Quebec's Collège Militaire Royal de Saint-Jean will once again grant university-level degrees, Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan announced Tuesday.

Sajjan made the announcement during Question Period on Parliament Hill, and spread word about it on Twitter.

Returning RMC Saint-Jean to a degree-granting institution is a reflection of Canada and our bilingual heritage. —@HarjitSajjan

The military college, located in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, about 40 kilometres south of Montreal, has been operating as part of a Quebec's CEGEP network of pre-university colleges since it was reopened by the Conservative government in 2008.

Established in 1952 to offer French-language education to cadets, the military college was closed by the Liberal government in 1995.

Currently, there is only one degree-granting military university in the country, the Royal Military College of Canada in Kingston, Ontario.

Sajjan's announcement came in response to a question on the topic from the Liberal MP for Saint-Jean, Jean Rioux.

"Today, I have the honour of announcing my intention to return the Royal Military College in Saint-Jean to full university status," Sajjan told the House.

"It is a good day for bilingualism in Canada and the Canadian armed forces."

Jordan Owens, Sajjan's press secretary, said it was too soon to say when the college would resume granting degrees.

"It's something that we're working towards," she said. "We have administrative steps to take on our side, and the Quebec government will need to pass the legislation that will give the institution degree-granting status."

Part of federal government's bilingual agenda

Owens said returning the college to its status as a university-level institution would once again give French-speaking cadets the right to post-secondary studies in their native tongue.

"It's really important to our government that we recognize Canada's bilingual heritage and for francophones to have the opportunity to obtain an education in a French-speaking environment," she said.

The federal Conservatives had pledged to return the college to university-level status during the 2015 federal election.

At the time, they estimated that would cost about $4 million per year.

Owens couldn't say how much the Liberal government believes the move will cost and said the Department of National Defence is looking at that now.