Bishop's University - History

History

Bishop's College was established by Bishop George Jehoshaphat Mountain on December 9, 1843 in Lennoxville, Quebec for the education of members of the Church of England and erected into a University in 1853. The school was originally founded by Bishop Mountain, the third Anglican bishop of Quebec as a liberal arts college. In 1845, instruction began and in 1854, the first degrees were granted. The first principal of the College was Bishop Mountain's nephew.

It was designated as a university granting degrees in divinity, law and medicine on January 28, 1852. An act of the Quebec Legislative Assembly ratified its foundation.

In 1853, it was established as a university by royal charter bearing the name University of Bishop's College and affiliated to the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge. Its charter empowered the University to grant degrees in theology, law, medicine, and fine arts. Women were admitted to the university's faculty of medicine in 1890.

James Nelson (Architect) of Nelson & Ballard rebuilt Bishop's College after a fire, 1877-78.

The Church of England controlled the university until 1947. Since 1947, a corporation and appointed trustees have been responsible for its business affairs. A senate have dealt with academic matters.

The governance was modeled on the provincial University of Toronto Act of 1906 which established a bicameral system of university government consisting of a senate (faculty), responsible for academic policy, and a board of governors (citizens) exercising exclusive control over financial policy and having formal authority in all other matters.

The president, appointed by the board, was to perform institutional leadership and provide a link between the senate and the board of governors. In the early part of the twentieth century, professional education expanded beyond the traditional fields of theology, law and medicine, while graduate training based on the German-inspired American model of specialized course work and the completion of a research thesis was introduced. The policy of university education initiated in the 1960s responded to population pressure and the belief that higher education was a key to social justice and economic productivity for individuals and for society.

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