Overview

St. Francis Xavier University was founded in 1853 and has a long and proud tradition as one of Canada’s oldest universities. Today, StFX is Canada’s premiere undergraduate university, consistently receiving the highest marks in Canada for academics. StFX is known for its strong spirit, its loyal alumni, its small class sizes, and its vibrant student body and residential campus experience. The strong spirit and values of StFX have been the cornerstone of the university for over 150 years. StFX is truly a “national university” and is unique in Canada in that 50% of the students come from every corner of Canada, North America, and with the StFX-Coady International Institute, the world. StFX has graduates in 140 countries around the globe, and this continues to strengthen the StFX experience and enrich the student experience at StFX

The Early Years

During the first half of the 19th century, close to a million farmers, labourers and tradesmen came from the British Isles to the shores of Nova Scotia to seek a better life, joining the Acadians and Aboriginal peoples already settled there. In the early years, the vast majority of immigrants to the region where StFX was eventually founded were of Scottish Highland decent. In fact the primary language for the over 50% of the people in these early years was Gaelic. To this day there are Gaelic signs and a vibrant Gaelic community in the Antigonish region, along with the oldest Highland Games in the world outside Scotland. Scottish Highlanders made up 67% of the StFX constituency, while Acadians, Irish, English and Aboriginal made up the rest.

StFX was born to serve this diverse community. StFX offered the only university-level education in the region at that time and, partnered with the Roman Catholic diocese, maintained strict academic standards in order to give those who wanted the best education possible.

StFX Past and Present

Over the course of the following decades StFX flourished, expanding its curriculum and bringing the mission of service across Canada and abroad. In the 1930s, that identity was solidified with the world renowned Antigonish Movement—a program whose mandate aligned perfectly with StFX’s original principles of community outreach and service to society. In 1959, the Coady International Institute was formed, allowing those principles to be taken to all corners of the globe.

StFX is also about leadership. The unique campus environment and the StFX values social responsibility have created an atmosphere where students learn to hone their leadership skills and make a difference later in life. StFX is proud of its tradition of producing leaders in health, education, politics, academics, business, labour, and so much more.

StFX has since grown into a renowned institution that works hard to maintain the qualities it was founded on. We’ve seen numerous changes—changes in faculty, changes in the student body, changes in our academic programs. But, while most of Canada's smaller universities have either abandoned their roots or consolidated into larger institutions, we’ve vigorously maintained our autonomy, guarded our character, and upheld the same traditions of freedom and service that inspired the men and women stepping onto the eastern Nova Scotian shores a century and a half ago. At StFX, we’re excited about where we’re headed. But we also like to remember where we came from.