Université du Québec à Rimouski

Coordinates: 48°27′10.46″N 68°30′46.02″W / 48.4529056°N 68.5127833°W / 48.4529056; -68.5127833

For homonymy, see Rimouski (disambiguation).
University of Quebec at Rimouski (Université du Québec à Rimouski)
Type Public
Established 1969
Rector Michel Ringuet
Academic staff
 180 professors on campus + 300 lecturers, 50 distance learning professors[1]
Administrative staff
 400
Students ~5400
Undergraduates ~4500
Postgraduates ~750
~110
Location Rimouski, Quebec, Canada
Campus Urban(Lévis and Rimouski) and Distance learning
Colours Red      and ultramarineblue     
Affiliations UACC
Website http://www.uqar.ca/english

The Université du Québec à Rimouski (commonly referred to as UQAR) is a public university located in Rimouski, Quebec, Canada with a campus in Lévis. Founded in 1969 as a satellite campus of the Université du Québec, UQAR provides access to higher education for the people of Bas-Saint-Laurent and the Gaspé Peninsula. It is the furthest north of any university in Québec. UQAR's programs include multidisciplinary research in marine science, regional development, and nordicity. Approximately 6,500 students attend the university.[2] While most UQAR students are from eastern Québec, students also enroll from the countries of the Francophonie.[3] Over 40,000 students have graduated since it opened in 1969.[4]

History

UQAR's Rimouski campus

Founded by Angela Merici in Italy in 1535, the Ursulines were the first Catholic religious order of nuns to arrive in the New World. Taking as their mission the education of girls, the Ursulines established schools and colleges throughout North America. The first Ursuline monastery opened in Rimouski in 1906, on a hill overlooking the Gulf of Saint Lawrence.[5] The building housing the monastery burned down in 1937 but was rebuilt the following year.

Religious and community leaders first proposed establishing a university in Rimouski in the 1930s. By the 1950s, the Seminaire de Rimouski had begun offering postsecondary level courses in partnership with Université Laval.[6] Following the onset of the Quiet Revolution in Québec, postsecondary access expanded in the Bas-Saint-Laurent region. The Parent Commission report established that Québec's citizens were entitled to full educational opportunities at all levels.[7] Implementing the report's recommendations necessitated secularizing the province's educational system, which had largely been run by religious organizations.[7] An act creating the Université du Québec was passed by the provincial legislative assembly in 1968. One year later, the Université du Québec à Rimouski opened on the grounds of the former monastery of the Ursulines of Quebec.

The university opened a second campus in Lévis, in Québec's capital region in 1980 and operates extension centres in Gaspé and Rivière-du-Loup.[2] The university's athletics teams are known as the Nordet,[8] a French word used to refer to a northeasterly wind (and a reference to UQAR's location in Québec).[9]

Bird's eye view of UQAR's Rimouski campus

Today, UQAR is a mid-sized university of approximately 6,500 students. While it draws students primarily from Bas-Saint-Laurent and Gaspésie, its research in marine science, regional development, and nordicity attract students from both Québec and the wider Francophonie. Most UQAR students opt to stay in the region after graduation.[4] UQAR has concluded agreements with postsecondary institutions and research centres in over 20 countries,[10] for scholarly exchanges, joint research activities, and other academic programs.

A building of the Levis campus, erected in 2007

UQAR also works in partnership with the university-affiliated Institut des Sciences de la Mer (ISMER). A study published by the independent firm Research Infosource concluded that UQAM had experienced the fastest growth in research funding and activity of any Québec university. Over a ten-year period from 1999 to 2009, UQAR's research funding increased from $3.8 million to $17.4 million.[4]

The campus student population at UQAR-Lévis is now nearly half of the university's total enrollment.[4]

2009 fire

During the night of May 14, 2009, at approximately 1:30, the fire alarm system was triggered and reported by the on-duty Rimouski campus security agent while at the same time smoke was spotted by patrolmen from the Sûreté du Québec passing by. The fire resulted in a general alarm for the Rimouski fire department, prompting assistance from the fire departments of Bic and St-Anaclet. By mid-day, the fire was contained and mostly put out. It resulted in the destruction of the main wing's belfry as well as major fire damage to the roof and water damage to the floors below.

The affected wing houses procurement and printing services, student's services, the student's bookstore, the rector's and vice-rectors offices, finances and human resources as well as classes and working spaces of graduate students. The university's geography department uses the classes located on the 5th floor, directly under the fire-damaged part of the building, and the offices located directly under the collapsed belfry are occupied by researchers. Many graduate students are also working on the 5th floor.

The damage was estimated at the time at least $3 million.[11]

Programs of study

UQAR offers academic programs at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, including accounting, business, arts, computer science, biology, chemistry, social development, elementary education, ethics, electrical and mechanical engineering,[12] secondary education, history, literature, Maritime Resource Management, MBA, nursing, oceanography, personnel management, project management, psychosociology and social change.

Main areas of research include Nordicity, regional development, and marine sciences at the ISMER.

See also

Further reading

References

  1. ↑ See Téluq
  2. 1 2 webmestre. "The University - The university - UQAR". Retrieved 28 August 2015.
  3. ↑ webmestre. "Student Life With A World View - The university - UQAR". Retrieved 28 August 2015.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "Rimouski: plus de 40 000 diplômés de l'UQAR". La Presse. Retrieved 28 August 2015.
  5. ↑ "Ursulines". Retrieved 28 August 2015.
  6. ↑ "Index, Histoire du Séminaire de Rimouski, des origines (1863) à l'ouverture du Cégep (1968)". Retrieved 28 August 2015.
  7. 1 2 "Education in Québec, before and after the Parent reform - Thematic Tours - Musée McCord Museum". Retrieved 28 August 2015.
  8. ↑ webmestre. "Équipes compétitives - Rimouski - Service des activités physiques et sportives (SAPS) - UQAR". Retrieved 28 August 2015.
  9. ↑ webmestre. "Dernières nouvelles - UQAR-INFO - UQAR". Retrieved 28 August 2015.
  10. ↑ webmestre. "Ententes de coopération internationale". Retrieved 28 August 2015.
  11. ↑ Un incendie est survenu sur le toit de l'UQAR. Consulted on May 15th 2009.
  12. ↑ Canadian Engineering Memorial Foundation - University List
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