Kwantlen Polytechnic University
university in Greater Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
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. 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 public source identifies “Kwantlen Polytechnic University” as university in Greater Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Kwantlen, Polytechnic and University.
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The record creator and administrative purpose are central evidence, because official documentation reflects both action and institutional priorities. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 24, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3335261. VIAF identifies the subject as 141842993. The Library of Congress control number is no2016043198. Authority coordinates are 49.133, -122.871. 3 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1981, 1995 and 2008.
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This entry incorporates text from “Kwantlen Polytechnic University” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.