Laurentian University (), officially Laurentian University of Sudbury, is a mid-sized bilingual public university in Greater Sudbury, Ontario, Canada, incorporated on March 28, 1960. Laurentian offers a variety of undergraduate, graduate-level, and doctorate degrees. Laurentian is the largest bilingual provider of distance education in Canada.
The university programs specialize in many fields, including arts, social sciences, technology, natural sciences, engineering, mining, geophysics, health, business management, finance, and forensics.
Despite claiming to have run balanced budgets in eight of the previous nine years, on February 1, 2021, Laurentian University filed suddenly for creditor protection. As part of its restructuring, on April 12, 2021, Laurentian University announced the closure of 58 undergraduate programs and 11 graduate programs spanning a diversity of subjects. As part of these closures, some 200 faculty and staff positions were terminated. The university continues to offer 107 undergraduate programs and 33 graduate programs.
Overview
The university's campus is located on the south side of Ramsey Lake in the Bell Grove neighbourhood, just south of Greater Sudbury's downtown core. The city's Idylwylde golf course borders on the university campus to the west and the Lake Laurentian Conservation Area borders on the campus to the south. The Lake Laurentian Conservation Area contains a network of trails used for running, mountain biking and nordic skiing.
The school has three separate student unions. The Association des étudiantes et étudiants francophones (AEF) serves francophone students in undergraduate programs. The Students' General Association (SGA) serves mainly anglophone students in undergraduate programs. The Graduate Students' Association (GSA) serves all students in graduate programs.
History
Laurentian's historical roots lie in the Roman Catholic church. The Collège du Sacré-Coeur was founded by the Society of Jesus in 1913. According to a plaque at the entrance to the R. D. Parker Building, the school began granting degrees in 1957 as the University of Sudbury.
A university federation combining representatives from the Roman Catholic, United, and Anglican churches was incorporated as a "non-denominational, bilingual institution of higher learning" in 1960. The new Laurentian University held classes in the University of Sudbury facility, as well as in a variety of locations in the city, including the Sudbury Steelworkers Hall, until its current campus was opened in 1964.
The federated colleges included Huntington College (United Church), University of Sudbury College (Roman Catholic, descended from the Collège du Sacré-Coeur), and Thorneloe College (Anglican) which joined in 1963. Collège universitaire de Hearst in Hearst is no longer an affiliated college with Laurentian University. It was rechartered as an independent institution in 2021 following the 2021 Laurentian University financial crisis. Both Nipissing University College in North Bay and Algoma University College in Sault Ste. Marie were previously affiliated with Laurentian. Nipissing and Algoma were established as independent universities in 1992 and in 2008 respectively.
Laurentian opened a campus in Barrie, Ontario in 2001 in partnership with Georgian College. The university shut down operations in Barrie in 2019.
In 2005, Laurentian and Lakehead University jointly launched the Northern Ontario School of Medicine. In 2021, the provincial government passed legislation severing the medical school's ties with Laurentian and Lakehead, making it an independent university and Canada's first stand-alone medical school.
In 2013, Laurentian launched the McEwen School of Architecture.