The Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières , also known as "l'université du peuple", established in 1969 and mainly located in Trois-Rivières, Quebec, Canada, is a public university within the Université du Québec network. As of April 2016, the university had 14,500 students in 9 different campuses, including the main one in Trois-Rivières. About 788 of them come from overseas, from 50 countries. The university has given more than 88,000 diplomas since its founding. The Trois-Rivières campus also holds a large library with about 400,000 documents.
History
UQTR was created in 1969 with the merger of the "Centre d'Études universitaires de Trois-Rivières" and "L'école normale d'État Maurice Duplessis". The first major campus, Ringuet, was opened in 1973 and is located in the vicinity of Des Forges and Des Récollets boulevards near downtown Trois-Rivières. Over the following years, UQTR has expanded outside of the city into several towns in the Centre-du-Québec, Montérégie, Lanaudière, Quebec and Chaudière-Appalaches regions. Over the 1973-2009 time period the university has enjoyed a period of long term growth punctuated by several periods of short term fluctuation.
During the 2005 student protests, students narrowly voted in early March for a three-day student strike whose period included March 16, when several hundred UQTR students participated in a general protest in Montreal. Two days later, the students narrowly voted for a return to class. However, due to complaints made by some student groups, the students and some instructors boycotted again about a week later. During the first boycott, some instructors reported to work to teach classes as scheduled. Groups called "commandos" patrolled the Trois-Rivières area in search of these instructors who failed to honour the pickets, enticing them to stay away from UQTR during the boycott.
Programs
Medicine
Since 2004, the University of MontrealFaculty of Medicine has operated a satellite campus of its medical school at UQTR. The preclinical years are simulcast with the respective classes in Montreal, and the two clinical years are completed in the Centre hospitalier régional de Trois-Rivières and the Centre hospitalier du centre de la Mauricie. The degree is granted by the University of Montreal. In 2007, the construction of a new medical education pavilion began, which was completed in 2010.
In fall of 2004, UQTR launched the first Podiatric Medicine program in Canada. Upon obtaining all 195 university credits, students are awarded with a Doctor of Podiatric Medicine degree; thus, this makes UQTR the first French-language university in the world to offer the DPM degree. The foundation of this program was based on the American definition of Podiatric Medicine and was developed in association with the New York College of Podiatric Medicine. Each year 25 students are admitted across Canada.
Chiropractic
UQTR is home to the first public and the first university-based chiropractic school in North America. The program is limited to 47 admissions per year.
Midwifery program
UQTR is the only university in Quebec offering a midwifery program. It welcomes up to 24 students per year since its implementation in 1999.
