Make the most of your summer at Concordia

The City of Montreal bursts into life in the summer and Concordia is no different.

Whether you’re a current or prospective student, parent, alumnus or just visiting, the university has a wealth of activities on offer throughout the warmer months — from credit and non-credit classes to children’s camps and cheap accommodations for guests.

And now, all of these activities have a new home on the web: Summer @ Concordia.

“This is the first step in our long-term thinking and development of summer programming at Concordia,” says Anne Whitelaw, vice-provost of Planning and Positioning.

“We want to take advantage of our location in the heart of Montreal, which is not only the number-one student city in the world according to the QS Rankings, but also a major cultural destination.”

Whether you want to improve your knowledge on a niche topic or take extra credits when the campus is quieter, there are countless vocational, credit and non-credit classes available throughout the summer at Concordia.

“Harnessing the incredible research being undertaken on campus, we want to attract both our own students, but also students from outside Concordia and members of the general public to come here to try new things,” Whitelaw says.

Classes and summer institutes

The Faculty of Arts and Science has many summer offerings, including six International Graduate Summer Schools in July, a summer institute on Unsettling Feminisms; the Workshops on Social Science Research, and much more.

The John Molson School of Business (JMSB) is accepting applications for two summer courses: one in July on developing the next generation of family business leaders, and another in August on the internationalization of small and medium-sized enterprises. 

From May 7 to 11, the Faculty of Engineering and Computer Science is offering an aircraft certification flight test course. The class is aimed at graduate aeronautical engineering students and industry professionals.

From May to August, the Faculty of Fine Arts will open its facilities to the general public and prospective or current students. Eleven non-credit workshops offer a wide variety of courses, from film or video production and performance (music or acting) to professional development for artists, (grant writing, electronics or portfolios). 

And as an extra bonus, the Department of Music will host Rock Camp for Girls. 

The Concordia University Interdisciplinary Summer Institute will host Learning to Hate, a week-long symposium from June 18 to 22. Aimed at graduate students and professionals, the seminar will explore how to counter, prevent and combat online hate speech.

Continuing education courses run throughout the summer and offer opportunities to upgrade workplace, language and communication skills.

This is just a snapshot of some of the courses available on campus. For more details, be sure to visit the Summer @ Concordia site, as well as the individual faculty pages.

Books, bodybuilding and BIXI

The newly renovated Webster Library, as well as the Vanier Library, remain open during the summer months. Le Gym, Concordia’s state-of-the-art fitness centre, will also be open to new and returning members.

From May 10 to August 19, the historic Grey Nuns Residence opens its doors to the public, providing out-of-towners with some of the most affordable accommodations in the city.

Meanwhile, Montreal’s bike-sharing service, BIXI, offers a fun and sustainable way to explore all the city’s neighbourhoods. Concordia students, faculty and staff can also take advantage of a 20 per cent discount for an annual membership.

Fantasia — the world’s largest genre film festival — will descend on the Sir George Williams Campus from July 22 to August 1, attracting international stars and tourists from across North America.

Summer camps for kids

The Concordia Institute of Aerospace Design and Innovation (CIADI) offers budding scientists a chance to participate in the CIADI Summer Science and Engineering Camp starting July 3. Run over seven weeks by university students and staff, the program offers activities, experiments and off-site visits for kids aged six to 13.

For those a little older, an all-girls engineering technology program will take place July 3 to 13. Designed for students in grades 8 to 11, as well as students in their first year of CEGEP, the program covers topics such as robotics, bridge building, synthetic biology, engineering and game development.

There are also multiple athletics summer camps open to boys and girls of all ages, ranging from two to nine weeks long.

“This is the first year of a coordinated plan for summer activities at Concordia, but it’s made us realize that we can really build on what we're doing currently,” Whitelaw says.

“Stay tuned because we're already starting to think now about what we want to do for next year!”

Find out more about summer at Concordia.