Bishop’s University

Bishop’s University is a public anglophone university located in the Lennoxville borough of the town of Sherbrooke, Québec. It primarily offers undergraduate programs. One of the smallest and oldest universities in Canada, Bishop’s boasts a campus with 550 acres of green space.

McGreer Hall

History

Bishop’s University in Lennoxville, Québec, was founded in 1843 under the sponsorship of George Jehoshaphat Mountain, third Anglican bishop of Québec. Bishop’s was to provide a liberal education for English-speaking Lower Canada (Eastern Townships), and to train Anglican clergy (see English-Speaking Quebecers).

In 1853, it received a royal charter to grant degrees. In 1871 a medical faculty was established, which merged with the McGill University Faculty of Medicine in 1905. The 1920s saw specialized programs in professional education and natural sciences introduced. In 1947, Bishop’s became nondenominational. Since then, extensive campus development has taken place with public support.

Programs

Bishop’s has three faculties: the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, the Williams School of Business and the Faculty of Education. The university offers more than 100 undergraduate degrees and a graduate diploma in education. It also offers a continuing education program (see Adult Education).

Influence

Emphasis is placed on small class size in an effort to encourage an informal atmosphere in academic, social, cultural and sporting situations. This is one of the distinguishing features of the university, which has an enrolment of only 2,400 full-time students per year and whose faculty numbers 115 professors (a ratio of 21 students to every professor).

Though world famous, Abbott was never promoted beyond the rank of assistant professor at McGill, where she taught (courtesy Library and Archives Canada/C-9479).

Robert Ghiz, premier of PEI. Ghiz' father Joseph was also premier of the province from 1985 to 1993 (courtesy Office of the Premier of Prince Edward Island).

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Now part of a provincially supported system of higher education, Bishop’s has shared its campus with Champlain College, a pre-university institution (CEGEP), since 1971. Prominent alumni include cardiologist Maude Abbott, inventor Reginald Fessenden, Prince Edward Island premier Robert Ghiz and singer-songwriter Jim Corcoran.

The university’s colours are purple and white.