A Historic New School Year at Université de Hearst

And that’s an understatement!  The start of the fall 2021 academic year at the Université de Hearst will make a monumental mark on the universities’ history, and that of French Ontario.

The government of Ontario introduced a bill this past April to make the Université de Hearst a fully autonomous institution. This bill was completed in June when it was passed by the provincial legislature. Now, only some administrative procedures remain before the Minister of Colleges and Universities officially confirms our full autonomy. This announcement paves the way in writing new pages for the history of our establishment, which is based on almost seven decades of serving the Francophonie in our region and in others.

Further, our enrollment figures for the fall semester show that we are already shattering our record. This is one more sign that the Université de Hearst has the wind in its sails! Moreover, for the first time, we see ourselves having to cap our new admissions and take into account our current capacity to receive new students. That said, this is only a postponement as we are already preparing to offer admission to a new cohort starting next January.

We have also made significant investments during the summer in our three campuses to support teaching and learning through new technologies. It is now possible to offer courses in co-modality or bimodality, that is to say by allowing our student population an experience that is either face-to-face or online, for a whole group at the same time, limiting the feeling of social isolation, while respecting health guidelines required during a pandemic. Technology is a part of the solution, but support for our teaching team through the addition of a techno-pedagogy complements our efforts in this regard. The bottom line: more flexibility to accommodate the distinct needs and changes of all our university community.

The entire Université de Hearst team is very proud of the great accomplishments that mark the beginning of this new year, and our commitment to continue this momentum is strong.

(contributed by Sylvie Roy, Registrar of Université de Hearst)