The University of Regina held a ribbon cutting for its brand-new Saskatoon campus on Thursday. The university says the 16,000 square-foot facility will accommodate the faculties of Social Work, Nursing and the francophone university La Cité. It boasts enhanced classrooms, student gathering and study spaces, breakout rooms, teaching studios and technology meant to support in-person, hybrid and remote learning. The new campus also has dedicated spaces for students, faculty and staff as well as a space for smudging and other Indigenous cultural practices. “A university’s reach should not be limited by the walls of its main campus,” said U of R President Jeff Keshen in a news release. “Our students live, work, and build their lives in communities across Saskatchewan, and our responsibility is, whenever possible, to meet them where they are.” The campus was built with support from the provincial government to the tune of $4.2 million. “This new campus will strengthen the University of Regina’s ability to serve students in Saskatoon and the surrounding area, preparing them for in-demand careers across Saskatchewan,” said Minister of Advanced Education Ken Cheveldayoff. The Saskatoon campus is home to 800 nursing students as well as 500 social work and La Cité students and faculty. It expands the reach of La Cité programming to Saskatoon, which the U of R says will strengthen connections with the city’s Francophone community. Nursing students will encounter teaching studios that feature enhanced audiovisual technology, providing more flexibility by allowing faculty to record and deliver lectures remotely. Social work students will get to learn in larger classrooms and use additional breakout and study spaces, as well as areas designed to foster community and connection. The university says the additional campus is an “important evolution” to its presence in Saskatoon and hopes to create opportunities for greater collaboration by bringing in several programs and services to one location.+ The campus was also intended to reflect priorities outlined in the U of R’s “Together, We Serve” strategic plan.
