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University of Toronto
Crest of the University of Toronto
MottoVelut arbor ævo
(As a tree through the ages)
TypePublic
Established1827
Endowment$1.688 billion
ChancellorDavid Peterson
PresidentDavid Naylor
Undergraduates52,500 full-time, 6,600 part-time (2005)
Postgraduates10,300 full-time, 2,100 part-time (2005)
Location
Toronto
,
Ontario
,
Canada
CampusUrban
Sports teamsVarsity Blues
MascotTrue Blue
Websiteutoronto.ca
Crest image © University of Toronto

The University of Toronto (U of T) is a coeducational public research university in Toronto, Ontario. It is the largest university in Canada by enrollment. The university's main campus, St. George, is located in Downtown Toronto surrounding Queen's Park and the Ontario Legislature. Its two other campuses, the University of Toronto, Scarborough Campus (UTSC) and the University of Toronto at Mississauga (UTM), are located in the eastern and western ends of the Greater Toronto Area.

The institution was founded as King's College by John Strachan, and was granted its Royal Charter in 1827. Its name was changed to the University of Toronto in 1849, after it ended ties with the Church of England to become a secular institution. University College was created as a constituent college in 1853, and over time, the formerly independent Trinity College, Victoria University and St. Michael's College became federated with the university.

A 2006 university ranking by Newsweek International places the University of Toronto 18th worldwide and first in Canada,[1] and similar academic rankings consistently place the university among the world's best.[2][3] Research at the University of Toronto has been responsible for the world's first electronic heart pacemaker, artificial larynx, single-lung transplant, nerve transplant, artificial pancreas, chemical laser, G-suit, the first practical electron microscope, and the extraction of insulin.

History[edit]

Convocation Hall

The University was established on March 15, 1827, when King's College was granted its Royal Charter. The institution was founded by John Strachan, Anglican bishop of Toronto, and the school was strongly Anglican, Upper Canada's established religion at the time. Most of the region's population was not Anglican, however, and when the colony was granted responsible government in 1848 the college was transformed into a nondenominational institution, and in 1849 was renamed the University of Toronto. The old King's College building, located on the current site of the provincial legislature, was closed and the new University College opened in 1853 as "The Provincial College," and was completed in 1858.

In 1853, University College was founded, as a non-denominational teaching institution within the university. Several other Toronto-area religiously affiliated universities and colleges would incorporate with University of Toronto, becoming "federated" with it. The structure of the university was modeled after the federal University of London. Those federated universities are the Catholic St. Michael's, Methodist Victoria, and Anglican Trinity.

Over the next decade the school grew both by building, and by federating with smaller universities. The area around Ontario had a network of denominational schools, but these smaller private schools found it difficult to compete. Thus, often with great reluctance, they decided to affiliate with the University of Toronto. Federation meant the colleges kept their autonomy, but their students had full access to U of T facilities. The Methodist Victoria University joined in 1892, the Anglican Trinity College in 1904, and the Catholic St. Michael's College in 1910. These federated colleges retain much of their independence. Today, the University of Toronto is governed under the University of Toronto Act of 1971.

The gothic University College, originally founded in 1853 as "the Provincial College" and is a National Historic Site.

After the turbulent years of the Great Depression and the World Wars, in which many U of T students and faculty served, the school began to grow dramatically in the 1950s and 1960s due to the baby boom and the ever increasing rate of university attendance. During this period five new colleges were established: New College, Innis College and Woodsworth College were all created on the St. George campus, while 30 km to the west Erindale College was established in Mississauga and the University of Toronto at Scarborough was established 30 km to the east in that suburb.

Hart House, the university's student centre, exemplifies many of the oldest buildings.

The 1980s and 1990s saw a dramatic change in Canadian education as years of government budget cuts forced universities to turn increasingly to the private sector for donations and sponsorships. The University of Toronto, located in the heart of Canada's financial capital, and as the traditional feeder school for the city's commercial elite, was by far the most successful in this fundraising, rapidly collecting an endowment that today approaches $1.5 billion, the largest of any Canadian university. The 1990s and 21st century have also seen expansion resume on all three campuses.

Academics[edit]

Profile[edit]

The University of Toronto has 75 Ph.D. programs and 14 professional faculties. Over 6,000 international students attend the university, representing 9% of the overall student population and 13% of students in graduate studies.[4]

In all, there have been eight Nobel laureates affiliated with the University of Toronto as faculty or students. The university's professors have received almost a quarter of all national awards in the last twenty years, although they represent just over seven percent of Canada's university professors.[5]

The size of the university has allowed it to offer a large variety of courses, from Intermediate Sanskrit, to Computational Genomics, Estonian Literature and Slavic Studies. Of the courses not offered by the university, the most notable is the lack of any journalism program at the main St. George campus, in part because nearby Ryerson University has a prominent journalism school. (The Scarborough campus offers a joint program with Centennial College.) As a result, the many campus newspapers have been considered the university's unofficial journalism school. The size of the university also means that some classes are enormous. General introductory courses in psychology, sociology, and other subjects are taught in Convocation Hall with well over a thousand students at each lecture.

The university's endowment exceeds $1.6 billion—far larger than any other Canadian university.[6] It has an operating budget of $1.1 billion, with $517 million in research and grant and contract support. The university has nearly 100 spin-off companies with over 3,000 employees and revenues of $821 million. The university itself is the 15th largest employer in the Greater Toronto Area.[6]

The University of Toronto publishes more research than any other university in North America besides Harvard University.[7]

Library[edit]

The massive Robarts Library is the main humanities and social sciences library.

The University of Toronto library system is the fourth largest in North America by total number of volumes held, after Harvard, Yale and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.[8] It is the largest in terms of the number of computer files held.

The fourteen-storey Robarts Library (Nicknamed Fort Book) is the main humanities and social sciences library, and the largest book repository in Canada. It also houses the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library. Gerstein Library is the main medical and health science library.

The university has been working with the Internet Archive to digitize many of its collections for an online library.[9] It is also a founding member of the Open Content Alliance, joined by Yahoo and the University of California.

Ranking and reputation[edit]

The University of Toronto ranks first in Canada and 24th worldwide in the Academic Ranking of World Universities by Shanghai Jiao Tong University. The Times Higher Education Supplement places the university at second in Canada and 29th in the world overall, 24th in science and 20th in biomedicine.[10] Newsweek also places the university first in Canada, and 18th worldwide, 9th among public universities, and among the top 5 universities outside the United States.[11]

For twelve consecutive years, U of T has placed first in Canada on the list by Maclean's magazine for the best medical-doctoral universities.[12] (In 2005, it tied for first place with McGill University.) In August 2006, the university announced it will refuse to provide Maclean's with data for the magazine's ranking.[13]

The Scientist rated U of T as the best place to work in academia outside the United States. Research InfoSource ranks U of T among the top research universities in Canada [7]. The Association of Research Libraries rated the university's library as the third-best research library in North America, following Harvard University and Yale University.[14]

Student life[edit]

The university's main entrance - King's College Road.
The former Louis B. Stewart Observatory is the home of the Students' Administrative Council
Graduate House, designed by Pritzker Prize winner Thom Mayne, reflects the postmodern design of many newer structures.

There are 340 student clubs and organisations associated with the University of Toronto.[15] Student government is headed by the Students' Administrative Council.

The university is represented in Canadian Interuniversity Sport by the Toronto Varsity Blues. Today, they are not particularly successful, but have a long and storied history, such as winning the first ever Vanier Cup.[16] There are six main sports funded by the university: hockey, football, basketball, track and field, soccer, and swimming. The numerous other sports are funded through donations and fees paid by those participating.

The school has two main newspapers. The Varsity and The Newspaper. Each college, faculty, and many other groups also publish newspapers. CIUT is the campus' radio station.

Student activism[edit]

The University has borne witness to much activism over the years. In 1895, University College students, allegedly led by William Lyon Mackenzie King, boycotted classes for a week after the editor of the Varsity student newspaper was suspended for anti-administration articles. Although King is traditionally given credit for leadership of the strike, recent scholarship has suggested that his involvement has been overstated.[17]

The 1960s saw the creation of Rochdale College, a large high-rise residence where many students and staff lived. It was not officially connected to the university. Rochdale was established as an alternative to what had been seen as the traditional, authoritarian, and paternalistic structures within universities.[18]

In the fall of 1969, after Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau decriminalized homosexuality, the University of Toronto Homophile Association, the first gay and lesbian group in Toronto or on any Canadian university campus, was formed. Jearld Moldenhauer, a research assistant at the Faculty of Medicine, placed an advertisement in The Varsity, asking others to join in setting up an organization. While the first meeting drew a meager 16 people — 15 men and one woman — the group quickly established a significant profile within the community and the city at large. Two decades later, David Rayside, a professor of political science, would organize the Committee on Homophobia. Ten years after that, he would help introduce a sexual diversity studies program at University College, to much success.[19] Today, 35 years after the start of LGBT activism at U of T, the student queer community is represented by the Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals and Trans People of the University of Toronto (LGBTOUT).

Student groups[edit]

U of T has numerous prominent students groups. One of the most notable is the Hart House Debating Club, home to one of the top-ranked debating teams in the world, and champions at the 2006 World Universities Debating Championship.[20] The University of Toronto Formula SAE Racing Team has also received accolades recently, ranking first for the second year in a row at the Formula Student UK Championships, out of nearly 300 student teams.[21][22]

Student housing[edit]

Housing could be an issue for the downtown (St. George) campus. Residences are usually expensive, but most provide a meal plan. Many find it more suitable to share an apartment with a friend off campus. The university housing services provides detailed information on various residences as well as housing ads for off-campus housing.

Campuses[edit]

Old Vic, the main building of Victoria College

The University comprises three campuses. All three campuses are undergoing expansion efforts, with over 40 facilities recently completed, upgraded or in the process of completion. These capital expansion projects are designed to increase study space as well as attract top talent.

St. George[edit]

The downtown or St. George campus includes four constituent undergraduate colleges and three colleges from its three federated universities. Federated universities were independent colleges that were later incorporated into the university while constituent colleges were created by the university itself.

The downtown campus has a rich architectural history, making it a popular attraction for visitors to the city and a common location for shooting movies. It is bounded by Spadina Avenue to the west, Bloor Street to the north, Bay Street to the east, and College Street to the south. The campus is well-served by public transportation (TTC), namely by the Spadina, St. George, Museum, and Queen's Park subway stations. At the centre of the university is Queen's Park, the home of the Ontario Legislature. The Royal Ontario Museum is also located within the university area.

Mississauga[edit]

Thirty kilometres (18 miles) west of the St. George campus is the University of Toronto at Mississauga (UTM) in suburban Mississauga. Set on the banks of the Credit River, UTM's 224 acre (0.9 km²) campus is decidedly modern. It is off Mississauga Road between Dundas Street and Burnhamthorpe Road in the Erindale area. A shuttle bus connects the UTM and St. George campuses. UTM is currently undergoing massive construction, and is the home of a new athletics facility, including a state-of-the-art pool. On October 10, 2006 at UTM, the new library called the Hazel McCallion Academic Learning Centre (named after Mississauga's mayor) opened its doors. Recently decided, UTM will be home to a new Academy of Medicine, with a close affiliation to the Trillium Health Centre and the Credit Valley Hospital. In the summer of 2007, UTM will open a brand new residence building. UTM is the pre-season and regular season practice home of the Toronto Argonauts.

Scarborough[edit]

At the other end of the Greater Toronto Area is the University of Toronto Scarborough (UTSC), approximately 30 kilometres east of the downtown campus. The 300 acre (1.2 km²) campus is on Highland Creek in the Scarborough area of eastern Toronto, on Military Trail, near Highway 401 and Morningside Avenue. Scarborough campus is the home for the majority of U of T's co-op programs, most notably in management and computer science. It has undergone significant renovation in the past 5 years to include a new library, residence, student centre, management building, and arts building. The Scarborough campus is still undergoing construction and will be expecting a new science building in the S-wing field by 2009.

The college system[edit]

The Brennan Hall complex at St. Mike's

Every arts and science student on the St. George Campus is a member of one of the seven arts and science colleges. The Faculty of Arts and Science administers almost all courses, allowing students to enroll in classes independent of their college. The college registrars and counsellors are responsible for assisting students with applications and course-related queries. While U of T's college system was originally based on the college system at Oxford University, U of T's colleges are not as autonomous, nor do they bear as much of an instructional responsibility to their students. However, first-year seminars and academic programs are offered by all colleges.

Each college has at least one student residence; some are co-ed, others are single-sex. The University of Toronto offers a housing guarantee to all full-time undergraduates entering first year who expressed an interest in residing on-campus during the application process. Notably, U of T successfully upheld this guarantee during the Ontario double cohort of 2003.[23]

The colleges differ in character and resources. Trinity and Innis offer fewer placements for students and are thus more selective. St. Michael's College is a Catholic institution. As the richest college, Victoria has generous scholarships and bursaries. In addition, each college houses specific academic programs, which serve to attract students. Trinity is home to the Munk Centre for International Studies, University College is home to the Trudeau Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies and the Centre for Sexual Diversity, while the Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies is associated with St. Michael's.

In addition to the arts and sciences colleges, there are also four theological colleges and a graduate college affiliated with the university. The theological colleges form part of the Toronto School of Theology.

List of colleges[edit]

Name Established Federated Constituent/Federated Type Religious affiliation Website
Emmanuel College 1928 Constituent of Victoria University Theological United Church Website
Innis College 1964 Constituent Arts and sciences Non-denominational Website
Knox College 1858 Constituent Theological Presbyterian Website
Massey College 1963 Constituent Graduate Non-denominational Website
New College 1962 Constituent Arts and sciences Non-denominational Website
Regis College 1930 Constituent Theological Jesuit Website
St. Michael's College 1852 1910 Federated Arts and sciences/theological Roman Catholic Website
Trinity College 1851 1904 Federated Arts and sciences/theological Anglican Website
Victoria College 1836 1892 Federated Arts and sciences Non-denominational Website
University College 1853 Constituent Arts and sciences Non-denominational Website
Woodsworth College 1974 Constituent Arts and sciences Non-denominational Website
Wycliffe College 1877 Constituent Theological Anglican Website

Organization[edit]

(tag removed) mergefrom|University of Toronto Campus Police|date=October 2006}}

Faculties[edit]

File:Schoolofcontinuingstudies.jpg
School of Continuing Studies.

The university is divided into a number of faculties. These faculties are directly administered by the university with varying degrees of autonomy. Some are undergraduate, but many are only open to graduate students, though these often cooperate with the Faculty of Arts and Science to offer undergraduate programs. Undergraduate professional faculty students (profacs) live in the residences of the Arts and Science colleges. The faculties are:

Centres and institutes[edit]

Affiliated teaching hospitals[edit]

Other affiliated units[edit]

Previously affiliated institutions[edit]

Notable faculty, alumni, and senior officers[edit]

Main article: List of University of Toronto people

See also[edit]

References and footnotes[edit]

  1. ^ Newsweek The Top 100 Global Universities. Retrieved August 18, 2006.
  2. ^ Academic Ranking of World Universities - 2006. Retrieved, August 2006.
  3. ^ The Times Higher Education Supplement World University Rankings. October, 2005. Accessed June 28, 2006.
  4. ^ http://www.utoronto.ca/internationalstudent/index_stats.html
  5. ^ [1]
  6. ^ a b University of Toronto (2005). "Facts & Figures" (PDF). University of Toronto. Retrieved 2006-08-03.
  7. ^ [2]
  8. ^ http://www.ala.org/ala/alalibrary/libraryfactsheet/alalibraryfactsheet22.htm
  9. ^ Building an Online Library, One Volume at a Time
  10. ^ [3]
  11. ^ The Top 100 Global Universities - 2006. Retrieved, August 15, 2006.
  12. ^ Maclean's. "University Research Tool." Retrieved August 11, 2006
  13. ^ Dalhousie University; et al. (2006-08-14). "11 universities bow out of Maclean's university rankings". Retrieved 2006-08-15. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Explicit use of et al. in: |author= (help)
  14. ^ [4]
  15. ^ [5]
  16. ^ Brief History of Varsity Blues Football
  17. ^ Q&A: What made the "blood fairly boil" in U of T student and future prime minister William Lyon Mackenzie King in 1895?, News@UofT.
  18. ^ Rochdale College: Organized anarchy, CBC Archives, Jan. 8, 1969.
  19. ^ Q&A: What was a Canadian first for the University of Toronto in the activist sixties?, News@UofT.
  20. ^ [6]
  21. ^ Weinstein, Ruth. U of T Formula SAE team races to international victory. News@UofT, July 17, 2006.
  22. ^ Laskaris, Sam. University racing team takes top honours. The Annex Guardian, July 20, 2006.
  23. ^ U of T ready to welcome double cohort. Retrieved, June 30, 2006.

External links[edit]


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