Located in the heart of Québec's historic capital city, Laval University is one of Canada's leading universities. Among the top ten Canadian universities in terms of research, it has received more than 150 million dollars in external funds in the year 2000 for research and international cooperation.

Laval University traces its origins back to 1663, when Monseigneur François de Laval, the first bishop of New France, founded the Séminaire de Québec with the authorization of the King of France, Louis XIV. A Royal Charter creating Laval University was granted to the Séminaire de Québec by Queen Victoria in 1852. A few years later, in 1878, Laval University opened a second campus in Montreal to offer higher education in this city. Laval University's "Montreal branch" became the Université de Montréal in 1920. As Canada's first university, Laval University was the very first institution in North America to offer higher education in French. It is therefore the source of all French-speaking higher education on our continent.

Laval University has been a pioneer in program assessment and strategic planning, and remains at the vanguard of the internationalization of teaching and research. As of fall 2000, Laval University has over 350 programs at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, and 36,000 students, 20% of those are at the graduate level. Laval University attracts yearly more than 2,500 foreign students, and has close to 1,000 out-of-province Canadian students.

ref.: Laval University. Laval University at a glance, [Online] (page viewed november 18th, 2002)