Heritage College is a CEGEP located in the City of Gatineau. It is the only English-language college in western Quebec. What began as an offshoot of the much larger Collège de l'Outaouais, with an initial enrollment of 7 students, evolved into an official campus and eventually a college. With an ever increasing population and a few stays in renovated buildings (including a bowling alley and a couple of French high schools), it finally achieved fully-autonomous status in 1988 as Heritage College. In 1994, it opened the doors on its newly constructed, more permanent facility; just down the street from its larger sister francophone CEGEP. In 1977, when students were housed in the newly renovated École Ste-Marie, a heritage building on Maisonneuve Boulevard, this branch of the French CEGEP was officially recognized as Heritage Campus. On October 16, 1994, the new Heritage College, with a student population of 900, opened. The CEGEP offers two types of programs: pre-university and technical.