TORONTO, September 20, 2010 -- York University’s Glendon College officially broke ground on new facilities during a ceremony today.

The facilities will enable Glendon to become the Southern Ontario Centre of Excellence for French-Language and Bilingual Postsecondary Education.

The Government of Ontario is investing $20 million towards improvements which will enable Glendon to provide better access to French-language higher education for francophone learners in southern Ontario, as well as anglophone students wishing to study in French, and strengthen the delivery of collaborative French-language university and college programs.

“We are pleased that the Government of Ontario is investing in a facility to make York University’s Glendon College a Centre of Excellence for French-Language and Bilingual Postsecondary Education,” said Mamdouh Shoukri, President and Vice-Chancellor of York University. “This new facility will provide our French-speaking students with a superior educational experience necessary for the changing economic and political world.”

Glendon Principal Kenneth McRoberts noted there is a rising demand for Glendon’s offerings and believes these new facilities will help the institution keep pace.

“The need in southern Ontario for French-language and bilingual postsecondary education is greater than ever,” McRoberts said. “Since 2001, our enrolment has risen from 1,700 to 2,700 students. This represents the largest enrolment in Glendon’s history.”

Glendon College is the only institution in southern Ontario that offers a range of university programming in French.  Thanks to this forthcoming expansion of its facilities, Glendon has recently established a Bachelor of Education program for future French immersion teachers, a bilingual international Bachelor of Arts program, a PhD program in études francophones, and a bilingual master’s in public & international affairs. The latter program is the centerpiece of the Glendon School of Public Affairs, Canada’s first fully bilingual graduate school of this type.

“Today marks the beginning of a new milestone in French education for Glendon College – and for Ontario. The Centre of Excellence for French-Language and Bilingual Postsecondary Education will provide our francophone and French-speaking students with more opportunity to strive for and achieve excellence,” said The Hon. John Milloy, Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities.

The funds will be used to construct a new building attached to Glendon’s York Hall. It will feature state-of-the-art classrooms, student study and meeting space, and a 250-seat amphitheatre. With this additional space, Glendon will be able to continue delivering a broad range of French-language and bilingual programming.

The funds are part of a $1.4-billion strategic infrastructure investment announced by the Government of Ontario in 2008, and also fall under its Access to Opportunities strategy for French-language postsecondary learners and its Politique d’aménagement linguistique, which aims to ensure the sustainable development of the Franco-Ontarian community.

The Glendon Campus of York University is located in mid-town Toronto at the intersection of Bayview & Lawrence Avenues.