In 1968, the University of Waterloo Correspondence Programme began and its mandate was limited to degree courses listed in the University of Waterloo calendar. In fact, the Correspondence Programme was controlled like a regular faculty, extending from instructor to department, faculty and university senate. Students wishing to enroll in correspondence courses had to need the same admission requirements as students applying to the University of Waterloo. The University of Waterloo distance education structure, in ten years, had grown to be the largest university-level correspondence programme in Canada.
U of Waterloo's program grew out of the needs of co-op students on worksite placements in remote locations who wanted to complete their option courses. This led to a distance education format of a set of audiotaped lectures and accompanying text and assignments which became U of Waterloo's main mode of operation. Today, the U of Waterloo offers over 270 distance education courses and has 10 000 registrants.