Laurier in Milton

Join Laurier Milton

Wilfrid Laurier University welcomed its first class of students to the Milton campus in September 2024, extending the university's high-quality academic and student experience along the Toronto-Waterloo Innovation Corridor to the fast-growing community of Milton.

The first few years of the Laurier Milton campus experience are set in the Laurier Milton Academic Centre's engaging education hub, tailored to local and commuter students from the Halton Region and the Greater Toronto Area looking to attend university close to home.

The Laurier Milton Journey

Laurier welcomed its first students in September 2024 in the Milton Academic Centre. We are actively developing Laurier’s Milton campus, which will evolve over the years into a robust, purpose-built campus in the Milton Education Village. Campus spaces will come to life, grounded by Indigenous principles of land stewardship and enriched by sustainable buildings.

Over time, thousands of students, faculty and community partners will work at the forefront of research, innovation and entrepreneurship in Milton. Focused on solutions to planetary health challenges and urban watershed research, their ideas will extend from a broad suite of programs in the classroom into the surrounding greenbelt’s living laboratory. From there, co-op opportunities and partnerships will connect higher-education talent and expertise with Milton business and industry.

Note: All images are for illustrative purposes; the physical campus will develop over a number of years and the campus may look different as development evolves.

year Milton campus opens
acres donated by the Town of Milton*
+
programs with a STEAM and planetary health focus

*33 acres of developable land and 70 acres of undeveloped greenbelt land.

Timeline

Subject to change based on regulatory approvals.

June 2021

Government of Ontario approval.

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July 2021 – February 2023

Master planning, design and approvals.

May 2023

Computer Science and Psychology approved as inaugural programs.

Spring/Summer 2023

Future program planning; earthwork on site.

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Summer 2023

Partnership opportunities for funding and co-op.

Fall 2023

Apply to Laurier in Milton.

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Fall 2023

Laurier, Town of Milton, Haltech and Conestoga College form the Milton Innovation Collective.

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January 2024

Deadline to apply to Laurier in Milton.

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Fall 2024

Laurier welcomed the first class of Milton students!

Campus Design

Evolving over multiple phases and a number of years, Laurier’s new campus represents a milestone in Laurier’s strategic multi-campus growth.

Guiding Principles

Laurier’s Milton campus will be lively, safe, accessible and inclusive, promoting wellbeing and fostering personal and community connections. The network of pedestrian greenways will promote learning, socializing, and experiencing nature, while Laurier’s facilities will also reflect the focus on sustainability and planetary health, with state-of-the-art technology resulting in deep-green buildings with a minimum zero-carbon footprint.

1.

Create a net zero campus that is rooted in sustainability and innovation.

2.

Adopt Indigenous worldviews and perspectives in the design and programming of the campus.

3.

Recognize and honour the rich diversity of those who inhabit the campus by creating an equitable, inclusive place where everyone can belong and thrive.

4.

Foster personal and community connections through the design of buildings, open spaces, and a network of pedestrian greenways.

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5.

Create a lively, healthy, and safe campus whose design promotes wellbeing through learning, socializing, and experiencing nature.

6.

Encourage land stewardship by reinforcing visual and physical connections between the campus, the greenbelt, and the Niagara Escarpment.

7.

Showcase natural ecologies, systems, and research in stormwater treatment within the Greenbelt lands.

8.

Balance immediate campus needs with a flexible and resilient long-term vision.

Campus Location

Located on land provided by the Town of Milton, the campus will be part of a comprehensively planned Milton Education Village in west Milton, encompassing land alongside the Niagara Escarpment. With plans for postsecondary education along with residential, commercial and recreational uses, this future community is the perfect site for a growing campus.

map showing location of Milton campus
map showing Milton campus property boundaries

Greenbelt Lands

The Milton campus bird’s eye view illustrates the current condition of the lands as undeveloped greenfield, with a large portion of the Greenbelt Lands as low-lying wetland and woodlands.

Natural watercourses drain surface runoff from the eastern portion of the Milton Education Village area into the Greenbelt watershed.

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Student Experience

Laurier’s Milton campus is part of Laurier’s powerful multi-campus identity where each of our locations offer distinct programming and cultures that complement each other and work together to create the overall thriving community that makes Laurier unique.

Students studying at Laurier in Milton have the opportunity to take the best part of Laurier’s student life and academic excellence that have been honed at our Waterloo and Brantford campuses and be a part of building a culture that is uniquely theirs in Milton as our campus evolves. Students will live, learn, work and play on the Milton campus while engaging with residents in university-community events.

Laurier’s Milton campus offers the exceptional student experience the university is known for — prioritizing health and wellness activities designed to build resilience, a flexible approach to program delivery that meets the needs of all our students, and a vibrant set of community building programs, experiences, and activities.

Campus Renderings

Indigenous gathering structure rendering. Milton campus entrance rendering. Milton campus greenbelt and research fields. Milton campus overview rendering. Milton campus greenbelt lands. Milton campus overview with research fields. Milton campus walkway rendering. Milton campus waterway rendering.

Student Spaces

Rooted in Indigenous principles of land stewardship and placekeeping, the Laurier Milton Campus, once developed, will exemplify approaches to ecological sustainability, innovation, and inclusiveness.

As the physical campus and its buildings are developed over the years, well-connected open spaces and state-of-the-art buildings will create a living laboratory that fosters hands-on learning and research, connection, and wellbeing for students, staff, faculty, and the broader community.

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A Connected Campus

Laurier’s Milton campus will be a connected one, where remote and in-person learners can connect seamlessly to every aspect of campus from wherever they are – fostering collaboration and community far beyond campus borders.

Once developed, the campus will weave throughout the surrounding natural ecosystem, allowing learning and ideas to flow throughout the campus, from the classroom to the lab and out into the natural landscape.

The campus layout plans are based on accessible, universal design, so campus spaces will be accessible and inclusive of all learners.

It will also be flexible, with spaces and technology that can be reconfigured to suit a range of pedagogical approaches that let users adapt spaces to their changing needs.

Indigenous Focus

With a campus design and programming that adopts Indigenous worldviews and perspectives and is rooted in Indigenous principles of land stewardship and placekeeping, the Laurier Milton campus will exemplify approaches to ecological sustainability, innovation, and inclusiveness.

Laurier’s Milton campus will honour Indigenous pedagogies and ways of knowing, such as circle and land pedagogy, throughout the design.

Indigenous student centre

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Programming

Building on strengths developed in Waterloo and Brantford, Laurier is developing and delivering our Milton programming with a problem-based, future-focused approach to learning that integrates disciplines, partners with community and industry for co-op and work-integrated learning and provides market-ready research.

Focusing on Planetary Health

Students in the Halton region will experience Laurier’s sense of community, along with programming, research and experiential learning in STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics) under a planetary health umbrella as the campus and its program offerings evolve.

This focus is especially suited to the Milton campus, which will be adjacent to Greenbelt lands and the Niagara Escarpment and connect with the neighbouring urban environment.

Studying with a planetary health lens will bring students beyond looking at individual aspects of human and environmental health to looking at the intersection between the two.

This unique academic environment will foster new developments in clean and green technology, sustainable development and more through academic programming, a living lab, knowledge mobilization and commercialization of planetary health solutions.

Diverse Programming

Embodying principles of accessibility, equity, diversity and inclusivity and Indigenous ways of knowing, Laurier’s programs will equip graduates to be change-makers who can work across many contexts and cultures.

Students will find something at Laurier’s Milton campus to suit their diverse personal and professional learning needs at all stages of their lives with a range of innovative credential options and pathways and experiential learning.

Current Program Offerings

Laurier is offering an honours BSc in Computer Science and a BA in Computer Science and honours BA in Psychology as our inaugural programs, combined with attractive course electives, including User Experience Design, Leadership, Criminology and Business Technology management.

Programs are delivered in cohorts to maximize students’ in-person and remote experiences and include amenities that provide students with an on-campus experience tailored to their specific needs.

Learn more about the current Laurier Milton campus experience.

Research and Innovation

Laurier’s Milton campus will be research-intensive, with a multi-disciplinary approach committed to excellence and a focus on solving local, regional, national, and global environmental challenges under a planetary health umbrella. Research activity at the campus will focus on the Greenbelt and Niagara Escarpment lands as a living laboratory for students and collaborative research partnerships with industry.

With partnership as a pillar of our development, the campus and its programs will be a significant element of a Milton hub for sustainable, purpose-led innovation and entrepreneurship and will provide short- and long-term economic benefits for the Town and the Province of Ontario through community and industry partnerships related to planetary health, sustainability, climate change, and water.

Laurier’s Milton campus will ensure strong linkages among businesses, the community and the university, creating a focal point for economic activity and research and innovation with numerous experiential learning opportunities for students, such as co-op placements, volunteer opportunities, workplace projects and community service-learning.

Areas of Research

  • Environments and sustainability;
  • Indigeneity and EDI;
  • Innovation, entrepreneurship and technology; and
  • Commercialization and IP generation for good.

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Partnerships and Economic Benefits

The Province of Ontario announced its approval for a new Laurier Milton campus June 17, 2021, demonstrating confidence in Laurier’s academic excellence, community-building and the strength of our partnerships with the Town of Milton, Conestoga College and other community partners.

With partnership as a pillar of our development, the campus and its programs will be a significant element of a Milton hub for sustainable, eco-focused innovation and entrepreneurship and will provide short- and long-term economic benefits for the Town and the Province of Ontario through community and industry partnerships.

This milestone represents the evolution of Laurier’s powerful multi-campus identity where each of our locations offer distinct programming and cultures that complement each other and work together to create the overall thriving community that makes Laurier unique.

Laurier Milton News and Updates

For more Laurier news and stories, visit wlu.ca/news.

Milton Education Village takes shape as Laurier preps campus construction
miltontoday.ca
Wilfrid Laurier University provides update on Milton Education Village
miltonnow.ca
Wilfrid Laurier University reveals future plans for its Milton campus
insidehalton.com
Laurier welcomes first students to Milton campus during celebratory orientation event
www.wlu.ca
Laurier welcomes alumni and community to Milton campus preview event June 18
www.wlu.ca
Prospective students enjoy a sneak peek at Laurier Milton during Open House event
www.wlu.ca
Wilfrid Laurier University Open House
youtube.com
Wilfrid Laurier University to launch Milton campus for commuters in fall
thestar.com
‘Close to home’: Wilfrid Laurier University opening Milton campus this year
insidehalton.com

Milton Campus Photos

As Laurier works to bring its Milton campus to life, we are pleased to share event and development photos.

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Get Involved with Laurier in Milton