With the mission of providing a sound and liberal education, Bishop's University in Lennoxville, Quebec stresses excellence in teaching and classes of limited size. The year 2003 marks the 150th anniversary of the signing of the Royal Charter of Bishop's University, an event marked by Canada Post with a single, self-adhesive domestic rate ($0.48) stamp available in a booklet of 8.

Founding
Bishop's College was founded in 1843 under the sponsorship of the Anglican Bishop of Quebec to provide training for the clergy and to offer a liberal education to the country at large. On January 28, 1853, Queen Victoria authorized Bishop's to grant the degrees of "Bachelor, Master, and Doctor, in the several arts and the faculties of Divinity, Law and Medicine." It was decreed that "the said College shall be deemed and taken to be a university." Thus, Bishop's College officially became the University of Bishop's College and, in 1958, the name was changed to Bishop's University.

Bishop's granted its first degrees, in Arts and Divinity, in 1854. The first building, consisting of the five central bays of what is now McGreer Hall, was erected in 1846. In 1891, Bishop's became the first university in Quebec to grant a medical degree to a woman. Three years later, another medical degree was granted to Maude Abbott, who became famous for her medical histories and her work in the area of congenital heart disease. Dr. Abbott was commemorated in the 1999 Millennium Collection Medical Innovators set.

Bishop's University Today
In 1947, University of Bishop's College was secularized and reconstituted as a non-denominational body. Today, Bishop's offers its undergraduates programs in arts, science, education and business administration. The campus occupies 500 acres at the junction of the St. Francis and Massawippi Rivers in Lennoxville. A residential university, Bishop's has 30% of its students in residence and the remainder in nearby off-campus housing. Nearly 60% of full-time students come from outside of Quebec and, in 2001-2002, students from 43 countries attended Bishop's. Full-time undergrads number approximately 1,900, with a total full- and part-time enrollment of about 2,500.

The Bishop's Stamp's Design
The Bishop's University stamp is one in a series of six university stamps designed by Denis L'Allier of Montreal. These stamps share several common elements: the school colours, a campus building or landmark, the institution's coat-of-arms, and a tassel. Featured on this stamp is McGreer Hall, the University's first building, erected in 1846. L'Allier's stamp credits include Public Service International World Congress (2002), Summit of the Americas (2001), Petro-Canada (2000), and Weather Observing (1990).