The University of Toronto (U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated a mile north of the city's Financial District on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. The university was founded by Royal Charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in the colony of Upper Canada. Originally controlled by the Church of England, it assumed the present name in 1850 upon becoming a secular institution. As a collegiate university, it consists of twelve colleges that differ in character and history, with each retaining substantial autonomy. The university operates sixteen academic faculties, ten teaching hospitals and numerous research institutes, with two satellite campuses at Mississauga and Scarborough.
Academically, the University of Toronto is noted for influential movements and curricula in literary criticism and communication theory, where it originated the concepts of "the medium is the message" and "global village". The university was the birthplace of insulin and stem cell research, and was the site of the first practical electron microscope, the development of multi-touch technology and the identification of Cygnus X-1 as a black hole. By a significant margin, it receives the most annual research funding of any Canadian university. The Varsity Blues are the athletic teams that represent the university in intercollegiate league matches, with particularly long and storied ties to gridiron football and ice hockey. The university's Hart House is an early example of the North American student centre, simultaneously serving cultural, intellectual and recreational interests within its large Gothic-revival complex.
The university is consistently ranked among the world's best. In the Academic Ranking of World Universities of 2008, the University of Toronto is placed at 24th in the world; The Times Higher Education ranking of 2008 places Toronto at 41st in the world, and in the Newsweek global university ranking of 2006, Toronto ranked 18th in the world, 9th among public universities and 5th among universities outside the United States. The University of Toronto ranked as the nation's top medical-doctoral university in Maclean's magazine for twelve consecutive years between 1994 and 2005.
The founding of a colonial college had long been the desire of John Graves Simcoe, the first Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada. As an Oxford-educated military commander who had fought in the American Revolutionary War, Simcoe believed a college was needed to counter the spread of republicanism from the United States. The Upper Canada Executive Committee recommended in 1798 that a college be established in York, the colonial capital.
depicts University College as it appeared in 1859.]] On March 15, 1827, a Royal Charter was formally issued by George IV of the United Kingdom, proclaiming "from this time one College, with the style and privileges of an University … for the education of youth in the principles of the Christian Religion, and for their instruction in the various branches of Science and Literature … to continue for ever, to be called King's College." The granting of the charter was largely the result of intense lobbying by John Strachan, the influential Anglican Bishop of Toronto who took office as the first president of the college. The original three-storey Greek Revival school building was constructed on the present site of Queen's Park.
Under Strachan's guidance, King's College was a religious institution that closely aligned with the Church of England and the British colonial elite, known as the Family Compact. Reformist politicians opposed the clergy's control over colonial institutions and fought to have the college secularized. In 1849, after a lengthy and heated debate, the newly-elected responsible government of Upper Canada voted to rename King's College as the University of Toronto and severed the school's ties with the church. Having anticipated this decision, the enraged Strachan had resigned a year earlier to open Trinity College, a private Anglican seminary. University College was created as the nondenominational teaching branch of the University of Toronto. During the American Civil War, the threat from Union blockade on British North America prompted the creation of the University Rifle Corps, which saw battle in resisting the Fenian raids on the Niagara border in 1866.
, University of Toronto recruits drill on campus]] Established in 1878, the School of Practical Science was precursor to the Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering, which has been nicknamed Skule since its earliest days. While the Faculty of Medicine opened in 1843, medical teaching was conducted by proprietary schools from 1853 until 1887, when the faculty absorbed the Toronto School of Medicine. Meanwhile, the university continued to set examinations and confer medical degrees during that period. The university opened the Faculty of Law in 1887, and it was followed by the Faculty of Dentistry in 1888, when the Royal College of Dental Surgeons became an affiliate. Women were admitted to the university for the first time in 1884.
A devastating fire in 1890 gutted the interior of University College and devoured thirty-three thousand volumes from the library, but the university restored the building and replenished its library within two years. Over the next two decades, a collegiate system gradually took shape as the university arranged federation with several ecclesiastical colleges, including Strachan's Trinity College in 1904. The university operated the Royal Conservatory of Music from 1896 to 1991 and the Royal Ontario Museum from 1912 to 1968; both still retain close ties with the university as independent institutions. The University of Toronto Press was founded in 1901 as the first academic publishing house in Canada. In 1910, the Faculty of Education opened its laboratory school, the University of Toronto Schools.
The First and Second World Wars curtailed some university activities as undergraduate and graduate men eagerly enlisted. Intercollegiate athletic competitions and the Hart House Debates were suspended, although exhibition and interfaculty games were still held. The David Dunlap Observatory in Richmond Hill opened in 1935, followed by the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies in 1949. The university opened regional campuses in Scarborough in 1964 and in Mississauga in 1967. Created in 1959 as a subsidiary, York University became a fully independent institution in 1965. Beginning in the 1980s, reductions in government funding prompted more rigorous fundraising efforts. The University of Toronto was the first Canadian university to amass a financial endowment greater than C$1 billion.
stands as a memorial to alumni fallen in the World Wars.]] The university grounds lie a mile north of the Financial District in Downtown Toronto, and immediately south of the neighbourhoods Yorkville and The Annex. Sometimes referred to as St. George campus, it encompasses 68 hectares (168 acres) roughly bounded by Bay Street, Bloor Street, Spadina Avenue and College Street. An enclave surrounded by university grounds, Queen's Park is the site of the Ontario Legislative Building and several historic monuments. With its forested landscape and many interlocking courtyards, the university forms a distinct region of urban parkland in the city's downtown core. The namesake University Avenue is a ceremonial boulevard and arterial thoroughfare that runs through downtown between Queen's Park and Front Street. Located near the campus are the Spadina, St. George, Museum and Queen's Park stations of the Toronto subway system.
The architecture is defined by a combination of Romanesque and Gothic Revival buildings spread across the eastern and central portions of campus, most of them dated between 1858 and 1929. The traditional heart of the university, known as Front Campus, is located near the centre of the campus in an oval lawn enclosed by King's College Circle. The centrepiece is the main building of University College, built in 1857 with an eclectic blend of Richardsonian Romanesque and Norman architectural elements. The dramatic effect of this blended design by architect Frederick William Cumberland drew praise from European visitors of the time: "Until I reached Toronto," remarked Lord Dufferin during his visit in 1872, "I confess I was not aware that so magnificent a specimen of architecture existed upon the American continent." The building was declared a National Historic Site of Canada in 1968. Convocation Hall, built in 1907 with a gift from the alumni association, is recognizable for its domed roof and Ionic-pillared rotunda. Although its foremost function is hosting the annual convocation ceremonies, the building serves as a venue for academic and social events throughout the year. The sandstone buildings of Knox College epitomizes the North American collegiate Gothic design, with its characteristic cloisters surrounding a secluded courtyard.
. ]] A lawn at the northeast is anchored by Hart House, a Gothic-revival student centre complex. Among its many common rooms, the building's Great Hall is noted for large stained-glass windows and a long quotation from John Milton's Areopagitica that is inscribed around the walls. The adjacent Soldiers' Tower stands Шаблон:Convert tall as the most prominent structure in the vicinity, its stone arches etched with the names of university members lost to the battlefields of the two World Wars. The tower houses a 51-bell carillon that is played on special occasions such as Remembrance Day and convocation. The oldest surviving building on campus is the former Toronto Magnetic and Meteorological Observatory building, built in 1855 and now home to the student government. North of University College, the main building of Trinity College displays Jacobethan Tudor architecture, while its chapel was built in the Perpendicular Gothic style of Giles Gilbert Scott. The chapel features exterior walls of limestone and interiors of marble quarried from Indiana, and was constructed by Italian stonemasons using ancient building methods. Philosopher's Walk is a scenic footpath that follows a meandering, wooded ravine linking with Trinity College, Varsity Arena and the Faculty of Law. Victoria College is on the eastern side of Queen's Park, centred on a Romanesque main building made of contrasting red sandstone and grey limestone.
Developed after the Second World War, the western section of the campus consists mainly of modernist and internationalist structures that contain laboratories and faculty offices. The most significant example of Brutalist architecture is the massive Robarts Library complex, built in 1972. It features raised podia, extensive use of triangular geometric designs and a towering fourteen-storey concrete structure that cantilevers above a field of open space and mature trees. The Leslie L. Dan Pharmacy Building, completed in 2006, exhibits a modern style of glass and steel by British architect Norman Foster.
, typifies Romanesque Revival architecture. ]] The University of Toronto has traditionally been a decentralized institution, with governing authority shared among its central administration, academic faculties and colleges. The Governing Council is the unicameral legislative organ of the central administration, overseeing general academic, business and institutional affairs. Before 1971, the university was governed under a bicameral system composed of the board of governors and the university senate. The chancellor, usually a former governor-general, lieutenant governor, premier or diplomat, is the ceremonial head of the university. The president is appointed by council as the chief executive.
Unlike most North American institutions, the University of Toronto is a collegiate university with a model that resembles those of the University of Cambridge, Durham University and the University of Oxford in Britain. The colleges hold substantial autonomy over admissions, scholarships, programs and other academic and financial affairs, in addition to the housing and social duties of typical residential colleges. The system emerged in the 19th century, as ecclesiastical colleges considered various forms of union with the University of Toronto to ensure their viability. The desire to preserve religious traditions in a secular institution resulted in the federative collegiate model that came to characterize the university.
reflects the college's Anglican heritage. ]] University College was the founding nondenominational college, created in 1853 after the university was secularized. Knox College, a Presbyterian institution, and Wycliffe College, a low church seminary, both encouraged their students to study for non-divinity degrees at University College. In 1885, they entered a formal affiliation with the University of Toronto, and became federated schools in 1890. The idea of federation initially met strong opposition at Victoria University, a Methodist school in Cobourg, but a financial incentive in 1890 convinced the school to join. Decades after the death of John Strachan, the Anglican seminary University of Trinity College entered federation in 1904, followed in 1910 by the University of St. Michael's College, a Roman Catholic college founded by the Basilian Fathers. Among the institutions that had considered federation but ultimately remained independent were McMaster University, a Baptist school that later moved to Hamilton, and Queen's College, a Presbyterian school in Kingston that later became Queen's University.
Colleges of the University of Toronto|
Constituent colleges
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Federated universities
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The post-war era saw the creation of New College in 1962, Innis College in 1964 and Woodsworth College in 1974, all of them nondenominational. Along with University College, they comprise the university's constituent colleges, which are established and funded by the central administration and are therefore financially dependent. Massey College was established in 1963 by the Massey Foundation as a college exclusively for graduate students. Regis College, a Jesuit seminary, entered federation with the university in 1979.
In contrast with the constituent colleges, the colleges of Knox, Massey, Regis, St. Michael's, Trinity, Victoria and Wycliffe continue to exist as legally distinct entities, each possessing a separate financial endowment. While St. Michael's, Trinity and Victoria continue to recognize their religious affiliations and heritage, they have since adopted secular policies of enrollment and teaching in non-divinity subjects. Some colleges have, or once had, collegiate structures of their own: Emmanuel College is a college of Victoria and St. Hilda's College is part of Trinity; St. Joseph’s College had existed as a college within St. Michael's until it was dissolved in 2006. Ewart College existed as an affiliated college until 1991, when it was merged into Knox College. The colleges of Knox, Regis and Wycliffe, along with the divinity faculties within Emmanuel, St. Michael's and Trinity, confer graduate theology degrees as members of the Toronto School of Theology.
. ]] The Faculty of Arts and Science is the university's main undergraduate faculty, and administers most of the courses in the college system. While the colleges are not entirely responsible for teaching duties, most of them house specialized academic programs and lecture series. Among other subjects, Trinity College is associated with programs in international relations, as are University College with Canadian studies, Victoria College with Renaissance studies, Innis College with film studies, New College with gender studies, and St. Michael's College with Medievalism. The Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering is the other major faculty that allows direct-entry into bachelor's degree programs from secondary schools; undergraduate programs in other faculties generally admit by second entry. Postgraduate programs in arts and science are administered by the School of Graduate Studies.
The Ontario Institute for Studies in Education is the teachers college of the University of Toronto. It is affiliated with the university's two laboratory schools, the Institute of Child Study and the University of Toronto Schools. Autonomous institutes at the university include the Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics, the Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies and the Fields Institute.
is located within the historic Devonshire House complex. ]] The Faculty of Medicine is affiliated with a network of ten teaching hospitals, providing medical treatment, research and advisory services to patients and clients from Canada and abroad. The University Health Network consists of Toronto General Hospital, specialized in cardiology and organ transplants; Princess Margaret Hospital, dedicated to oncology and home to the Ontario Cancer Institute; and Toronto Western Hospital for neuroscience and musculoskeletal health. The Hospital for Sick Children is the pediatric medical centre specializing in treatments for childhood diseases and injuries. The other full affiliates of the university are Bloorview Kids Rehab, Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care, the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Mount Sinai Hospital, St. Michael's Hospital, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto Rehabilitation Institute and Women's College Hospital. Physicians in the medical institutes have cross-appointments to faculty and supervisory positions in university departments.
The University of Toronto is the birthplace of an influential school of thought on communication theory and literary criticism, known as the Toronto School of communications. The school is described as "the theory of the primacy of communication in the structuring of human cultures and the structuring of the human mind." Rooted in the works of Eric A. Havelock and Harold Innis, it grew to prominence with the contributions of Edmund Snow Carpenter, Northrop Frye and Marshall McLuhan, who coined the expressions "the medium is the message" and "global village". Since 1963, the McLuhan Program in Culture and Technology has carried the mandate for teaching and advancing the Toronto School.
The Munk Centre for International Studies provides undergraduate and graduate curricula with international focuses. As the Cold War began, Toronto's Slavic studies program evolved into a specialist centre on Russian and Eastern European politics and economics, financed by the Rockefeller, Ford and Mellon foundations. The Munk Centre is also home to the G8 Research Group, which conducts independent monitoring and analysis on the Group of Eight and its annual summits. The Trudeau Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies teaches qualitative and quantitative methods for analyzing foreign policy and causes of conflict.
Several notable works in arts and humanities are based at the university, including the Dictionary of Canadian Biography since 1959 and the Collected Works of Erasmus since 1969. The Records of Early English Drama collects and edits the surviving documentary evidence of dramatic arts in pre-Puritan England, while the Dictionary of Old English compiles the early vocabulary of the English language from the Anglo-Saxon period.
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houses the main collection for the humanities and social sciences. ]] The University of Toronto Libraries is the fourth-largest academic library system in North America, following those of Harvard, Yale and Berkeley, measured by number of volumes held. The collections include more than 10 million bound volumes, 5.4 million microfilms, 70,000 serial titles and 1 million maps, films, graphics and sound recordings. The largest of the libraries, Robarts Library, holds about five million bound volumes in its fourteen-storey complex, forming the main collection for the humanities and social sciences. The Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library constitutes one of the largest repositories of publicly accessible rare books and manuscripts. Its extensive collections range from ancient Egyptian papyri to incunabula and libretti; the subjects of focus include British, European and Canadian literature, Aristotle, Darwin, the Spanish Civil War, the history of science and medicine, Canadiana and the history of the book. Most of the remaining holdings are dispersed at departmental and faculty libraries, in addition to about 1.3 million bound volumes that are held by the colleges. The university has collaborated with the Internet Archive since 2005 to digitalize some of its library holdings.
Housed within University College, the University of Toronto Art Centre contains three major art collections. The Malcove Collection is primarily represented by Early Christian and Byzantine sculptures, bronzeware, furniture, icons and liturgical items. It also includes glassware and stone reliefs from the Greco-Roman period, and the painting Adam and Eve by Lucas Cranach the Elder, dated from 1538. The University of Toronto Collection features Canadian contemporary art, while the University College Art Collection holds significant works by the Group of Seven and 19th century landscape artists.
Шаблон:Canadian university rankings
In the Academic Ranking of World Universities of 2008, the University of Toronto is placed at 24th in the world; by academic subject, it ranks 21st in engineering and computer science, 27th in medicine, 34th in natural science and mathematics, 48th in life and agricultural sciences, and 51–76th in social science. The Times Higher Education ranking of 2008 places Toronto at 41st in the world, 9th in natural sciences, 10th in technology, 11th in arts and humanities, 13th in life sciences and biomedicine, and 16th in social sciences. Toronto is one of five universities in the ranking that places within the top 16 in every subject category. In the Newsweek global university ranking of 2006, Toronto ranked 18th in the world, 9th among public universities and 5th among universities outside the United States.
The University of Toronto ranked as the nation's top medical-doctoral university in Maclean's magazine for twelve consecutive years between 1994 and 2005. Since 2006, it has joined 22 other national institutions in withholding data from the magazine, citing continued concerns regarding methodology. The university places second, tied with Queen's University, in the Maclean's ranking of 2008. The Faculty of Law is named the top law school in Canada by Maclean's for the second consecutive year, placing first in elite firm hiring, faculty hiring and faculty citations, second in Supreme Court clerkships and fifth in national reach.
The University of Toronto has been a member of the Association of American Universities, a consortium of leading research universities in North America, since 1926. The university manages by far the largest annual research budget of any university in Canada, with direct-cost expenditures of $749 million in 2006. The federal government was the largest source of funding, with grants from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council amounting to about one-third of the research budget. About 8 percent of research funding came from corporations, mostly in the health science industry.
by McCulloch and Till is the basis for all of today's stem cell research.]] The first practical electron microscope was built by the physics department in 1938. During World War II, the university developed the G-suit, a life-saving garment for fighter pilots in the Royal Air Force and the United States Air Force, later adopted for use by astronauts. Development of the infrared chemiluminescence technique allowed scientists to conduct detailed analyses of a system's energy behaviours during a chemical reaction. In 1972, studies on Cygnus X-1 led to the publication of the first observational evidence proving the existence of black holes. Toronto astronomers have also discovered the Uranus moons of Caliban and Sycorax, the dwarf galaxies of Andromeda I, II and III, as well as the supernova SN 1987A.
A pioneer in computing technology, the university designed and built UTEC, one of the world's first operational computers, and later purchased Ferut, the second commercial computer after UNIVAC I. Multi-touch technology was developed at Toronto, and has since found uses ranging from handheld devices to collaboration walls, with new applications still emerging. The university is also a major contributor to the research of wearable computers. The Citizen Lab conducts research on Internet censorship as a joint founder of the OpenNet Initiative, and is the creator of Psiphon, a software tool used to bypass government content filters.
