, Alberta	1908	1991	513,473
University of British Columbia	Vancouver, British Columbia	1908	1991	538,398
University of Calgary	Calgary, Alberta	1966	2006	282,752
University of Manitoba	Winnipeg, Manitoba	1877	2011	164,695
Université de Montréal	Montréal, Québec	1878	1991	524,133
University of Ottawa	Ottawa, Ontario	1848	2006	273,278
University of Saskatchewan	Saskatoon, Saskatchewan	1907	2011	184,756
University of Toronto	Toronto, Ontario	1827	1991	878,725
University of Waterloo	Waterloo, Ontario	1957	1991	144,299
University of Western Ontario	London, Ontario	1878	1991	221,236

U15 data exchange

The U15 data exchange (U15DE), founded in 1999 as the G10DE, is a data exchange consortium made to facilitate comparative analysis and benchmarking for Canada's top universities. Comprising the institutional research directors at each of the U15 institutions, the U15DE would, through the formal and informal exchange of datasets and information, support the Executive Heads in the development and enhancement of the distinctive mission of the institutions. The U15DE was modelled after a similar data exchange consortium of leading American research universities. In 1999, a voluntary and informal group of Executive Heads from 10 Canadian research universities agreed to create a data exchange consortium: the Group of Ten Data Exchange (G10DE). The G10DE, comprising the institutional research directors at each of the G10 institutions, would, through the formal and informal exchange of datasets and information, support Executive Heads in the development and enhancement of the distinctive mission of the institutions.

The U15DE is well underway and has proven to be efficient in creating and maintaining the data resources necessary to construct interinstitutional and inter-jurisdictional comparisons. Included in this paper are topics related to the development of this consortium: the U15 background, the organization of the U15DE, the content of the exchange, the roles of the Data Exchange Coordinator and Chair, its current evaluation and finally, advice for starting a data exchange consortium."

See also

• Canadian university scientific research organizations
• 1994 Group (smaller research-led British universities)
• Coimbra Group (a network of leading European universities)
• Group of Eight (a group of leading Australian universities)
• Innovative Research Universities (a group of leading Australian universities)
• Russell Group (a network of leading British research universities)
• SKY (universities) (top 3 universities in South Korea)
• Universitas 21 (a worldwide network of research universities)

External links

The G13 Data Exchange