Two institutions have rejoined the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada after absences of differing lengths. The two are St. Paul’s College, located on the campus of the University of Manitoba, and Université du Québec’s Télé-université, or TÉLUQ, a distance-learning institution.
St. Paul’s, a Catholic college and home to the Arthur V. Mauro Centre for Peace and Justice, instructs some 1,200 full-time students. TÉLUQ offers more than 400 courses and 75 programs at both the graduate and undergraduate level to 18,000 full- and part-time students.
TÉLUQ was a member of AUCC from 1992 until 2005, at which time the Quebec government merged the online university with Université du Québec à Montréal. However, last year the government dissolved the merger and granted TÉLUQ independent university status again as part of the Université du Québec system, prompting AUCC’s board of directors to approve its return as an institutional member of the association.
St. Paul’s College was founded in 1926, moved to the U of Manitoba campus in 1959 and was a separate member of AUCC until 1993. That year, after AUCC made changes to its membership fee structure, St. Paul’s decided to leave the association and henceforth be represented as a federated college of U of Manitoba.
“I think a number of people were sorry when that occurred,” said Christopher Adams, the current rector of St. Paul’s. Being a separate member of AUCC “highlights the fact that we have some distinctive things that we provide our students and faculty, and that we’re not just another building on campus,” he said. Having separate membership status also helps with the college’s international outreach efforts, he said.
The process to reapply to AUCC was set in motion by Dr. Adams’ predecessor, Denis Bracken, who retired as St. Paul’s rector last year. The University of Manitoba approved of the move and helped with the application process. “We were very appreciative of the university for their support,” said Dr. Adams.
Under AUCC bylaws, a former institutional member that withdraws its membership and reapplies, and still meets the criteria for membership, is granted readmission through a vote of the AUCC board of directors and without the requirement for a site visit.
The membership of AUCC has gone through some fluctuation in the past year. It dipped to 94 members when previous member the Nova Scotia Agricultural College joined Dalhousie University in September 2012, then returned to 95 members one month later when MacEwan University in Edmonton was granted membership. With the two most recent additions, AUCC now counts 97 member institutions.