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News Release

July 16, 2007

Campus d'Alfred Receives Provincial Funding

The Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities announced Monday $390,000 for Université de Guelph - Campus d'Alfred as part of this year's funding for French-language post-secondary education in Ontario.

This funding is a 35 per cent boost from last year.

"Our faculty and staff at Alfred have been working hard to expand our program offerings," said Renée Bergeron, new director of Campus d'Alfred. "This extra funding will help support the development of new programs in environmental sciences and technology."

Université de Guelph - Campus d'Alfred, which is located in Alfred near Ottawa, is part of U of G’s Ontario Agricultural College. This unique campus was created in 1980 and offers diploma and certificate programs taught in French.

Alfred’s diploma programs include agricultural technology, environmental management and food, nutrition and risk management.

"Campus d'Alfred contributes to the high level of expertise of the University of Guelph and OAC," said Mary Buhr, interim OAC dean. "The campus offers programs that are relevant to the industry and attractive to today’s students, and this provincial funding will help us to continue to recruit students both nationally and internationally."

About 16,700 students are enrolled in French-language universities and colleges in Ontario.

Provincial funding for French-language post-secondary education goes towards creating new programs and courses, improving integration of services between institutions, expanding student participation and enhancing the quality of the programs, said Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities Chris Bentley during today’s announcement.

"Our investment ensures francophone students will have more opportunities than ever to access high-quality French-language studies at Ontario’s francophone and bilingual post-secondary institutions."