University College of the Fraser Valley

Premier Campbell made a surprise announcement   Monday that the University College of the Fraser Valley will become University of the Fraser Valley. The announcement was met with jubilation and relief throughout the Fraser Valley. Valley citizens and civic officials, along with UCFV students, faculty, staff, and administration, have been lobbying and hoping for this announcement for years. Hundreds were present at the announcement on campus Monday afternoon.

UCFV President Skip Bassford was delighted. “This announcement is wonderful news for our students and for all of us who live in the Fraser Valley,” he says. “It recognizes all of the work that everyone at UCFV has done to ensure that we’re fully prepared, academically and otherwise, for university status. It recognizes the expression of need by all the people in our valley who have been supporting university status for UCFV so strongly for so long.”

He and many others have been working toward university status for many years. UCFV, the former Fraser Valley College, became a university college in 1991, first offering bachelor’s degrees in partnership with other B.C. universities.

By the mid-1990s, it was issuing degrees under its own name. Since the start of this century, it has passed several milestones that helped build the case for university status, including acceptance to the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada, widespread acceptance of UCFV graduates into graduate and professional schools, acceptance of UCFV into the Canada Inter-university Sport athletic league, development of its first master’s degree, and excellent grades in the Globe and Mail’s 2007 University Report Card.
Bassford expressed gratitude to the provincial government for recognizing that UCFV has earned its university status.

“I want to extend a sincere thank you to Premier Gordon Campbell and his government, who have been dedicated to making B.C. the most literate, best educated province in Canada. They truly understand that progress in this century requires a highly educated population.

“This foresight on their part is now clearly being realized in the Fraser Valley. We thank them for their vision and know that our university and the valley that we serve will play a major role in helping B.C. forge a successful future.”

Chair of the UCFV Board of Governors Rob Nicklom was equally exuberant.
“We made a great case for university status and the provincial government has got the message and listened to our communities. They’ve given us the go ahead to keep doing what we’ve been doing — building a university that’s responsive to the needs of the Fraser Valley. Now we’ll have the name and credibility to go with our accomplishments.”