ROUYN-NORANDA, QC, Nov. 4, 2026 /CNW/ -- A new pathway is open to Inuit students in Nunavik. The Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue (UQAT) announced the creation of the Inuktitut-language Bachelor in Preschool and Elementary Education. This is a 120-credit program leading to a Bachelor's degree in Education, and to the opportunity to obtain a teaching certificate issued by the Quebec Ministry of Education.

This step forward is part of a timeline that goes back to 1984. For over 40 years, UQAT, together with its Inuit partners and with Kativik Ilisarniliriniq, Nunavik's school board, has developed a different way of making university education accessible in this region. In particular, this training model is based on a step-by-step progressive path, allowing Inuit students to undertake their academic career through study in short programs or certificate programs.

Today, another milestone can be added to this timeline: The training model was approved by the transitional Comité d'agrément des programmes de formation à l'enseignement (CAPFE). The model has now been added to the Regulation respecting teaching licences and receives funding from the ministère de l'Enseignement supérieur [Ministry of Higher Education]. Until now, the academic path allowed for the earning of a probationary teaching permit, valid in Nunavik, for the Cree and Kativik School Boards. With this new bachelor's degree program, an additional option is available: Inuit students will be able to obtain a teaching certificate and be able to teach throughout the province of Quebec. This is a pathway that didn't yet exist in Nunavik, one that UQAT and its partners chose to create.

The model retains its strength: a step-by-step path, and recognition of prior learning throughout that path. With 90 credits completed, students may continue their training and, subject to applicable conditions¹, earn a Bachelor in Preschool Education and Elementary School Teaching in the Inuktitut language as well as a teaching license, just as other students do in teacher training programs throughout Quebec.

Daring to do things differently

This unique structure stems specifically from the university's own evaluation, completed in 2020, of programs in elementary and preschool education in Northern contexts, as well as the desire expressed by Inuit members of the co-management committee: to support student perseverance by enabling recognition of the completion of each new step in students' university careers, through the issuance of degrees.

The result of a long-term undertaking with Inuit partners, the new program pathway complies with ministerial and institutional requirements leading to the teaching profession while maintaining an approach tailored to the Nothern context, in which the transmission of Inuit language and culture plays a central role.

"This unique development speaks to a way of doing things that is deeply rooted at UQAT: Just because a pathway doesn't already exist doesn't mean one can't be created. This approach is also based on a firm conviction: Inuit students must also be able to access professional training that leads to teaching certification. Together with our Inuit partners, we dared to imagine a different path and dared to change the model, so that we could offer the same professional and academic options to Inuit students. This vision is now a reality," says UQAT Rector Vincent Rousson.

Supporting the full assertion of the First Peoples in meaningful ways

This new pathway is a truly meaningful expression of Orientation 4 in the UQAT 2025-2030 Strategic Plan, "Support the full assertion of the First Peoples," and of the Université's commitment to working together with Indigenous peoples to facilitate their access to higher education.

This commitment is expressed through very real opportunities: obtaining a teaching certificate, teaching across Quebec, and pursuing one's university education in one's home territory. Inuit students now have access to those same opportunities, opportunities made accessible by a differently designed pathway.

SOURCE Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue (UQAT)