Université Laval?

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Motto: Deo favente haud pluribus impar (Latin: "With God's help, to no one equal")
Founded	1663 as the Séminaire de Québec, chartered in 1852
School type	Public
Rector	Michel Pigeon
Location	Quebec, Quebec
Enrollment	28,902 undergrad, 8,689 grad (2003)
Campus surroundings	Suburban, park
Campus size	1.2 km²
Sports teams	Rouge et or
Mascot	Victor
A view of the Laval University campus.

Université Laval (Laval University) is one of Canada's leading universities. It is located in the Sainte-Foy borough of Quebec City, Quebec (and not in the Montreal suburb of Laval as is sometimes assumed).

Profile

It was founded in 1663 as the Séminaire de Québec by Monseigneur François de Laval, the first bishop of New France. The Séminaire de Québec was granted a Royal Charter in 1852 by Queen Victoria, creating Laval University. In 1878, the University opened a second campus in Montreal in an attempt to offer higher education there; this Montreal branch became the University of Montreal (Université de Montréal) in 1920. Laval University was the first institution in North America to offer higher education in French.

As of 2002, Laval University has over 350 programs at the undergraduate and graduate levels, and 36,000 students, 20 per cent of whom are at the graduate level. The University also attracts more than 2,500 foreign students yearly, and has close to 1,000 students from English Canada and Acadia. The Français pour non-francophones program also offers instruction in French as a second language to students from across Canada and around the world.

Laval's campus is considered one of the most striking in Quebec. It covers 1.2 km² and has over 30 buildings, all linked by 10 km of underground walkways, which are frequently used particularly in the winter, when temperatures drop below freezing. Of the campus lands, 56 per cent are wooded areas, grasslands, and sports fields; the campus is home to a plethora of different flora and fauna, including some 67 species of deciduous and coniferous trees and 60 different species of birds.

An underground walkway at Laval University.