It’s Official! Concordia to Grant Degrees in Our Own Name

At the beginning of 2024 we announced that the seminary was embarking on a new academic venture, as we sought the right to give degrees in our own name. For the past forty years Brock University, on whose campus the seminary is located, has granted Concordia’s master’s degrees through an Affiliation Agreement. This partnership has been a tremendous blessing, with over 225 graduates receiving their degrees from Brock. But by mutual agreement this year we entered the challenging but exciting process of gaining authority from the province of Ontario to grant degrees ourselves.

To demonstrate the high quality of the degree programmes the faculty submitted a lengthy application. After an on-site visit by an external expert review team, the Post-secondary Quality Assessment Board recommended that our seminary be granted the right to confer the Master of Divinity and Master of Theological Studies degrees. Last week we were thrilled to receive the official letter of consent from the Minister of Colleges and Universities.

We are most grateful to Brock University for their role in supporting our fledgling seminary many decades ago. Our relationship will now mature into a partnership that we hope will help both institutions to achieve their goals. For the seminary this opens the possibility of exploring new programmes to serve the church in addition to the MDiv and MTS degrees that lie at the heart of our mission.

We look forward eagerly to adding a degree-granting ceremony to the traditional call service this spring!