U Sports is the national governing body of university sport in Canada, comprising the most of degree granting universities in the country. Its equivalent body for organized sports at colleges in Canada is The Canadian Colleges Athletic affiliation CCAA . Some institutions are members of both bodies for different sports.

The name till October 20, 2016 was Canadian Interuniversity Sport CIS and in French is Sport interuniversitaire canadien SIC .1

The original Canadian Interuniversity Athletic Union CIAU Central has been founded in 1906 and existed till 1955, composed only of universities from Ontario and Quebec. With the collapse of the CIAU Central in the mid-1950s, calls for a new, national governing body for university sport accelerated. Once the Royal Military College of Canada became a degree granting institution, big W.J. Danny McLeod, athletic director at the RMC directed the establishment of the
Canadian Intercollegiate Athletic Union CIAU in 1961.23 big McLeod ran the CIAU from his office at RMC as the 1st CIAU Secretary Treasurer. In the 1960s the CIAU functioned as a voluntary, autonomous, educational sport organization which represented by the different universities from coast to coast. In 1978, the CIAU changed its name to the Canadian Interuniversity Athletics Union. It changed its name to Canadian Interuniversity Sport CIS in June 2001 caused by growing misconceptions about the name of the organization since the term “athletic” was related with track and field and “union” with labour movements.

The CIS member institutions offer athletic scholarships called Athletic Financial Awards AFA , subject to minimum academic prerequisites. The AFA’s are limited and may not surpass the value of the tuition and mandatory fees for the student athlete. Universities also may supply extra non athletic awards as well as academic scholarships and needs based fundings for athletes also to this cap, provided the extra awards don’t include athletic requirements. In 2008/2009 one in two CIS athletes was receiving an athletic scholarship.

Increasingly, CIS schools are offering booster support programs, where alumni, parents or corporations can give money to a targeted fund particularly intended to off set a student athlete’s tuition and living costs. The University of Windsor has an Adopt A-Lancer program,6 as an example. The CIS has no rules about how much each school can supply to teams through private support. The Universit Laval’s Rouge et Or football team, winner of seven the last twelve Vanier Cups, is so successful with fund raising, the team trains in Florida throughout the spring.

Canadian Hockey League teams offer financial support for their graduates who go to school inside two years of playing big junior who decide to play for a CIS school after graduating from big junior hockey. Hockey players who play in the CHL are unqualified for NCAA athletic scholarships, though many go to a CHL training camp. but, they can only stay a max of 48 hours and can’t dress in any games.