University of New Brunswick

University of New Brunswick, public, coeducational institution in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada, and the oldest English-speaking university in Canada. The institution was founded in 1785 as the College of New Brunswick, an all-male secondary school providing courses in the liberal arts and sciences. In 1800 the school was granted a charter by the province of New Brunswick, enabling it to grant degrees. It was the first school in Canada to receive a provincial charter. The first college-level classes were taught in 1822. In 1827 the school received a royal charter transforming it into a university known as King’s College.

King’s College operated for 30 years with little support from the provincial government or from the people of New Brunswick, who believed an agricultural school would have been more useful than the school’s liberal arts curriculum. In 1859 the legislature of New Brunswick reformed King’s College as the University of New Brunswick, a secular institution under provincial control. In 1886 the university became coeducational. The university added schools of law and engineering in the early 1900s.

The University of New Brunswick confers bachelor’s, master’s, professional, and doctoral degrees in the arts and sciences, education, engineering, forestry, law, and nursing. Buildings on the 2874-hectare (7100-acre) campus include the Old Arts Building, constructed in 1826 and the oldest university building in Canada, and the William Brydone Jack Observatory, a wooden structure built in 1851 to house the school’s telescope. The University of New Brunswick established a branch campus in Saint John, New Brunswick, in 1964. The University of New Brunswick (Saint John) confers bachelor’s degrees in the arts and sciences, business, and data analysis.