Lakehead Technical Institute was established in 1946 in response to a brief that outlined the need for an institution of higher education in northwestern Ontario. ​Lakehead University is a public research university with campuses in Thunder Bay and Orillia, Ontario, Canada. Lakehead is ranked number one in Canada for research in the category of undergraduate universities. ​The university has nine faculties: Business Administration, Education, Engineering, Natural Resources Management, Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences, Science and Environmental Studies, Social Sciences  and  Humanities,  Medicine, and Graduate Studies.