Cape Breton University (CBU) is a public, co-ed, primarily undergraduate university located in Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada. It is the only post-secondary degree-granting institution within the Cape Breton Regional Municipality and on Cape Breton Island. The university is enabled by the Cape Breton University Act passed by the Nova Scotia House of Assembly. Prior to this, CBU was enabled by the University College of Cape Breton Act(amended). The University College of Cape Breton's Coat of Arms were registered with the Canadian Heraldic Authority on May 27, 1995.

CBU is an ordinary (full) member of the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC), Colleges and Institutes Canada, the Association of Atlantic Universities (AAU), the Canadian Bureau for International Education (CBIE), and Colleges and Institutes Canada (CICan).