Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada was formally inaugurated April 1st, 2005 and is the result of the merger of the University College of the Cariboo and British Columbia Open University. TRU is British Columbia's newest university. As of 2004, total enrollment at UCC is 10,081 students, while total enrollment at BCOU is over 16,000 students, for a total of over 26,000 students at the new university.

Nancy Greene Raine is the Chancellor of Thompson Rivers University.

British Columbia Open University

British Columbia Open University (BCOU) was created in 1978 to offer students flexible access to post-secondary distance education. It was a division of the Open Learning Agency .

BCOU was a public institution and a member of the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada. BCOU was also partners with other educational institutions, professional bodies, industry, and business, and was a founding member of the Canadian Virtual University.

When BCOU became a part of Thompson Rivers University, it was renamed to TRU Open Learning (TRU-OL). BCOU's staff will move to the Kamloops campus in 2006.

University College of the Cariboo

University College of the Cariboo was a university college in Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada. They first began offering programs under the name Cariboo College in 1970 with government funding and support. In 1998 they began offering their first undergraduate degrees.

Athletics and student government

The university will be represented in Canadian Interuniversity Sport by the TRU WolfPack.

Students at the former University College of the Cariboo are represented by the Cariboo Students' Society, which has yet to adopt a new name with the University status change. BCOU students did not previously have a students' union and may not be members of the Cariboo Students' Society.

External links

• Thompson Rivers University
• UCC History
• Press Release
• New University opens in Kamloops