Will meet southern Ontario’s growing demand for postsecondary offerings in French

TORONTO, May 15, 2012 – York University’s Glendon College today officially opened the Centre of Excellence for French-language and Bilingual Postsecondary Education.

“I am proud that we are able to provide opportunities for the growing Francophone population right here at York’s Glendon Campus,” said Mamdouh Shoukri, President and Vice-Chancellor of York University. “The Centre of Excellence for French-language and Bilingual Postsecondary Education will help to accommodate an increased student base, will attract more international students, and allow York to offer a broad international curriculum so that we can continue to educate Canada’s future leaders.”

The centre will enable Glendon to broaden its range of programs and courses in response to the urgent need for increased postsecondary offerings in French in southern Ontario. Supported by a $20 million investment by the Government of Ontario, the expansion project builds on Glendon’s existing facilities to include more than a dozen new classrooms and lecture spaces, state-of-the art language labs, open study spaces and a 250-seat amphitheatre.

These improvements will allow 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.

They include:

• Bilingual and trilingual international Bachelor of Arts (iBA) degrees available across 18 disciplines.
• New PhD in Études francophones.
• Enhanced bilingual activities outside the classroom.
• A Master’s program in Conference Interpretation.
• A unique, direct-entry Bachelor of Education for future French teachers available at the primary-junior, junior-intermediate, and intermediate-senior levels, offered through York’s Faculty of Education.
• Collaboration with Collège Boréal and la Cité collégiale.

“We are pleased that the Government of Ontario has invested these funds to make Glendon College a Centre of Excellence for French-language and Bilingual Postsecondary Education, and excited to officially open this new facility,” said Glendon Principal Kenneth McRoberts. “Southern Ontario is seeing significant growth in terms of the Francophone population, and we are now better-equipped to meet this demand.”

The ceremony will feature remarks by Mamdouh Shoukri, York University’s President and Vice-Chancellor; the Honourable Madeleine Meilleur, Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services, Minister Responsible for Francophone Affairs; the Honourable Kathleen Wynne, MPP for Don Valley West, and McRoberts.

"By investing in this Centre of Excellence, our government is helping to provide more learners with new opportunities to further their French-language studies in southern Ontario,” said the Honourable Glen Murray, Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities. “We congratulate Glendon on their plans to provide a wide range of exciting and innovative programs to their students.”

“The McGuinty government is proud to support Glendon College’s Centre of Excellence which helps Francophones and Francophiles to have full access to French-language postsecondary education while encouraging their participation in an inclusive and open Ontario,” said Meilleur.

“I am pleased with our $20 million investment in the Centre of Excellence for French-language and Bilingual Postsecondary Education at York University’s Glendon College. This new facility will enable Glendon to provide a broader range of programs and courses in French in southern Ontario”, said Wynne.

The Glendon Campus of York University is located in midtown Toronto at the intersection of Bayview and Lawrence avenues. It is the only institution in southern Ontario that offers a range of university programming in French. Thanks to this expansion of its facilities, Glendon has also established a bilingual Master’s in Public and International Affairs – the centerpiece of the Glendon School of Public and International Affairs, Canada’s first fully bilingual graduate school of this type. Along with the Master’s in Public and International Affairs, Glendon also offers a double Master’s degree with the University of Strasbourg.

York University is a leading interdisciplinary research and teaching university in Canada. York offers a modern, academic experience at the undergraduate and graduate level in Toronto – Canada’s most international city. The third largest university in the country, York is host to a dynamic academic community of 55,000 students and 7,000 faculty and staff, as well as 250,000 alumni worldwide. York’s 10 faculties and 28 research centres conduct ambitious, groundbreaking research that is interdisciplinary, cutting across traditional academic boundaries. This distinctive and collaborative approach is preparing students for the future and bringing fresh insights and solutions to real-world challenges. York University is an autonomous, not-for-profit corporation.

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Media contact:

 

French media: Marie-Thérèse Chaput, Director, Office of Advancement, Alumni & External Relations, Glendon University College, York University, 416 487 6801, MTChaput@glendon.yorku.ca

English media: Melissa Hughes, Media Relations, York University, 416 736 2100, x22097, mehughes@yorku.ca