Concordia University

Concordia University (commonly referred to as Concordia) is a public comprehensive university located at 1455 De Maisonneuve Blvd. W in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1974 following the merger of Loyola College and Sir George Williams University, Concordia is one of the two universities in Montreal where English is the primary language of instruction. As of the 2014-2015 academic year, there were 46,378 students enrolled at Concordia, making the university among the largest in Canada by enrollment.The university has two campuses, set approximately 7 kilometres (4 miles) apart: Sir George Williams Campus is the main campus in the downtown core of Montreal, in an area known as Quartier Concordia, 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 300 undergraduate and 100 graduate programs and courses.

Concordia was ranked among Canada's 20 most reputable universities overall in the 2016 Maclean's university rankings.The university is ranked 16th in Canada and 411th worldwide by QS World University Rankings and is featured in the 2015 Times Higher Education ranking of the top 100 universities worldwide under 50 years old.The university's John Molson School of Business is consistently ranked within the top ten Canadian business schools, and within the top 100 worldwide.Moreover, Concordia was ranked 7th among Canadian and 229th among world universities in the International Professional Classification of Higher Education Institutions, a worldwide ranking compiled by the École des Mines de Paris that uses as its sole criterion the number of graduates occupying the rank of Chief Executive Officer at Fortune 500 companies.

Merger

In 1968, in the wake of the Parent Commission Report, which recommended for the secularization of Quebec's educational system, the Quebec government 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 which allowed students to take courses at both campuses without paying additional fees. There is also mention of a shuttle bus service linking the remote facilities 7 km (4.3 mi) apart.