As of April 1, the Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM) and the Université de Hearst will officially become independent universities.
The Ministry of Colleges and Universities made the announcement on March 4, nearly a year after it first proclaimed its intention to divest the two institutions from Sudbury's Laurentian University.
The move grants each school degree-granting authority, giving them flexibility in providing more programs across the North.
Dr. Sarita Verma, president, vice-chancellor and dean at the med school, called it a “profound and historic moment” for the institution.
“We are grateful to Minister (Jill) Dunlop and the Ford government for this incredible commitment to health education in the North and our renewed focus on health equity across our vast region,” she said in a news release.
NOSM opened in 2005 as a not-for-profit corporation of Laurentian University and Lakehead University in Thunder Bay. In 2020-2021, it had nearly 460 full-time students enrolled at the two campuses.
Luc Bussières, president of Université de Hearst, described his school community as "overjoyed” at the news.
“Becoming fully independent, an important aspiration for our establishment, is a significant milestone,” he said in the release.
“We will pursue the work we started 70 years ago with the entire Francophonie. We will greatly benefit from this new support from the government of Ontario.”
Université de Hearst (Hearst) was founded in 1953 and has been an affiliate of Laurentian University since 1963. In 2020-21, it had approximately 160 full-time students enrolled at its three campuses in Hearst, Kapuskasing and Timmins.
Plans to make the two schools independent from Laurentian came in April 2021, just days after mass layoffs at the Sudbury university as part of the insolvency being undertaken under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA).
More than 100 professors and faculty were let go, and more than 60 programs at the school were cancelled on April 12, 2021.
Laurentian University filed for creditor protection last February, citing millions in accrued debt.
