Earn a Certificate of Bilingualism at Laurentian

Invest in your future by learning in both English and French.

Canada is a country with not one, but two official languages: English and French. So, if you’re only fluent in one, the best time to learn a language is while you’re still in school. You have access to plenty of resources to make this process easier for you, like professors, other students, tutorial classes, and much more.

Laurentian University understands the importance of bilingualism and how it can help our students develop essential skills, have greater employment opportunities, and earn more than their monolingual counterparts. For our students who are interested in learning in English and French, we’ve created the Certificate of Bilingualism to recognize your hard work and new skills.

How can you earn the Certificate of Bilingualism?

At Laurentian, earning the Certificate of Bilingualism only requires two steps:

• You must earn at least 15 credits (approx. 5 courses) in courses offered in the English or French language, whichever is not your language of study. So, if you’re studying in English, you need to have 15 credits in French, and vice versa.
• You must achieve a passing grade in these courses taken in the second language.

Once you’ve completed the required number of credits with passing grades, you don’t need to do anything else! The certificate is automatically granted to you upon graduation; there’s no need to apply for it!

As an added benefit, your diploma will bear a special mention acknowledging the achievement of the Certificate of Bilingualism.

How can the Certificate of Bilingualism help you?

The Certificate of Bilingualism demonstrates that you are officially bilingual — a skill that will be valuable in both your personal and professional life. This certificate will benefit you by:

• Increasing your career opportunities
• Providing a competitive advantage over other applicants
• Providing leverage to negotiate for a higher salary or raise
• Allowing you to travel to less tourist-driven destinations and explore areas that are less popular, but rich in culture
• Improving your memory and cognitive abilities
• Monolingual people are a minority. More people in the world are bilingual or multilingual than monolingual
• Bilingual people perform better on conflict management tasks
• Knowing two or more languages can fend off cognitive decline and protect against cognitive diseases such as Alzheimer’s
• Bilinguals are better at switching between two tasks than monolinguals

What to expect at Laurentian

If you’re interested in earning the Certificate of Bilingualism, you will not have any difficulty finding courses. We offer 33 programs, and 539 courses taught in French.

For those of you who will be entering a French language program, you’ll also have the opportunity to receive the Francophone Excellence Award (PDF). This scholarship is valued at $1,250!

Laurentian is the perfect place to start your bilingual experience! We’re located in Sudbury, Ontario, the 3rd largest French population in Canada outside of Quebec. This means you’ll be immersed in a bilingual community where you can practice your new communication skills!

Choose to invest in your future by checking out Laurentian University’s Certificate of Bilingualism!