To respond to a rapidly increasing population of francophone and bilingual students, Toronto’s bilingual Glendon College will expand its campus with a $20-million grant from the Ontario government.
From 2001 to 2007, the college, which is part of York University, saw its enrolment grow from 1,700 to 2,500 students, according to the college website.
“There’s every reason to expect this [growth] will continue,” said Kenneth McRoberts, the college’s principal.
The francophone population in southern Ontario makes up about a third of the province’s total French-speaking population, McRoberts said. The region is also home to the largest population of students who have gone through French immersion, he added.
To accommodate those students, part of the investment will go towards a new building, McRoberts said.
The addition will include several new classrooms, seminar and meeting rooms, and an amphitheatre.
Programming will also be increased, including a bachelor of education for French teachers, a bilingual international bachelor of arts, a bilingual master’s degree in public and international affairs and a doctorate in French-language studies.
This will allow the school to be more competitive with other bilingual schools in the country, McRoberts said. It will also reinforce it as the centre for French education in southern Ontario, he said.
“Our investment will provide more opportunities for French-speaking learners to strive for and achieve excellence,” said John Milloy, Ontario minister of training, colleges and universities.
The expansion is part of a $1.4-billion provincial investment in post-secondary infrastructure, according to a provincial press release.