The Royal Military College of Canada, commonly abbreviated in English as RMC, is the military college of the Canadian Armed Forces and, since 1959, a degree-granting university training military officers. RMC was established in 1874 and conducted its first classes on June 1, 1876. The Government of Ontario empowered the college to confer degrees in arts, science, and engineering through the The Royal Military College of Canada Degrees Act, 1959. Programs are offered at the undergraduate and graduate levels, both on campus as well as through the college’s distance learning programme via the Division of Continuing Studies.