Kings College (1789)
In 1789, the University of King's College was founded by Anglican United Empire Loyalists in Windsor, Nova Scotia. It is Canada's first chartered university and the oldest English-speaking university in the Commonwealth outside of the United Kingdom. At the outset, King's College discouraged non-Anglicans from attending with Protestant and Catholic colleges emerging as a result. The first universities were intended primarily to preserve British traditions against American republicanism. Secondly, they were to educate clergymen. King's College would be granted its Royal Charter from King George III to grant degrees in 1802 and the first student graduated in 1807. The King's College, however, did not have a long lifespan and crumbled as a result of the war which gained America her independence from Britain. This college was later re-instated as Columbia University.
In 1920 the college burned down, and its future was uncertain. The Carnegie Foundation of New York offered the College a grant on the condition that the new King's College would be built in Halifax and would merge into a division of Dalhousie under the Arts and Sciences program. Additionally, the students and professors of both Universities would share campuses and work as a collaborative unit.
During the period of 1941-1945, this college undertook the task of training subjects for the Royal Canadian Navy, under, King George III, and the students were displaced to another facility in Halifax. This arrangement continued until 1971 when the King's Faculty of Divinity merged with the ecumenical Atlantic School of Theology in Halifax. But, over the next year, two national Canadian programs emerged: In 1972 the Foundation Year Programme was introduced, and in 1978 the first School of Journalism to grant degrees on the Atlantic coast of Canada was established.
Saint Mary's University (1802)
Saint Mary's University was the first English speaking Roman Catholic university to be established in Canada. It was founded in 1802 by two Irish priests, Reverends Dease and O'Brien. Peter McGuigan, The Intrigues of Archbishop John T McNally and the Rise of Saint Mary's University, Fernwood publishing 2010. On March 29, 1841, an act of the Legislature incorporated Saint Mary's which enabled degree-granting privileges for eleven years, and the act included a four-year annual grant of $1,622; then it received permanent power to confer degrees in 1852. Closed in 1883 by Archbishop Cornelius O'Brien due to lack of provincial funding, Saint Mary's would re-open as a high school in 1903, mainly due to the efforts of the same Archbishop of Halifax, Archbishop O'Brien. Saint Mary's University again became degree granting in 1918 after the 1913 arrival of the Irish Christian Brothers at this Saint Mary's College. In 1940 a Jesuit leadership was established. (McGuigan) and in 1970 the institution went public.
Dalhousie University (1818)
Dalhousie University was founded in 1818 by Lord Dalhousie, who modeled the university on the University of Edinburgh, although instruction would not actually begin until 1838. Unfortunately, 5 years later the university's first principal died and the university would remain closed until 1863, when it opened with 6 professors and 1 tutor. The Dalhousie University Act(1963) includes a suggestion of denominational representation on the Board of Governors in proportion to support of endowed chairs. By relying on private contributions, Dalhousie managed to avoid most of the instability of government grants and bureaucratic infighting. Dalhousie University degrees were not awarded until 1866, and instruction did not commence until 1838. There were only 28 students who were in the degree program during this period and another 28 who were casual students. Further, there were only a handful of professors and 1 tutor. The school was consumed with financial difficulties. It wasn't until 1879 that a wealthy New York publisher, whose ancestry was in Nova Scotia, made a hefty donation of over 8 million dollars, and saved the university.
During the 1900s the school expanded and on April 1, 1997, it merged with the Technical University of Nova Scotia (TUNS) and added a Faculty of Computer Science. Despite the merger it retained its name. In 2012, the University absorbed the Nova Scotia Agricultural College, which is now the University's Faculty of Agriculture. The campus remains at its original location just outside the town of Truro, and is now referred to as Dalhousie's Agricultural Campus. This merger added an additional 1, 000 students to Dalhousie's student population.
Dalhousie continues to expand and construction crews can be observed on its Studley campus. Some of its recently built facilities include: Goldberg Computer Science Building (1999), the Marion McCain Arts and Social Science Building (2001), the Kenneth C. Rowe Management Building (2005), the Mona Campbell Building (2010), the Ocean Services Building (2013) and LeMarchant Place opened in 2014. It boasts 100,000 graduates, and its milestone was achieved 140 years after it granted its first two Bachelor of Arts degrees to Joseph Henry Chase and Robert Shaw in 1866. In 1896 it was also the first university to award a Law degree to a black man, James Robinson Johnston.
Acadia University (1838)
After founding Horton Academy in the town of Wolfville, Nova Scotia in 1828, the same Baptist Education Society of Nova Scotia created Queen's College in 1838. The first students began in 1839 and 1843 saw four graduates emerge. It would be renamed Acadia College and receive its charter in 1841, finally becoming a full university in 1891.
St. Francis Xavier University (1853)
St Francis Xavier College was a Roman Catholic institution founded in 1853 in Arichat, Cape Breton, and moved to Antigonish in 1855. In 1866, it gained university status and was renamed St Francis Xavier University and awarded its first degrees in 1868. In 1883, its ladies' institution, Mount St Bernard Academy, was founded and in 1894, it was affiliated with St Francis as Mount St Bernard College becoming in 1897 the first co-educational Catholic university in North America to grant degrees to women.
The school's diversity was a founding feature because the school originated in a region in which a multitude of farmers, tradesman, and labourers immigrated from the British Isles and then intermingled with the native Indian and Acadian peoples who were already residents. As there were a number of people of the Scottish origin already established there, the Gaelic language played a prominent role in the university; this role continues today. Its principal goals are community outreach and society service. The 1930s, therefore, saw innovative initiatives by St. Francis Xavier University in the areas of adult education, cooperatives and credit unions given emphasis as paths "to social improvement and economic organization for disadvantaged groups in eastern Canada." The Antigonish Movement gave momentum to these programs, which reached out to the community.
In 1959, the Coady International Institute was established, and the former principles were made global. Its desire to promote social cohesion has become recognized through its students and successes. Although, many institutes of higher learning have evolved and changed the principles which they were founded on, St. Francis Xavier has held on to its core values over the years. While the university definitely aspires to evolve, it also wants to maintain the core principles with which it was established.
Mount Saint Vincent (1873)
Established by the Sisters of Charity in 1873, the Mount was one of the few institutions of higher education for women in Canada. At a time when women could not vote, the Mount provided an opportunity for women to learn and participate equally in society. In 1925, the Nova Scotia legislature gave Mount Saint Vincent College the right to grant degrees, making it the only independent women's college in the British Commonwealth.
The University of Halifax (1876-1881)
In 1876 the University Act was passed, stating that Dalhousie, King's, Mount Allison, Mount St. Vincent, and St. Mary's would be regarded as Colleges of the non-sectarian University of Halifax, and that each would confer their degrees in the name University of Halifax. It was meant to be an umbrella institution, like the University of London, England, wherein it would not offer instruction but would examine those who presented themselves for examination and conferred degrees if they were successful. The University of Halifax was never accepted by the other universities and it was abolished in 1881
Nova Scotia College of Art and Design (1887)
Oscar Wilde's much-publicized lecture tour in 1882 stopped in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where he advocated the support of art education. Wilde's advocacy was a precursor to the foundation of the Victoria School of Art in 1887, which would be renamed the Nova Scotia College of Art in 1925 upon receiving its Provincial charter. Anna Leonowens, better known for her work as the tutor or governess to the King of Siam as portrayed in the book and film Anna and the King of Siam, along with a committee of citizens worked to found the school to commemorate Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee. It would change its name again to the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design (NSCAD) in 1969 and finally to NSCAD University in 2003. NCSAD developed an international reputation with notable artists who lectured, taught, or collaborated alongside students and faculty including Joseph Beuys, Eric Fischl, Vito Acconci, Sol LeWitt, Michael Snow, Joyce Wieland, Hans Haacke, Claes Oldenburg, A.R. Penck, Krzysztof Wodiczko and John Baldessari.
Université Sainte-Anne (1890)
College Sainte-Anne was founded at Church Point in 1890 by the Eudist fathers. This French language institution received its Charter in 1892 and begin granting degrees in 1903. Now Université Sainte-Anne, it is Nova Scotia's only French language university. Université Stainte-Anne is also the provider of community college level programmes to Nova Scotia francophones. In 1988, the Collège de l'Acadie was established as the French-language counterpart to the NSCC. However, in 2003, the Collège de l'Acadie was placed under the direction of Université Sainte-Anne, except for its PEI operations which became Collège Acadie Î.-P.-É..
Nova Scotia Agricultural College (1905-2012)
At the School of Agriculture, which was established in Truro, Nova Scotia in 1885, Professor H. Smith, was the first academic to conduct agricultural research in the Maritimes, funded by the government. In 1905, this school along with the Provincial Farm, established in 1889 at Bible Hill, and the School of Horticulture, established in 1894 at Wolfville, merged to form the Nova Scotia Agricultural College, which made it the third oldest centre for agricultural education and research in Canada. The new college would work to prepare and educate new farmers in aspects of field and animal husbandry, with many graduates moving on to pursue a degrees from the likes of Macdonald College at McGill University or the Ontario Agricultural College in Guelph, Ontario.
Additional federal funds for agricultural education in 1913 resulted in the creation and expansion of campus facilities at Nova Scotia Agricultural College to encourage new programs in Home Economics, Women's Institutes, rural science and youth training. Nova Scotia developed demonstration buildings to establish closer ties between the community and agricultural education, especially with the growing demand from governments for more food production during World War I. In 2012, the Nova Scotia Agricultural College merged with Dalhousie University to form its Faculty of Agriculture. The campus is now referred to as the University's Agricultural Campus.
Atlantic School of Theology (1971)
Atlantic School of Theology was founded in 1971 through the co-operation of the Divinity Faculty of the University of King's College (Anglican Church of Canada), Holy Heart Theological Seminary (The Roman Catholic Episcopal Corporation of Halifax) and Pine Hill Divinity Hall (United Church of Canada). It was granted degree-granting powers in 1974 when it was incorporated by an Act of the Legislature.
Cape Breton University (1974)
Cape Breton University was founded as the first university college in 1974 on Cape Breton Island when the Nova Scotia Eastern Institute of Technology and Xavier Junior College merged. The new institution, then named University College of Cape Breton, became a public degree-granting institution, while retaining many of the technical and vocational programs from the former institute of technology. Subsequently, the technical programmes were transferred to the Nova Scotia Community College, particularly to the nearby Marconi Campus. The University has the lowest tuition and fees of any university in Atlantic Canada and the highest percentage of Aboriginal student enrolment of any institution in Atlantic Canada.