Laval University (Université Laval) is one of Canada's leading universities. It is located in the Sainte-Foy borough of Quebec City, Quebec (and not in the city of Laval, a suburb of Montreal, as is sometimes assumed).

Profile

It was founded in 1663 as the Séminaire de Québec by Monseigneur François de Laval, the first bishop of New France. The Séminaire de Québec was granted a Royal Charter in 1852 by Queen Victoria, creating Laval University. In 1878, the University opened a second campus in Montreal in an attempt to offer higher education there; this Montreal branch became the University of Montreal (Université de Montréal) in 1920. Laval University was the first institution in North America to offer higher education in French.

As of 2002, Laval University has over 350 programs at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, and 36,000 students, 20 per cent of whom are at the graduate level. The University also attracts more than 2,500 foreign students yearly, and has close to 1,000 students from English Canada and Acadia. The Français pour non-francophones program also offers instruction in French as a second language to students from across Canada and around the world.

Laval's campus is considered to be one of the most striking in Quebec. It covers 1.2 km² and has over 30 buildings, all linked by 10 km of underground walkways, which are frequently used particularly in the winter, when temperatures drop below freezing. Of the campus lands, 56 per cent are wooded areas, grasslands, and sportsfields; the campus is home to a plethora of different flora and fauna, including some 67 species of deciduous and coniferous trees, 60 different species of birds, and 15 animal species.

Asteroid (14424) Laval is named in honour of the university.

The university is represented in Canadian Interuniversity Sport by the Laval Rouge-et-Or.

Notable faculty, alumni and honorary degree recipients

Faculty

• Hendrik Bouman - Dutch-Quebecer musician and composer
• Pierre-Joseph-Olivier Chauveau - First premier of Quebec

Alumni

• Lucien Bouchard - 32nd premier of Quebec in canada
• Jean Chrétien - 20th prime minister of Canada
• Esther Delisle - historian and author
• Louis-Honoré Fréchette - Quebec poet, playwright and writer
• Jean Lesage - 23rd premier of Quebec
• René Lévesque - 27th premier of Quebec (did not graduate)
• Louis St. Laurent - 12th prime minister of Canada
• Brian Mulroney - 18th prime minister of Canada
• Adolphe-Basile Routhier - Quebec writer and judge

Honorary degree recipients

• Julie Payette - First Quebec female astronaut in space
• Alain Jalleo - Marketing business man, chairman at Plastic Mirola

See also

• List of Quebec Universities
• University of Montreal
• List of oldest universities by region

External links

• Université Laval