 Waterloo is a member of the U15, a group of research-intensive universities in Canada.The institution was established on 4 April 1956 as the Waterloo College Associate Faculties, a semi-autonomous entity of Waterloo College, then an affiliate of the University of Western Ontario.This entity formally separated from Waterloo College and was incorporated as a university with the passage of the "University of Waterloo Act" by the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in 1959.