There will be a “modest” cohort at the University of Sudbury this fall as it finally launches its French-language university project after four years of fighting to make it a reality, said the school’s president.
“It'll be a modest group,” said Serge Miville. “I believe we gave around just a few dozen offers to students.”
He added that “I think we're pretty happy with what we were able to achieve, considering the situation.”
The university president spoke to Sudbury.com about what he expects for the fall of 2025 in the wake of an announcement July 7 that the province is providing funding to the tune of $10.8 million over three years.
The funding is “fantastic news,” said Miville. “It worked, right?” he said. “The community was able to achieve what it set out to do a few years ago.”
A school located on the campus of Laurentian University and formerly federated with LU, the University of Sudbury announced its plans to create a French-language university back in 2021, when Laurentian severed ties with its federated universities.
With the backing of the Francophone community, the University of Sudbury (now known as Université de Sudbury) has been fighting to make the project a reality since, despite setbacks including the province’s 2023 rejection of a standalone proposal by the U of S.
But in 2024, the school announced it was partnering with the University of Ottawa to offer French-language classes in Sudbury as of the fall of 2025, although provincial funding had not been announced until this week.
Although the Université de Sudbury has invested $18 million of its own funds in the project since 2021, Miville said it would have been difficult to launch this fall as planned without the government dollars.
He said he figures people who might have otherwise applied were wondering if the school was a “safe bet,” but he’s been getting messages from families this week with the publicization of the provincial money.
Miville said the school started recruiting students for this fall in November 2024, which is considered “super late” in post-secondary education.
They got around 100 applications in total when you factor in international students, but U of S is not currently a designated institution allowed to enrol these students, although he expects to apply for this right in the future.
The school will be offering 33 French-language programs and program options, but Miville said courses being offered this year will be first-year classes including preparation for university studies, writing and communication.
Miville said the Université de Sudbury is not currently using the Ontario Universities' Application Centre (OUAC), a centralized university application service in Ontario run by the Council of Ontario Universities, of which they’re not a member.
He said students instead can apply through the U of S website, thus saving themselves the $100 application fee.
The U of S also announced this week that it will be providing bursaries to all of its students fully covering the cost of tuition this school year. Miville said the school already had the funds which are earmarked for bursaries, so they decided to give students a financial break.
In terms of instructors, Miville said they haven’t been hired yet, although it’s already July. He said he expects to hire several sessional professors for this first term, and then permanent professors as time goes on.
“We've been getting a lot of solicitation, actually, so it's exciting to see people really wanting to join,” he said.
With the U of S preparing to re-launch this fall, the Association canadienne-française de l'Ontario (ACFO) du grand Sudbury put out a press release congratulating the school for what it calls a “historic milestone” for the Francophone community.
"This announcement represents much more than funding: it is a victory for our identity, our community and our generation. It is a testament to the power of our voices when they are heard collectively," said board chair Marc Gauthier.
"This is a victory for Francophone resilience. And it is together, in Sudbury, that we will continue to move forward, proud of our language, our culture and our ability to build a future in French.”
Heidi Ulrichsen is Sudbury.com’s assistant editor. She also covers education and the arts scene.