The Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) is celebrating 55 years Tuesday.
The French-language university at the Quartier des Spectacles was founded April 9, 1969.
The university has grown considerably since then, its rector Stéphane Pallage boasted in a video put together for the occasion. There were 3,800 UQAM students in 1969, nearly 10 times fewer than the 35,000 students enrolled today. Nearly 20 per cent of those are international students.
More than 300,000 students have graduated from UQAM in the last 55 years, the university says.
“UQAM’s anniversary is an opportunity to take stock of the progress we have made, of which we can all be proud,” Pallage said in a news release. “Our university has been a pioneer in many ways, notably in the development of new fields of study in academia, for example communication, social economy, design, environment, sexology, tourism and tourism management, hospitality, and feminist studies.
“Education is the best engine of a society. It is through it that social mobility, the improvement of our collective living conditions and democracy are strengthened. The anniversary of UQAM, which has shaped Quebec for 55 years, is a great opportunity to remember this.”
