Ontario Universities' Application Centre

The Ontario Universities' Application Centre (OUAC) (French: Centre de demande d’admission aux universités de l’Ontario) is a non-profit organization based in Guelph that processes online applications for admission to universities in Ontario, Canada. It was founded in 1971 by the Council of Ontario Universities and the Ontario Universities' Council on Admissions, to reduce the duplication and costs involved in processing applications.

The OUAC processes applications to undergraduate programs, medical school, law school, teacher education, and rehabilitation sciences programs at nearly all of Ontario's 21 universities - only the RMCC does not process applications through the OUAC.

The OUAC was founded in 1971 by the Committee of Presidents of the Universities of Ontario, now called the Council of Ontario Universities, and the Ontario Universities’ Council on Admissions (OUCA).

Before the OUAC was formed, each university processed its own applications. Students could accept offers of admission to more than one university, which left universities with vacant spots in the fall (since students were not required to notify the universities they had decided not to attend). Processing all applications in one place meant less duplication and costs. Since the 1970s, the OUAC has expanded its services to include publications, transcript distribution, surveys, data collection and statistical reports used by governments and universities.

In 1972, the OUAC processed more than 135,000 undergraduate applications. Today, more than 200,000 applicants submit approximately 600,000 applications to the OUAC every year. By 2012, the OUAC had processed more than 14 million applications, submitted by more than 4.5 million applicants.

Starting in 1975, the OUAC began processing applications to professional programs, including medicine (1975), teacher education (1979), law (1997) and rehabilitation sciences (2000). Each program has its own application service. These services were developed by admissions officers at the respective universities to reduce duplication and save time and money for the applicants and the universities.

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