University of Ottawa

The University of Ottawa (French: Université d'Ottawa), often referred to as uOttawa, is a bilingual public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, the capital city of Canada. The main campus is located on 42.5 hectares (105 acres) directly to the northeast of Downtown Ottawa across the Rideau Canal in the Sandy Hill neighbourhood.

The University of Ottawa was first established as the College of Bytown in 1848 by the first bishop of the Catholic Archdiocese of Ottawa, Joseph-Bruno Guigues. Placed under the direction of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, it was renamed the College of Ottawa in 1861 and received university status five years later through an act of the Parliament of the Province of Canada.On 5 February 1889, the university was granted a pontifical charter by Pope Leo XIII, elevating the institution to a pontifical university. The university was reorganized on July 1, 1965, as a corporation, independent from any outside body or religious organization. As a result, the civil and pontifical charters were kept by the newly created Saint Paul University, federated with the university. The remaining civil faculties were retained by the reorganized university.

The University of Ottawa is the largest English-French bilingual university in the world. The university offers a wide variety of academic programs, administered by ten faculties: Arts, Education, Engineering, Health Sciences, Law, Medicine, Science, Social Sciences, and the Telfer School of Management. The University of Ottawa Library includes 12 branches, holding a collection of over 5.9 million titles. The university is a member of the Canadian U15 group of research-intensive universities, with a research income of CA$420 million in 2022.

The school is co-educational and enrols almost 40,000 undergraduate and over 6,000 post-graduate students. The school has enrolled 2,300 students into the French Immersion Studies program in fall 2022. The school has approximately 10,600 international students from 150 countries, accounting for 26 per cent of the student population. The university has a network of more than 250,000 alumni. The university's athletic teams are known as the Gee-Gees and are members of U Sports.

History

The university was established on September 26, 1848 as the College of Bytown by the first Roman Catholic bishop of Ottawa, Joseph-Bruno Guigues. He entrusted administration to the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate. The college was originally located in Lower Town, housed in a wooden building next to the Notre-Dame Cathedral Basilica. However, space quickly became an issue for administrators, triggering two moves in 1852 and a final move to Sandy Hill in 1856. The Sandy Hill property was donated by Louis-Théodore Besserer, where he offered a substantial parcel from his estate for the college. The college was renamed College of Ottawa in 1861, following the city's name change from Bytown to Ottawa. In 1866, the college received university status via an act of the Parliament of the Province of Canada (29 & 30 Victoria CXXXV), making it the final institution in Canada to receive a national charter before the British North America Act, 1867 made education a provincial responsibility. By 1872 the university had already begun to confer undergraduate degrees, with master's degrees coming in 1875 and doctoral degrees in 1888. On February 5, 1889, the university was granted a pontifical charter from Pope Leo XIII, elevating the university to a pontifical university.

The university faced a crisis when fire destroyed the main building on 2 December 1903. After the fire, the university hired New York architect A. O. Von Herbulis to design its replacement, Tabaret Hall. It was among the first Canadian structures to be completely fireproof, built of reinforced concrete. Women first enrolled in 1919.

In the fall of 1939, a Canadian Officer Training Corp was established at the university, with training beginning in January 1940. The Canadian Officers' Training Corps, University of Ottawa Contingent, which comprised a company, headquarters and three platoons in 1939, was authorized to become a battalion in 1940. By 1941, the unit swelled to 550 men. An air force Officers' Training Corp was created in 1942 and a naval Officers' training corp in 1943. Participation in one of the three corps became mandatory for all students over 18, although they were not obliged to participate in the actual war at the end of their studies. During this time, the Royal Canadian Air Force used parts of the university's grounds for training and the university constructed barracks to house members of the Canadian Women's Army Corps. In total 1,158 students and alumni of the university enrolled the Canadian Forces during the Second World War, of which 50 died overseas. The unit was eventually disbanded during the unification of the Armed Forces in 1968.

Campus

The university's main campus is situated within the neighbourhood of Sandy Hill (Côte-de-Sable). The main campus is bordered to the north by the ByWard Market district, to the east by Sandy Hill's residential area, and to the southwest by Nicholas Street, which runs adjacent to the Rideau Canal on the western half of the university. As of the 2010–2011 academic year, the main campus occupied 35.3 ha (87 acres), though the university owns and manages other properties throughout the city, raising the university's total extent to 42.5 ha (105 acres). The main campus moved two times before settling in its final location in 1856. When the institution was first founded, the campus was located next to the Notre-Dame Cathedral Basilica. With space a major issue in 1852, the campus moved to a location that is now across from the National Gallery of Canada. In 1856, the institution moved to its present location.

The buildings at the university vary in age from 100 Laurier (1893) to 150 Louis-Pasteur Private (2018). In 2011 the average age of buildings was 63. In the 2011–2012 academic year, the university owned and managed 30 main buildings, 806 research laboratories, 301 teaching laboratories and 257 classrooms and seminar rooms. The main campus is divided between its older Sandy Hill campus and its Lees campus, purchased in 2007. While Lees Campus is not adjacent to Sandy Hill, it is displayed as part of the main campus on school maps. Lees campus, within walking distance of Sandy Hill, was originally a satellite campus owned by Algonquin College.

An O-Train station, uOttawa station, is situated on the western periphery of the campus adjacent to Nicholas Street and the Rideau Canal.

Library

The University of Ottawa Library is a network of twelve locations, and maintains a collection of approximately two million printed books, one million e-books, 423,986 maps, 87,216 music items and more with its collection budget of CA$15 million. The Library has digitized over 20,000 French books and some of the aerial photographs from the National Air Photo Library collection which are in the public domain. In addition, with consent from the National Aboriginal Health Organization's (NAHO) Board of Directors, the Library and the Indigenous Program at the Faculty of Medicine archived the NAHO's website using Archive It which is no longer publicly available.

The main library is in Morisset Hall, which also houses the Media Centre, Archives and Special Collections, and the Geographic, Statistical and Government Information Centre. The university has five other specialized libraries: the Brian Dickson Law Library, located in Fauteux Hall; the Health Sciences Library, located at the Roger-Guindon campus; the Management Library, located in the Desmarais Building; the Isobel Firestone Music Library, located in Pérez Hall; and the Annex, an off-site storage facility that houses less-used portions of the collection.

Administration

Governance is conducted through the Board of Governors and the Senate, whose roles were established by the University of Ottawa Act, 1965. The Act describes their membership and powers, as well as their principal officers. The Board provides overall governance and management, including financial decisions and the implementation of policies and procedures. The Board consists of an executive committee which includes the Chair of the Board and the Vice-Chair and Chair of the Executive Committee. As stipulated by the act, the board comprises no more than 32 members, appointed or elected by the various parts of the university community. While not stipulated in the act, the board's membership includes elected undergraduate and graduate student representatives. The Board includes one honorary member, the current chancellor.

The Senate sets educational policies and the management of academic issues. Such powers include the ability to create and abolish faculties, departments, schools and institutes, academic regulations, admission standards, degree and diploma requirements. It confers certificates, degrees at all levels and with the approval of the board, honorary doctorates. The Senate consists of 72 members including president, who acts as its chair. Other members of the Senate, as mentioned in the act, include the chancellor, the president, vice-presidents and the dean of each faculty, including those of federated universities. While not outlined in the act, the Senate includes students from each faculty.

As stipulated in the act, the chancellor is the university's titular head and is accorded a place of honour at commencement exercises and other functions and may preside at examinations. The chancellor is appointed by the board with the concurrence of the Senate and holds the office for one or more four-year terms. The president is the chief executive officer and chairman of the Senate with the responsibility of managing the direction of academic work and general administration, teaching staff, officers, servants and students. The president is appointed by the board and continues until the board votes otherwise. The office was first referred to as superior until the university received a pontifical charter, when the name changed to rector in 1889. In 2004, the English title of rector was replaced with president.

Finances

In the 2021-2022 review of financial results, net assets stood at CA$1.793 billion, which is a decrease of $174.7M (8.9%) in 2022 compared to 2021. Revenue increased by $93.9M to reach $1,246.1M, compared to $1,152.2M in 2020–2021. The largest single source of revenue originates from tuition and other fees, along with grant revenue, accounted for 73.4% of total revenue. Expenses increased by $89.3M (7.7%) to $1,160.4M, compared to $1,102.4M in 2020–2021. The increase is due mainly to higher expenses for salaries and benefits, scholarships and financial aid, and additional costs stemming from COVID-19. As stated in the 2021-2022 financial results, its endowment was valued at CA$321.3 million, a $17.5M decrease in endowments compared to the year before due to the reduced market value of investments.

Academics

The University of Ottawa is a research university and a member of the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada. It functions on a semester system, operating fall/winter and spring/summer sessions. Undergraduate programs comprise the majority of the school's enrolment, with 39,770 full-time and part-time undergraduate students, compared to 8,128 graduate students in fall 2022. Excluding Saint Paul, the university conferred 7,449 bachelor's and professional degrees, 208 doctoral degrees, 1,815 master's degrees in 2015.

The university also offers students the opportunity to earn credits while studying abroad, through student exchange programs, and summer programs. The university has exchange agreements with over 250 institutions in over 52 countries.

Bilingualism and biculturalism

As of 2016, the university was the world's largest English-French bilingual university. The university is one of the three bilingual universities in Ontario that is not federated with a larger university. Since its inception the university has seen itself as fostering English-French bilingualism. However, bilingualism was only made an official university policy in 1965 when the Government of Ontario passed An Act respecting Université d'Ottawa through the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. Section 4 of that Act specifically states that an object and purpose of the university is "to further bilingualism and biculturalism and to preserve and develop French culture in Ontario", and "to further ... Christian principles". Despite that law, these parts of the university's mandate are now arguably superseded by the 1982 Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which constitutionalizes multiculturalism (not biculturalism) and freedom of religion.

The university operates the Official Languages and Bilingualism Institute (OLBI). The OLBI was officially opened on 1 July 2007, replacing its predecessor, the Second Language Institute. Both institutes promoted English-French bilingualism, although the OLBI holds an expanded mandate, to strengthen research, innovation and outreach efforts in official languages and bilingualism. The university is a member of the Association of Universities of the Canadian Francophonie, an association which promotes post-secondary education and research in French.

While the university maintains bilingualism as an official policy, students need not be bilingual. Instead, most courses and programs are offered in both languages. As of April 2023, the percentage of students who used French as their primary language of education was at 30 per cent (14,218 students), while the number of students which use English as their primary language for education was 70 per cent (33,680 students). As of March 2009, 68.6 per cent of professors in bilingual positions were considered to be actively bilingual, while bilingual staff comprised 91.5 per cent.

Student life

The two main student unions on administrative and policy issues are the University of Ottawa Students' Union (UOSU) for all undergraduate students and the Graduate Students' Association (GSAÉD) for graduate students. Additionally, graduate (and undergraduate) students who are employed as research assistants, teaching assistants, markers, proctors, residence life workers, and lifeguards are members of CUPE2626, a local chapter of the Canadian Union of Public Employees. The union and the university are bound by a collective agreement.

Until December 2018, the Student Federation of the University of Ottawa acted as the undergraduate student union, until it lost its official status, after their agreement was terminated with the university. The university cited the SFUO's handling of allegations of financial mismanagement, fraud, and workplace misconduct as the reason. In 2019, students voted to choose a new undergraduate student association in a referendum. On February 11, 2019 the University of Ottawa announced the results of the student referendum. The University of Ottawa announced the University of Ottawa Students’ Union (UOSU) had been selected as the new student union to represent undergraduate students. The university will make its best efforts to have a new agreement in place by May 1, 2019.

Эх сурвалж: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)