The University of Alberta is a large campus university located in Edmonton, the capital and largest city of the province of Alberta. The main campus borders the wooded southern bank of the Saskatchewan River, about two miles from the city centre. Edmonton itself is modern and has a very wide range of sports, leisure and arts facilities (apparently including more theatre companies than New York City). The city is served by a train system with a station on campus. Edmonton has a continental climate with particularly cold winters.

The University has 25,000 full time and 4,500 part time students, including a large number of overseas students, the main sources being Hong Kong, the USA, China and the UK. Exchange programmes are coordinated in a large International Centre which boasts its own mall with shops and cafés. Academic, residential, sporting and social facilities on campus are all very impressive. The University of Alberta is well placed in league tables of Canadian universities.

The Faculties at Alberta include: Agriculture, Forestry & Home Economics, Arts, Business, Dentistry, Education, Engineering, Law, Medicine, Native Studies, Nursing, Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences, Physical Education & Recreation, Rehabilitation Medicine, and Science. Virtually all the subjects studied at Royal Holloway are found within these faculties.

Two or three exchange places are available.

The exchange covers the tuition fees only for the year at Alberta; all accommodation, travel and other personal expenses are the responsibility of the student. Medical subscriptions, sports fees and extra curricular fees are not covered.

It is likely that exchange students will be able to obtain accommodation in university residences in Edmonton.

It is possible to spend the year at Alberta either as an integral year or as an additional year.

If the year is spent as an additional year, there will be no credit towards the University of London degree for the courses taken, but a report on each student will be provided by Alberta at the end of the year. This arrangement allows exchange students to take courses from outside their main academic field of study if they wish.

If the year is taken as an integral year, students are required to prepare a study plan for the period abroad. The study plan must be approved by the student's department before the application for the exchange is submitted and, subsequently, when course availability is finalised.

Students in any department who are in their first or second year may apply for an exchange place at Alberta if they wish to spend the year as an additional year between their first and second or second and final years at Royal Holloway.

Students who are in their first year may be able to spend the year as an integral year ie. the second year of a three year degree. Eligibility for any credit transfer arrangement will vary from department to department. In departments where the transfer of credit is difficult, it will be more appropriate to spend the year as an additional year.