University of Regina’s La Cité achieves full faculty status

14 oct. 2022

On September 1st, La Cité universitaire francophone became officially recognized as a full-fledged faculty within the University of Regina enabling it to fulfill the educational needs and aspirations of Saskatchewan’s Francophones.

“Making La Cité a full faculty like others within the University is a strong symbolic statement about the importance of French-language education. But even more importantly, it will enhance the University’s ability to continue fulfilling the academic aspirations and university educational needs of Saskatchewan people,” says University of Regina President and Vice-Chancellor Dr. Jeff Keshen at a ceremony celebrating this achievement on Oct. 14, 2022.

Achieving faculty status will allow La Cité to develop new academic programs in French, leading to new partnerships and a more promising future for post-secondary education in French. La Cité already offers an increasing range of academic programs, including a Bachelor of Arts (BA), Master of Arts (MA), and doctorate (PhD) degree in Francophone and Intercultural Studies.

“I was glad there was a French education program I could apply for here in Regina,” says Beatrice Miranda, now a first-year student of Le Bac at the University of Regina. “Most of the education I received since elementary was in French, so I became comfortable with learning everything in that language."

“It’s even more meaningful to me that I can continue my post-secondary studies in French and continue to pass on the Francophone culture and language to the younger generations once I graduate. With La Cité becoming a full faculty, it can only get better because people like me will have more options to study French or even study other things in French.”

Over the past couple of years, thanks to many partnerships with other faculties and institutions inside and outside the University of Regina, La Cité has expanded its course offerings to include the Faculty of Education’s BA and MA programs in French education, minors in African studies, the Integrated Partway program in Law, and others. La Cité also hopes to develop a new bachelor’s degree program (bilingual option) in social work in partnership with the Faculty of Social Work.

Offered in partnership with the University of Ottawa, the Integrated Pathway in Law allows students to earn a BA in Francophone and Intercultural Studies and a Juris Doctor (JD) within six years. In the first three years, students complete 90 credit hours in French at the University of Regina and in the final three years, they complete 95 credits at the University of Ottawa.

“I am grateful to the University administration for clarifying La Cité’s academic and administrative status as a faculty. This repositions us to partner with other faculties and academic institutions to expand access to university education in French. We are building strong partnerships right now, so that in the near future La Cité’s students will be able to enroll in more courses and programs in other disciplines across our campus, all while studying and living in French,” says Dr. Emmanuel Aito, Dean of La Cité.

La Cité was founded in 2015 when the Department of French merged with the Institut français. With its new status, La Cité will continue to play an active role in the cultural, linguistic, academic and professional development of students and the Fransaskois community by offering credit and non-credit programs in French.

“Since 2003, when the mandate of the Language Institute at the University of Regina was revised to create the Institut français, Saskatchewan’s Francophone community has waited for more opportunities for French language education to be possible in our province so that one day our children will not have to leave the province in pursuit of university education in French,” says Denis Simard, President of the Assemblée communautaire fransaskoise (ACF).

For more information:

Chidi Igwe, Marketing and Communications Manager

La Cité, University of Regina

Phone: 306-540-3681

Email: Chidi.Igwe@uregina.ca

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About the University of Regina

The University of Regina—with campuses located on Treaty 4 and Treaty 6 territories, the ancestral lands of the Cree, Saulteaux, Dakota, Lakota and Nakoda nations and the homeland of the Métis—is a comprehensive, mid-sized university that traces its roots back to the creation of Regina College in 1911. Today, more than 16,000 students study within the University's 11 faculties, 25 academic departments/schools, 18 research centres and institutes, and three federated colleges (Campion College, First Nations University of Canada, and Luther College). The University of Regina has an established reputation for excellence and innovative programs that lead to undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral degrees.