Memorial University offers certificate, diploma, undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate programs, as well as online courses and degrees.

[8] The college was established as a memorial to the Newfoundlanders who had lost their lives on active service during the First World War.

[8] Newfoundland gave up dominion status in 1934, ending self-government in exchange for British Commission of Government rule[11] as a crown colony.

In 1961, enrolment increased to 1400, and Memorial moved from Parade Street to its present location on Elizabeth Avenue (St. John's Campus).

[7] On 8 March 1965, the government of Newfoundland announced free tuition for first-year students enrolled at Memorial University in St.

Memorial established the Institut Frecker in St. Pierre in 1973, to offer one-semester French immersion programs.

[17] In 2008, the university's hiring process for incoming presidents came under scrutiny for political interference by the province's education minister, Joan Shea.

[19] However, changing the university's legal name will require an act of the province's House of Assembly, and has not yet taken effect.

In September 2019, the Memorial University Senate voted unanimously to create a degree-granting campus in Labrador.

A campus in Happy Valley-Goose Bay (renovated from the former provincial courthouse on Hamilton River Road) was expected to offer courses in fall 2022.

The arms of the university, designed by Alan Beddoe, have as their charges a cross moline, three books, and waves representing the sea, and were registered with the Canadian Heraldic Authority on 10 September 1992.

[23][24] Memorial has seven faculties (Business Administration, Education, Engineering, Humanities and Social Sciences, Medicine, Nursing, and Science) and seven Schools (Arctic and Subarctic Studies, Fine Arts, Graduate Studies, Music, Pharmacy, Human Kinetics and Recreation, and Social Work).

[27] The St. John's campus is home to the Faculty of Medicine, co-located with the Newfoundland Health Science Center General Hospital.

[28] The university operates the Bonne Bay Marine Station in Gros Morne National Park.

It also includes centres in marine learning that study ocean technology, aquaculture, sustainable fishery, and offshore safety.

Yaffle is managed by the Leslie Harris Centre of Regional Policy and Development at Memorial University.

Some fall under the direct authority of their respective faculties or schools, while others have a pan-university mandate or multi-organization consortium.

Below is a sampling of the more prominent units:[35] Memorial has 134 student programs, exchanges, and research partnership agreements in 40 countries.

[36] Memorial also has a British campus in Harlow, Essex, and is one of only two universities in Canada with a foothold in the United Kingdom.

[51] As a first step to campus status, the School of Arctic and Subarctic Studies (SASS) was founded within Labrador Institute (located at Happy Valley-Goose Bay) in July 2020, following a decision of the Memorial University Senate in September 2019.

[55] In 2013, Memorial University purchased the former Battery Hotel, located on Signal Hill, overlooking St. John's harbour.

The campus houses public-facing university organizations, a large conference centre, and graduate student living accommodations.

Tenants are the Harris Centre, Gardiner Centre, Genesis, Office of Public Engagement, Office of Strategic Operations (Signal Hill Campus) and Conference Services, MUN Pensioners' Association, Newfoundland Quarterly, and Business & Arts NL.

The Conference Centre on Signal Hill Campus is a convening space within the Emera Innovation Exchange.

The Harbour Wing and Tower areas of Signal Hill Campus are dedicated to graduate student living accommodations.

[58] They are served by the Internationalization Office, which is a dedicated administrative unit of the University offering services such as immigration advising, social events, and off-campus housing, among others.

[60] Paton College dormitories offer dormitory-style accommodations for approximately 1000 students in nine residences, called Houses, and named after persons associated with the university or Newfoundland and Labrador: Barnes, Blackall, Bowater, Burke, Curtis, Doyle, Hatcher, Rothermere, and Squires.

The newer Macpherson College consists of two similarly named Halls: Shiwak and Cluett, which house 250 students each and were officially opened in 2013.

[63] In the present day, none of the Colleges accept residents; they are now occupied by the University's academic and administrative units.

On 1 January 1943 and again on 21 March 1946, 'Memorial University College' stamps were issued based on a design by Herman Herbert Schwartz.