History

The history of Trinity Western University begins in the late 1950s when a group of visionaries from the Evangelical Free Church saw the need for a Christian, liberal arts and sciences college in Canada.

The former Seal-Kap dairy farm in Langley provided the site for the realization of their dream. The historic 100-acre farm had originally been established by the Hudson Bay Company to supply food for Fort Langley, the first capital of British Columbia.

In the renovated farm buildings and some prefab dormitories donated by a construction company, Trinity Junior College was launched in 1962 with only 17 students. In 1972 the name was changed to Trinity Western College to differentiate it from another Evangelical Free Church school, Trinity College at Deerfield, Illinois (near Chicago).

In those days, TWC provided just the first two years of a university program, after which students were able to transfer to a publicly-funded university in Canada or the United States to complete their degrees.

Trinity Western was thus a pioneer in the community college movement in B.C., providing the first two years of university-level education outside the metropolitan area a dozen years before the provinces publicly-funded community college network was established.

In 1977, Trinity Westerns charter from the provincial government was amended to provide a four-year degree program; and in 1979 it was amended again to confirm the authority of the school to grant baccalaureate degrees.

In 1984, Trinity Western was granted membership in the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada, the national conference which represents Canadas degree-granting institutions to governments and to the rest of the world. In October of 1985, the provincial Legislature changed the institutions name to Trinity Western University.

Today, TWU is a provincially chartered university in B.C. with 28 undergraduate majors granting BA, B.Sc., B.Ed., BBA, and B.Sc.N. degrees. The Graduate Programs in Biblical Studies and Counseling Psychology grant the MA degree, while the Association of Canadian Theological Schools (ACTS) grants several seminary degrees

The student body numbers over 2100 with about 800 living on campus. Trinity Western employs almost 400 full and part-time staff and faculty, 85 per cent of whom hold earned doctorates. Trinity Western is unique in British Columbiathe only privately-funded, public university and is the recognized leader in Christian higher education throughout Canada.

The University is situated in the beautiful Fraser Valley and is only five minutes from the Fraser River and the picturesque Fort Langley, which in recent years has become a popular setting for film-makers.

Master of Arts in Biblical Studies

In the early 1990s the Religious Studies Department recognized a growing need for evangelical scholars trained to make a contribution in the field of Biblical Studies. In response the department developed the Master of Arts in Biblical Studies program with the first class graduating in 1996. Since then the program has garnered international recognition for its outstanding graduates who have gone on to pursue doctoral degrees.