6.3 A Period of Expansion

With university status, Memorial University of Newfoundland entered a period of rapid growth. By the time the University moved to its new multi-building campus on Elizabeth Avenue in 1961, student enrolment had reached almost 2,000.

During this time there were equally dramatic changes in the variety and extent of available academic programs. In the early years of the university, there were two faculties (Arts and Science, and Education); when the University moved to its new campus, areas of instruction, course offerings and degrees awarded had all increased.

In 1966 the Board of Regents approved the establishment of a small residential campus in Harlow, England. The first Memorial University of Newfoundland students went to Harlow in 1969 for Education and Engineering one-semester internships in Harlow schools and factories.

In 1975 Memorial University of Newfoundland established a regional campus in Corner Brook. The campus was named Sir Wilfred Grenfell College in 1979, honouring the memory of the medical missionary who pioneered medicine in Northern Newfoundland and along the coast of Labrador. In 2010 the campus in Corner Brook was renamed Grenfell Campus, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

In 1992 the Marine Institute joined the University, becoming the Fisheries and Marine Institute of Memorial University of Newfoundland. Founded in 1964, the Marine Institute offers a range of certificate, diploma, undergraduate and graduate degree programs in the ocean and marine sectors and is involved in research and technology transfer.

In 2013, the University acquired the former Battery Hotel property in downtown St. John’s and redeveloped it into the Signal Hill Campus. The campus was established primarily as a public engagement facility to further connect the university with the community. The first residence rooms for graduate students opened there in September 2015 and, after significant reconstruction, the campus officially opened in the fall of 2018.

In the late 1970s, Memorial University of Newfoundland established the Labrador Institute of Northern Studies in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, which was renamed the Labrador Institute of Memorial University in 1997. In July 2020, the School of Arctic and Subarctic Studies was created there, Memorial University of Newfoundland’s first academic unit in Labrador. In January 2022 the Labrador Institute officially acquired full academic campus status and was renamed Labrador Campus of Memorial University. Today the Campus is a leading centre of research, education, policy and outreach by and for the North.