Université du Québec en Outaouais

Infobox_University
name = Université du Québec en Outaouais


motto =
established = 1971 Services universitaires dans l'Outaouais (1971-1980). Renamed Université du Québec en Outaouais (1981-present)
type = public
rector = Jean Vaillancourt
city = Gatineau
state = Quebec
country = Canada
students = 6000
undergrad = 75 programs
postgrad = 31 programs
staff = 175 full-time lecturers & 350+ part-time lecturers
campus = Alexandre-Taché & Lucien-Brault (Gatineau), Mont-Laurier, Maniwaki & Saint-Jérôme
colours = gold color box|#FDD017 & black color box|#000000
affiliations = UACC
free_label =
free = No teams
website = http://www.uqo.ca

The Université du Québec en Outaouais (UQO) is a branch of the Université du Québec located in Gatineau, Quebec, Canada. It also has branches in Maniwaki, Mont-Laurier and Saint-Jérôme.

Brief history

The current university was inaugurated in 1981 during the government of René Lévesque's Parti Québécois, although university programs in the region had existed since 1971 (known as the Services universitaires dans l'Outaouais (SUO). [ [http://www.uqo.ca/renseignements-generaux/bref-historique.asp Bref historique de l'UQO ] ] Formerly known as Université du Québec à Hull (UQAH), the name was changed after the 2002 merger that amalgamated the cities of Hull, Gatineau, Aylmer, Masson-Angers and Buckingham into the new city of Gatineau. The new name reflects the Outaouais administrative region in which the university is based.

Each year, about 6,000 students attend courses at the UQO. While this number is one of the lowest in the Université du Québec network, the number keeps on climbing, gradually increasing the need for additional courses, programs and resources. There are about 175 full-time professors and many additional part-time lecturers. [ [http://www.uqo.ca/renseignements-generaux/bref-chiffres.asp Statistiques et faits ] ]

Over the past 25 years since its creation, the UQO has awarded over 27,000 diplomas [http://www.ocri.ca/email_broadcasts/052406uqo_rd_e.html OCRI Research Day at the Université du Québec en Outaouais - 24 May 2006 ] ] and is one of the main contributors to the development of skilled workers in the region along with the University of Ottawa, Carleton University, La Cité Collégiale, Algonquin College and the CEGEP de l'Outaouais.

Hours of courses

Generally, there are from Monday to Friday four segments of classes. The first goes from 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., the second from 12:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m., the third from 3:45 p.m. to 6:45 p.m. and the last from 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. However, some courses may occur at different hours. There are few classes during the weekends - most of them are condensed courses that occurs during a few weekends only (some from 9:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.) Before 2006, weekdays classes started at 9:00 a.m. before the changeover to 8.30 a.m.. For a semester in 2006, the lunch break were only 30 minutes (between 11:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.) but was later extended to one hour (from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.) due to complaints by the students and their respective associations.

Generally, the university is accessible 24 hours a day, especially during the later weeks of a semester as students try to complete their multiple projects or other works or to prepare for the end of semester exams that generally occurs during the final week. However, the facilities are closed during certain periods such as the Christmas holidays.

Fall semesters starts in early September and ends in late-December. Winter semesters starts in early January and ends in late April. Summer semesters depends on the courses as some are condensed ones that starts in early-May and ends a few weeks after. Some courses may last until July (some late July). During the summer months, there are a lot fewer courses due to the much lower demand.

Faculties

The Gatineau branch of the UQO has two campuses. The first campus (named Alexandre-Taché) is located on Boulevard Alexandre-Taché. This campus houses the faculties of social sciences, psychology, translation (language), social work, education, educational psychology and health sciences. The second campus (called Lucien-Brault) is located just a few minutes away from the Alexandre-Taché campus, just off Boulevard Saint-Joseph. It houses the faculties of business administration, computer science, accountancy, arts, design and comic strip and industrial relations. In total as of 2006, the UQO offers about 75 programs, including 31 post-graduate ones under 12 faculties . For example, the social sciences programs includes communication, political sciences, sociology, international and regional development and history. Students can choose to specialize in the following engineering discipline: Computer Engineering. [ [http://www.cemf.ca/Engineering/UniversityList.htm Canadian Engineering Memorial Foundation - University List ] ]

English programs

Although UQO is a francophone university, it offers masters programs in business administration and in project management in both French and English, as do other French-speaking universities in Quebec. By 2006, after 11 years, the English programs had grown to over 400 students, representing 50% of UQO's graduate programs. However, in December 2006, the university announced public consultations in regards to English programs offered with the possibility of removing them. The administration believed that the UQO must gave example to the province of Quebec as a francophone institution.

The administration's plans would close the only access to University education the local English-speaking minority has had in that region of Quebec. To many, this move appeared to violate the official mission of the Université du Québec, of which UQO is a member, which requires that the state-run university ensure accessibility to all and 'fight exclusion'.

Expansion projects

In 2005, a new language technology research building was built near the Tache campus and will be used starting the Fall of 2006.

On September 7, 2006, Quebec Education Minister Jean-Marc Fournier gave a total of 14 million dollars to the UQO for the construction of a new four-story environmental-friendly building on the southwest corner of the Alexandre-Taché campus. Being the first of six to eight proposed new buildings, this section, was completed in 2008. Its current library was also expanded. [ [http://www.cyberpresse.ca/article/20060907/CPACTUALITES/609070400/5046/CPDROIT Mathieu Bélanger : 14 millions $ pour agrandir l'UQO | Actualités | Cyberpresse ] ]

On October 31, 2006, the UQO announced it will open a new permanent campus in Saint-Jérôme in the Laurentians and will have courses in educational psychology, education and social work as well as master's degree program in health science. The city of Saint-Jérôme invested $1.5 million in the project that could attract close to 1,000 students in total. [ [http://www.radio-canada.ca/regions/ottawa/2006/11/01/005-uqo-saint-jerome.shtml L'UQO s'établit à Saint-Jérôme ] ]

There is also the possibility of merging both Gatineau campuses into an expended super-campus along Boulevard Alexandre-Taché, right behind the nearby cemetery towards the Boulevard Saint-Joseph intersection, however it is many years away. The UQO administration had presented their plans to the city of Gatineau Council on January 30, 2007. Costs for the full project were estimated at about 150 million dollars and would include the construction of additional buildings near Saint-Joseph Boulevard as well as an 800-meter extension of the road. The UQO also plans to add a soccer field and a new sport complex which received a sponsorship support from Labatt. There are also plans to bring an extension of the future Rapibus transit route behind the university. [http://www.sto.ca/pdf/sommaire_rapibus_oct2006.pdf] A new health campus, in collaboration with McGill University, will also be inaugurated in September 2008 and will permit the training of new health specialists in the Outaouais. [ [http://www.info07.com/article-221012-Le-Campus-Sante-est-ne.html Info07 > Actualités > Le Campus Santé est né ] ]

The university asked the city of Gatineau to provide $10 million for the extension of the boulevard, as well as the installation of a sewer and water system. City council had positive views on the project despite the high costs. [ [http://www.radio-canada.ca/regions/ottawa/2007/01/30/007-UQO-agrandissement.shtml L'Université du Québec en Outaouais voit grand ] ]

ervices and sports facilities

The UQO offers 200 housing units located right beside the Taché campus. They are exclusively for UQO services and there is a child daycare centre where students can drop their kids during their courses. Although numerous apartment buildings in the vicinity are also used by them.

Both campuses have a cafeteria, a library and computer rooms. The Taché campus has a large swimming pool and a weight-lifting room. The Brault campus has a basketball court. Both campuses also have a bar. The Taché campus bar is called "Le Tonik" while the one at the Brault campus is called "L'Elixir".

In September 2008, UQO produced its first official university sports team when the golf team hosted a Quebec Sports Federation Event in nearby Montebello. There has also been talk of a soccer team in the near future. Their sports teams are known as the Torrents.

ervices from log-in accounts

Each student has an account (called Symbiose) that gives access to e-mail, their schedules, their results, the list of courses needed or done, their payment fees and many more. WebCT is a program where students can have access to notes giving by teachers, test results, the course schedule or work or reading required during the semester.

Moreover, a student can also, when requested at the library, get another account, that gives him or her access (or borrow) quickly to thousands and thousands of documents in several research directorys, including newspaper articles, books, audio documents or scientific magazines. When not available at the UQO, they have the possibility to order them, even if they are worldwide.

UQO Foundation

This foundation was created in order to collect funds in order to improve the university's infrastructure and to meet the demand for the increasingly student population from year after year.

The funds are sometimes coming from students who are optionally paying a top-off cost during their semester inscription. Generally, the optional fee is 5$ per student and a great number of them did donate that amount. On their website people can donate various amount by filling up a form. The UQO also collects funds from various events organized throughout the year.

In 2006, the UQO set up a goal of about 10 million dollars. [ [http://w3.uqo.ca/fondation/ Fondation de l'Université du Québec en Outaouais ] ]

tudent associations

The main student association of the university is called the AGE-UQO (called l'Association Générale des Etudiant(es) de l'Université du Québec en Outaouais (General Student Association). There are also smaller associations which includes only members from a particular faculty such the AEMSS (social sciences), the AEEMP (psychology), the AEME (education), the AEML (arts and letters), the AEMP (educational psychology), the AESS (health sciences), the CEG (computer engineering), the REEEMI (image multidisciplinary school), the REETS (social work), the REI (computer science) and the REAAA (business administration).

Radio station

Reel-Radio, a community university radio station like Carleton University's CKCU-FM only airs at the UQO, but the station is in the process of becoming a new radio station for the FM brand. The process is under examination by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) and Reel-Radio may start to air in the FM band starting in the fall of 2007.

2005 student strike

During the 2005 Quebec student strike students of the UQO surprisingly joined the movement for about three weeks starting on March 14 and returned to class during the first week of April. They were among the 200 000 students that started the movement in late February, after the Quebec government cut $103 million in bursary funds to transformed them into loans. Many experts, students, journalists and even UQO staff members were not expecting the university to be in favour of a strike movement. Some of the UQO students did participate in the massive demonstration held on March 16 in Montreal. There were also some occasional protests along with fellow college students in front of the offices of Quebec MPP's Benoit Pelletier and Roch Cholette.

Students from the Alexandre-Taché campus were more in favour of the strike then those at the Lucien-Brault campus and those at the latter one did express some disagreements and frustrations about the strike which they say was voted by a minority of the 6,000 or so students in total not to mention that they were affected in 2004 by a strike by part-time lecturers. After voting three more times to extend the strike it ended in the beginning of April after the government and the Fédération étudiante universitaire du Québec (FEUQ) members agreed to a tentative agreement. The UQO students voted massively in favor of the deal and thus finished the rest of the winter semester without any other disruptions.

Cam-Puce student promotion

Starting in the fall 2006 semester, the UQO, AGE-UQO (student association), Table Jeunesse Outaouais (TJO) and the Société de transport de l'Outaouais launched a pilot project in which the Cam-Puce promotion which was giving each student registered to it a rebate equivalent to a free month for each semester, has now increased its rebate to 75% the full cost for four monthly passes. The cost for a student for a semester is $107 as of fall 2007 (up from $51 in fall 2006). The cost of the whole project ($150 per pass) is totally assumed by the UQO, AGE-UQO and TJO. This was to encourage students from the UQO to use more the public transit to get to the university instead of driving to it and pay expensive cost for parking. The STO hopes to have 150 students registered to this promotion. The project was so popular that during the first semester (fall 2006) more than 600 students registered brigning some issues on the funding of the project. The STO did add a cross-town route so residents from the Gatineau sector (Les Promenades de l'Outaouais) would have fewer transfers and a faster trip to the university. However, service is limited to rush-hour only and no service during the 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. nor during the weekends where there are some courses (although rarely during Saturday and Sunday).

Technology and general fees increase & 2007 student strike

On January 22, 2007, the UQO administration adopted a resolution, by a vote of 7-4, that approved a 59% or $75 per semester hike on various non-tuition fees including general and technology fees. The student association, AGE-UQO protested the measures and blamed the administration for contributing to student debt. Posters have been put on billboards in both campuses and a group of students made a parody denouncing the hike. In late-January 2007, the AGE-UQO has even proposed students to go on a one-day strike which was voted 55-36 on February 8, 2007 despite a very low student turnout at the vote and very few protested during the strike date with most students staying at home. The AGE-UQO have also kept options for an additional three days of strike in March [ [http://www.radio-canada.ca/regions/ottawa/2007/02/09/002-uqo-greve-frais.shtml Les étudiants de l'UQO font la grève ] ] but withdrew it. However, the group were planning a provincial-wide campaign most notably during the 2007 provincial elections and planned an unlimited strike during the Fall semester but after an assembly meeting, the strike motion was rejected and five members of the AGE had resigned. [ [http://www.cyberpresse.ca/article/20070927/CPACTUALITES/709270342/6790/CPDROIT Mathieu Bélanger : Patrick Robert-Meunier dépose une plainte pour voies de fait simple | Actualités | Cyberpresse ] ] Meanwhile, the social science and social work student associations voted separately for a three-day strike in November 2007. Another three-day strike by the association was held in February 2008 [ [http://www.cyberpresse.ca/article/20071113/CPACTUALITES/711130348/6790/CPDROIT Mathieu Bélanger : Grève des étudiants en sciences sociales à l'UQO | Actualités | Cyberpresse ] ] [ [http://www.radio-canada.ca/regions/ottawa/2008/02/12/009-greve-uqo-sciences-so.shtml Le module de sciences sociales en grève ] ]

The UQO administration cited that financial difficulties and the opposition of students in hiking tuition fees necessitated the raise of related expenses. [ [http://www.cjrc1150.com/locale.php?news=48028 104,7 FM :: Le FM Parlé de l'Outaouais ] ] Despite a March 6, 2007 meeting, they have not changed their position and kept the plans for hiking the fees starting in the 2007 Fall Semester.

TO service to the university

STO service is provided by:

Rush-Hour Route 20 : Serves at the corner of Montcalm and St-Joseph closer to the Lucien-Brault campus. Serves the Freeman Park and Ride, the Casino du Lac Leamy and the downtown area.

Regular Route 21 : Same as above but 7 days a week.

Rush-Hour Routes 25 & 26 : Serves the Alexandre-Taché campus. Serves Le Plateau residential area.

Rush hour route 29 : Same as above but serves Manoir des Trembles area.

Regular route 35 : Same as Route 21. Serves areas of Lac-des-Fees and Parc-de-la Montagne and the Hull CEGEP.

Regular Route 36 & 37 : Serves St-Joseph Boulevard near the two campuses. Serves the Mont-Bleu and St-Joseph areas.

Week-only regular Route 38 : Same as Routes 21 and 35, serves most of St-Joseph Boulevard to Freeman Park And Ride.

Regular Route 39 : Serves the Tache campus. Travels through several areas of the city included Manoir des Trembles, Le Plateau, the Hull Hospital, the St-Joseph Boulevard shopping district, the Freeman Park And Ride and some residential areas of the Gatineau sector. Ends at Les Promenades de l'Outaouais.

Regular Route 59 Serves the Alexandre-Taché campus. This route replaced routes 42 and 43 in June 2007 between Rivermead Park and Ride and Ottawa. Several local routes replaced the two routes through the Aylmer sector.

Rush hour routes 40, 41, 44, 45, 46 & 47 : Same as above but continues through out various Aylmer area neighbourhoods. Route 50 was renumbered 40 and Route 55 renumbered route 47 in June 2007.

Week-only regular route 57 : Same as previous two. Serves generally during the rush-hour, but there is a midday trip to ensure faster trips from the Gatineau sector in between the first and second block of courses. Serves from downtown Aylmer to the Promenades via downtown Gatineau (some trips ends/starts at Rivermead Park And Ride).

References

External links

* [http://www.uqo.ca Université du Québec en Outaouais]
* [http://w3.uqo.ca/fondation/ UQO Fondation]
* [http://www.age-uqo.ca/ AGE-UQO]
* [http://www.reel-radio.fm/ REEL-Radio]
* [http://www.sto.ca/etudiants/uqo/ STO Cam-Puce]