Concordia University () is a public English-language research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1974 with the merger of Loyola College and Sir George Williams University, Concordia is one of the three universities in Quebec where English is the primary language of instruction (the others being McGill and Bishop's). As of the 2024–2025 academic year, there were 48,657 students enrolled in credit and non-credit courses at Concordia, making the university among the largest in Canada by enrollment. The university has two campuses, set approximately apart: Sir George Williams Campus is the main campus, located in the Quartier Concordia neighbourhood of Downtown Montreal in the borough of Ville Marie; and Loyola Campus in the residential district of Notre-Dame-de-Grâce. With four faculties, a school of graduate studies and numerous colleges, centres and institutes, Concordia offers over 400 undergraduate and over 120 graduate programs and courses.
Concordia is a non-sectarian and coeducational institution, with more than 270,000 alumni. The university is a member of the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada, International Association of Universities, Canadian Association of Research Libraries, Canadian University Society for Intercollegiate Debate, Canadian Bureau for International Education and Canadian University Press. The university's varsity teams, known as the Stingers, compete in the Quebec Student Sport Federation of U Sports.
History The roots of Concordia University's founding institutions go back more than 120 years with the establishment of Loyola College in 1896 and Sir George Williams University in 1926.
Loyola College
Loyola College traces its history to an English-language program at the Collège Sainte-Marie de Montréal (today part of the Université du Québec à Montréal) at the Jesuit Sacred Heart Convent. In 1896, Loyola College was established at the corner of Bleury Street and Saint Catherine Street, and it was named in honour of Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus. On March 10, 1898, the institution was incorporated by the Government of Quebec and became a full-fledged college. The same year, following a fire, the college was relocated further west on Drummond Street, south of Saint Catherine Street. Although founded as a collège classique (the forerunners of Quebec's college system), Loyola began granting university degrees through Université Laval in 1903.
The college moved into the present west-end campus on Sherbrooke Street West in Notre-Dame-de-Grâce in 1916. The School of Sociology opened in 1918. Since Loyola College never became a chartered university, it did not have the ability to grant its own university degrees. In 1920, the institution became affiliated with Université de Montréal, which began granting its degrees instead of Université Laval.
Memorial bronze honour roll plaques in the entrance hall near the administrative offices are dedicated to those from Loyola College who fought in the First World War, Second World War and Korean War.
The inter-war period was marked by the shift of education in the institution, the collège classique education was replaced by humanistic education (Liberal Arts College) in 1940, and Loyola became a four-year institution. Theology and philosophy were taught to all students until 1972.
In 1940, the Faculty of Science and the Department of Engineering were created. In addition to providing the same undergraduate programs as other colleges, the institution also offered innovative fields of study at the time, such as exercise science and communication studies. Students could enrol in academic majors starting in 1953 and honours programs in 1958. Students graduating from Loyola could afterwards pursue graduate-level education in other universities, with a few earning Rhodes Scholarships.
Starting in 1958, Loyola also began offering its first evening courses for students who were not able to go to school full-time. New courses were given in library science and faith community nursing. Since its creation, Loyola College had welcomed almost exclusively young English-speaking Catholic men as students. It became co-ed in 1959.
Obtaining a university charter was an important issue in the 1960s. Although many wanted Loyola College to become Loyola University, the Government of Quebec preferred to annex it to Sir George Williams University. Negotiations began in 1968 and ended with the creation of Concordia University on August 24, 1974.
Sir George Williams University
In 1851, the first YMCA in North America was established on Ste. Helene Street in Old Montreal.YMCA History YMCA International. Beginning in 1873, the YMCA offered evening classes to allow working people in the English-speaking community to pursue their education while working during the day. Sixty years later, the Montreal YMCA relocated to its current location on Stanley Street in Downtown Montreal. In 1926, the education program at the YMCA was reorganized as Sir George Williams College, named after George Williams, founder of the original YMCA in London, England, upon which the Montreal YMCA was based. In 1934, Sir George Williams College offered the first undergraduate credit course in adult education in Canada.
Sir George Williams College received its university charter from the provincial government in 1948, though it remained the education arm of the Montreal YMCA. Sir George Williams expanded into its first standalone building, the Norris Building, in 1956. In 1959, the college requested that the Quebec legislature amend its university charter, changing its name to Sir George Williams University. It established a Centre for Human Relations and Community Studies in 1963. Sir George Williams continued to hold classes in the YMCA building until the construction of the Henry F. Hall Building in 1966.
The university gained international attention in 1969 for what is known as the "Computer Centre Incident." Notably in spring 1968, six black West Indian students at Sir George Williams University accused a biology lecturer (later assistant professor) of racism. The complaint was lodged to the dean of students, Magnus Flynn. Dissatisfied with how the administration was handling their complaint, the students decided to make it a public issue in fall 1968. The students occupied and destroyed the Hall Building's ninth floor computer lab after threatening to do so should the riot squad be called. The events forced the university to re-evaluate its policies, leading to the creation of the Ombuds Office and establishment of the University Regulations on Rights and Responsibilities in April 1971. (See Sir George Williams Affair).
Following several years of discussions and planning, Sir George Williams University merged with Loyola College to create Concordia University in 1974. Concordia provided students with representative student organizations and greater power over administrative decisions at the university.
Merger In 1968, in the wake of the Parent Commission Report, which recommended the secularization of Quebec's educational system, the Government of Quebec asked Loyola College and Sir George Williams University to consider some form of union. The proposed merger was discussed by the Loyola-Sir George Williams Joint Steering Committee, a committee created to analyze all forms of possible mergers of the two institutions. It was proposed, in 1969, to create a university federation that allowed students to take courses at both campuses without paying additional fees. There was also mention of a shuttle bus service linking the remote facilities apart.
Criticized for the difficulties encountered by the cohesion of the various departments and faculties, this option was set aside, but not totally rejected by the Joint Steering Committee. The Joint Committee of Representatives of the Board of Trustees of Loyola College and the Board of Governors of Sir George Williams University was formed in December 1971 and in fall 1972 produced a document outlining the basis of a university with two campuses. While the committee considered a number of possible models, including that of a loose federation, the solution finally adopted was that of an integrated institution, Concordia University, operating under the existing charter of Sir George Williams University. Following several revisions in November 1972, the document became the main plan of the proposed merger. It was accepted by both institutions, which began the process of consolidating their operations.
In early 1973, the two institutions announced the merger would take place that fall. However, legal and administrative procedures delayed the merger for another year. On August 24, 1974, the Government of Quebec recognized the merger, thus creating Concordia University. The name was taken from the motto of the city of Montreal, Concordia salus (meaning "well-being through harmony").
Post-merger The legal existence of Concordia dates from August 24, 1974. The integration of the various faculties of the two institutions into a coherent whole took several years. The five faculties of the new university were a combination of existing faculties and departments prior to the merger. There was a Faculty of Commerce, Faculty of Science and Faculty of Arts at Sir George Williams University. Additionally, there was a Faculty of Arts and Science at Loyola College. The Faculty of Engineering of both institutions had previously been combined.
The Faculty of Fine Arts was created in 1976.
The first phase of the combination of the Faculties of Arts and Science began in 1977 and ended in 1985.
Concordia's Center for Zero Energy Building Studies opened in 1977. The Center focuses on research into construction of more energy efficient buildings.
In the late 1980s, the Georges P. Vanier Library on the Loyola Campus was enlarged, while in 1992, the library on the Sir George Williams Campus moved to the new J.W. McConnell Building. The Norris Building was closed the same year.
On August 24, 1992, Valery Fabrikant, a mechanical engineering professor, shot five colleagues, killing four, on the ninth floor of the Hall Building. Fabrikant was convicted of the murders and sentenced to life imprisonment. The university erected a memorial to the slain professors (four granite tables) in the Hall Building lobby.
Starting in 1998, the university entered a major phase of expansion to meet its growing student enrolment. In August 2003, Concordia inaugurated the Richard J. Renaud Science Complex on the Loyola Campus.
In 2005, the university launched a major urban redevelopment project in the neighbourhood surrounding the Sir George Williams Campus, known as the Quartier Concordia. That same year, the Engineering, Computer Science and Visual Arts Integrated Complex opened its doors on Saint Catherine Street West between Guy Street and Mackay Street.
In September 2009, the university marked the opening of the new LEED certified building for the John Molson School of Business. The new building hosts a wall of solar panels and is 25% more energy efficient than required under code.
In September 2015, the university held a ribbon cutting for the District 3 Innovation Center's new space on the sixth floor of Concordia's Faubourg Building.
The university opened its interdisciplinary Applied Science Hub in 2020 at the Loyola campus.
Campuses
The university has two campuses, set approximately 7 km (4 miles) apart: Sir George Williams Campus in the downtown core of Montreal, in an area known as Quartier Concordia (around the Guy–Concordia Metro station), and Loyola Campus in the residential west-end district of Notre-Dame-de-Grâce. They are connected by free shuttle-bus service for students, faculty and staff.