York University’s Glendon College will officially open the Centre of Excellence for French-language and Bilingual Postsecondary Education in a ceremony on May 15 at 9am.

“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 & 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.”

A concept drawing of the new Glendon College Centre of Excellence

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. It will strengthen the delivery of collaborative French-language university and college programming, including:

• Bilingual and trilingual international Bachelor of Arts (iBA) degrees available across 18 disciplines.
• New doctoral program 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 Shoukri; Ottawa Vanier MPP Madeleine Meilleur, minister of community safety & correctional services and minister responsible for Francophone affairs; 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 Glen Murray, MPP for Toronto Centre and 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 the only institution in southern Ontario that offers a range of university programs in French. Glendon has established a bilingual Graduate Program in Public & International Affairs – the centerpiece of the Glendon School of Public & International Affairs, Canada’s first fully bilingual graduate school of this type. Along with the Graduate Program in Public & International Affairs, Glendon also offers a double master’s degree with the University of Strasbourg.

Republished courtesy of YFile– York University’s daily e-bulletin.