TheUniversity of Toronto (U of T) is a tri-campuspublicresearch university based on the grounds that surroundQueen's Park inToronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded byroyal charter in 1827 asKing's College, the first institution of higher learning inUpper Canada. Originally controlled by theChurch of England, the university assumed its present name in 1850 upon becoming a secular institution. It consists of three campuses:St. George,Mississauga, andScarborough. Its maindowntown Toronto campus, St. George, is the oldest of the three and operates as acollegiate university, comprising 11colleges, each with substantial autonomy on financial and institutional affairs and significant differences in character and history.
The University of Toronto is the largest university in Canada with more than 100,000 students across its three campuses.[12] It offers over 700 undergraduate and 200 graduate programs. The university receives the most annualscientific research funding andendowment of any Canadian university. It is also one of two members of theAssociation of American Universities outside the United States, alongsideMcGill University in Montreal.[13] Academically, the University of Toronto is noted for influential movements and curricula inliterary criticism andcommunication theory, known collectively as theToronto School.
TheVarsity Blues are the athletic teams that represent the university in intercollegiate league matches, primarily withinU Sports, with ties togridiron football, rowing and ice hockey. The earliest recorded instance of gridiron football occurred at University of Toronto'sUniversity College in November 1861.[20] The university'sHart House is an early example of the North Americanstudent centre, simultaneously serving cultural, intellectual, and recreational interests within its largeGothic-revival complex.
Charter granted byKing George IV in 1827, establishing King's College.
On March 15, 1827, aroyal charter was formally issued byKing George IV, proclaiming "from this time one College, with the style and privileges of a University ... for the education of youth in the principles of theChristian Religion, and for their instruction in the various branches of Science and Literature ... to continue for ever, to be called King's College."[24] The granting of the charter was largely the result of intense lobbying byJohn Strachan, the influential future firstAnglicanBishop of Toronto who took office as the college's first president.[24][25] The original three-storeyGreek Revival school building was built on the present site ofQueen's Park.[26][27][28]
Under Strachan's stewardship, King's College was a religious institution closely aligned with theChurch of England and the British colonial elite, known as theFamily Compact.[29]Reformist politicians opposed the clergy's control over colonial institutions and fought to have the collegesecularized.[30] In 1849, after a lengthy and heated debate, the newly electedresponsible government of theProvince of Canada voted to rename King's College as the University of Toronto and severed the school's ties with the church, given that York was renamed Toronto upon the city's incorporation in 1834.[25] Having anticipated this decision, the enraged Strachan had resigned a year earlier to openTrinity College as a private Anglican seminary.[31]University College was created as the nondenominational teaching branch of the University of Toronto. During theAmerican Civil War, the threat ofUnion blockade onBritish North America prompted the creation of theUniversity Rifle Corps, which saw battle in resisting theFenian raids on the Niagara border in 1866.[32] The Corps was part of theReserve Militia led by professorHenry Croft.[32]
Established in 1878, the School of Practical Science was the precursor to theFaculty of Applied Science and Engineering, which has been nicknamedSkule since its earliest days.[33] While theTemerty 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.[34] Meanwhile, the university continued to set examinations and confer medical degrees.[34] The university opened theFaculty of Law in 1887, followed by theFaculty of Dentistry in 1888 when theRoyal College of Dental Surgeons became an affiliate.[25] Women were first admitted to the university in 1884.[35]
A devastating fire in 1890 gutted the interior of University College and destroyed 33,000 volumes from the library,[36] but the university restored the building and replenished its library within two years.[36] Over the next two decades, acollegiate system took shape as the university arranged federation with several ecclesiastical colleges, including Strachan's Trinity College in 1904. The university operatedthe Royal Conservatory of Music from 1896 to 1991 and theRoyal Ontario Museum from 1912 to 1968; both still retain close ties with the university as independent institutions.[37][38] TheUniversity of Toronto Press was founded in 1901 as Canada's firstacademic publishing house.[39] The Faculty of Forestry, founded in 1907 withBernhard Fernow as dean, was Canada's first university faculty devoted to forest science. In 1910, the Faculty of Education opened itslaboratory school, theUniversity of Toronto Schools.
ASopwith Camel aircraft rests on the Front Campus lawn in 1918.
TheFirst andSecond World Wars curtailed some university activities as undergraduate and graduate men eagerly enlisted.[40][41] Intercollegiate athletic competitions and theHart House Debates were suspended, although exhibition and interfaculty games were still held.[41] TheDavid Dunlap Observatory inRichmond Hill opened in 1935, followed by the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies in 1949.[25][42] By the 1961–62 academic year, the university had a total enrolment of 14,302 students, including 1,531 graduate students.[43]
The university opened its second campus, then known asScarborough College in 1964, and third campus, then known asErindale College shortly after in 1967. The university's former affiliated schools at theOntario Agricultural College andGlendon Hall became fully independent of the University of Toronto and became part ofUniversity of Guelph in 1964 andYork University in 1965, respectively. Beginning in the 1980s, reductions in government funding prompted more rigorous fundraising efforts.[25]
Since 2000
In 2000, geophysicistKin-Yip Chun was reinstated as a professor of the university, after he launched an unsuccessful lawsuit against the university alleging racial discrimination.[44] In 2017, a human rights application was filed against the university by one of its students for allegedly delaying the investigation of sexual assault and being dismissive of their concerns.[45] In 2018, the university cleared one of its professors of allegations of discrimination andantisemitism in an internal investigation, after a complaint was filed by one of its students.[46][47]
The University of Toronto was the first Canadian university to amass afinancial endowment greater than one billion dollars in 2007.[48] From 2011 to 2018, the university embarked on theBoundless fundraising campaign, which concluded in 2018 atCA$2.641billion raised, setting a new all-time fundraising record in Canada.[49]
On September 24, 2020, the university announced the single largest donation in Canadian history, aCA$250million gift to theFaculty of Medicine from Toronto-based philanthropistsJames and Louise Temerty.[50] This broke the previous record for the school set in 2019 when Onex CEOGerry Schwartz and his wife, Indigo CEOHeather Reisman, jointly donated $100 million for the creation of a 70,000-square-metre (750,000 sq ft) innovation and artificial intelligence centre.[51] The Faculty of Medicine has been renamed theTemerty Faculty of Medicine in their honour.
In December 2021, the University of Toronto announced the launch of theDefy Gravity campaign, the largest fundraising campaign in Canadian history, with a goal of raisingCA$4billion for the university.[52]
In August 2025, the university announced the launch of the Lawson Climate Institute, aimed at fostering interdisciplinary research and policy development on climate change. The institute’s stated mission is to connect scholars, policymakers, and community leaders to advance solutions for reducinggreenhouse gas emissions and adapting to impacts of climate change. Initial funding for the Climate Institute was provided through university resources, with plans to seek additional support from public and private partners.[53]
The University of Toronto describes itself as a tri-campus system of "One university [with] three campuses."[12][54] The St. George campus is the university's historic central location in downtown Toronto, with the suburban Scarborough and Mississauga campuses established later in the twentieth century, set in the eastern Toronto district ofScarborough and neighbouring city ofMississauga respectively.
Locations of the university in the Greater Toronto Area
1
St. George (downtown)
3
Scarborough
5
Mississauga
All located within theGreater Toronto Area, each campus has a unique identity and learning environment, with theGothic Revival[55] andneoclassical architecture[56] on the grounds of St. George, the blend ofBrutalist andmodern buildings on the Scarborough campus,[57] and the modern, nature-oriented Mississauga campus.
The architecture is epitomized by a combination ofRomanesque andGothic Revival buildings spread across the eastern and central portions of campus, most dating between 1858 and 1929. The traditional heart of the university, known as Front Campus, is near the campus centre in an oval lawn enclosed by King's College Circle.[60] The centrepiece is the main building ofUniversity College, built in 1857 with an eclectic blend ofRichardsonian Romanesque andNorman architectural elements.[61] The dramatic effect of this blended design by architectFrederick William Cumberland drew praise from European visitors of the time: "Until I reached Toronto," remarkedLord Dufferin during his visit in 1872, "I confess I was not aware that so magnificent a specimen of architecture existed upon theAmerican continent."[62] The building was declared aNational Historic Site of Canada in 1968.[63] Built in 1907,Convocation Hall is recognizable for its domed roof andIonic-pillared rotunda. Although its foremost function is hosting the annual convocation ceremonies, the building is a venue for academic and social events throughout the year.[64] The sandstone buildings ofKnox College epitomizes the North Americancollegiate Gothic design, with its characteristiccloisters surrounding a secluded courtyard.[65]
The neoclassicalConvocation Hall is characterized by its domed roof andIonic-pillared rotunda.
A lawn at the northeast is anchored byHart House, a Gothic-revivalstudent centre complex. Among its many common rooms, the building's Great Hall is noted for large stained-glass windows and a long quotation fromJohn Milton'sAreopagitica inscribed around the walls.[66][67] The adjacentSoldiers' Tower stands 143 feet (44 m) 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.[68] The tower houses a 51-bellcarillon played on special occasions such asRemembrance Day and convocation.[69] North of University College, the main building ofTrinity College displaysJacobethanTudor architecture, while its chapel was built in thePerpendicular Gothic style ofGiles Gilbert Scott.[70] The chapel features exterior walls ofsandstone and interiors ofIndiana Limestone and was built by Italian stonemasons using ancient building methods.[71]Philosopher's Walk is a scenic footpath that follows a meandering, woodedravine, the buriedTaddle Creek, linking with Trinity College,Varsity Arena and theHenry N.R. Jackman 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.[72]
Developed after theSecond World War, the western section of the campus consists mainly ofmodernist andinternationalist structures that house laboratories and faculty offices.[60] The most significant example ofBrutalist architecture is the massiveRobarts Library complex, built in 1972 and opened a year later in 1973. It features raised podia, extensive use of triangular geometric designs and a towering 14-storey concrete structure that cantilevers above a field of open space and mature trees.[73]Sidney Smith Hall is the home to the Faculty of Arts and Science, as well as a few departments within the faculty. TheLeslie L. Dan Pharmacy Building, completed in 2006, exhibits thehigh-tech architectural style of glass and steel by British architectNorman Foster.[74]
The north-central portion of the St. George campus as seen fromRobarts Library, with the skyline ofdowntown Toronto in the background.
The university opened its Mississauga (UTM) campus in 1967.[75] Originally called Erindale College, it is located in the city ofMississauga which borders Toronto approximately 33 kilometres southwest of downtown Toronto. Following rapid growth in the 2000s, the Mississauga campus has expanded to become the second-largest division of the University of Toronto and a significant driver of business and innovation as one of the only university locations in thePeel Region.[76][77] UTM is known for its proximity to nature, located on the bank of theCredit River on 225 acres of protected forested land. In 2011, UTM — in partnership with the Temerty Faculty of Medicine and theTrillium Health Partners system of hospitals — established theMississauga Academy of Medicine with a four-year MD program hosted at the Health Sciences Complex on campus.[78]
The Science Wing, Bladen Building, and the Arts and Administration Building.
The Scarborough (UTSC) campus was opened in 1964 as Scarborough College. At the time of its founding,Scarborough was an independentmunicipality east of Toronto, but has since been amalgamated into the modern city of Toronto. The campus acts as a major provider ofco-operative education for the university and hosts unique double-degree programs.[79] In partnership with the City of Toronto, UTSC operates theToronto Pan Am Sports Centre, a sports complex open to students and the public.[80]
Other locations
In addition to the three campuses, it operates the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies (UTIAS) as part of theFaculty of Applied Science and Engineering, with a location inNorth York since 1960.[81] Hart House Farm is a 150 acre plot of land inCaledon, Ontario managed byHart House since 1949. The farmhouse and its facilities have been used for student recreation and co-curricular activities. Since 2019, the university has explored ways to expand its use as a site for Indigenous students to connect and foster community. The land lies on the territory of theMississaugas of the Credit First Nation along the Niagara Escarpment.[82]
Organization and administration
Simcoe Hall, the location of many of the university's governing offices.
The University of Toronto has traditionally been adecentralized institution, with governing authority shared among its central administration, academic faculties and colleges.[83] The Governing Council is theunicameral legislative organ of the central administration, overseeing general academic, business and institutional affairs,[84] with offices in Simcoe Hall at theSt. George campus. Within the Governing Council and Executive Committee is the Academic Board consisting of various divisional councils, as well as the Business Board, University Affairs Board,Mississauga Campus Council, andScarborough Campus Council. Before 1971, the university was governed under abicameral system composed of the board of governors and the university senate.[83] The chancellor, usually a formergovernor general,lieutenant governor,premier or diplomat, is the ceremonial head of the university. The president is appointed by the council as the chief executive of the university.[84] Both the chancellor and president areex officio members of the Governing Council. There are numerous vice-presidents that serve on the president’s leadership team, one of which is the universityprovost and two of which are theprincipals of the Mississauga campus and Scarborough campus respectively.
Colleges
Unlike most North American institutions, the University of Toronto is acollegiate university with a model that resembles those of theUniversity of Cambridge and theUniversity of Oxford in Britain.[85] The colleges, all located at theSt. George campus, hold substantial autonomy over admissions, scholarships, programs and other academic and financial affairs, in addition to the housing and social duties of typicalresidential colleges.[84][85] 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.[85]
The post-war era saw the creation ofNew College in 1962,Innis College in 1964 andWoodsworth College in 1974, all of them nondenominational.[92] Along with University College, they are the university's constituent colleges, which are established and funded by the central administration and are therefore financially dependent.[93][94]Massey College was established in 1963 by theMassey Foundation as a college exclusively for graduate students.[95]Regis College, aJesuit seminary, entered federation with the university in 1979.[96]
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 separatefinancial endowment. While St. Michael's, Trinity and Victoria continue to recognize their religious affiliations and heritage, they have since adopted secular policies of enrolment and teaching in non-divinity subjects.[94] Some colleges have, or once had, collegiate structures of their own:Emmanuel College is a college of Victoria andSt. Hilda's College is part of Trinity;[89][97] St. Joseph's College had existed as a college within St. Michael's until it was dissolved in 2006.[90]Ewart College existed as an affiliated college until 1991, when it was merged into Knox College.[98] Postgraduate theology degrees are conferred by the colleges of Knox, Regis and Wycliffe, along with the divinity faculties within Emmanuel, St. Michael's and Trinity, including joint degrees with the university through theToronto School of Theology.[99]
Academics
The University of Toronto consists of several divisions spanning a range of disciplines at theundergraduate andgraduate level. There are 14 professional faculties and schools, such asEngineering andMedicine, in addition to the Arts and Science divisions (St. George,Mississauga, andScarborough, which represents the majority of undergraduate education), theSchool of Graduate Studies and the School of Continuing Studies. The professional faculties are mostly based at the St. George campus.[100]
Faculties and divisions of the University of Toronto[101]
TheDalla Lana School of Public Health is a Faculty of the University of Toronto that began as one of the Schools of Hygiene begun by the Rockefeller Foundation in 1927. The School went through a dramatic renaissance after the 2003SARS crisis, and it is now Canada's largest public health school, with more than 750 faculty, 800 students, and research and training partnerships with institutions throughout Toronto and the world. With more than $39 million in research funding per year, the School supports discovery in global health,tobacco impacts on health, occupational disease and disability, air pollution, inner city health, circumpolar health, and many other pressing issues in population health.
The Naylor Building contains offices for the university's Department of Medicine.
Housed within University College, the University of Toronto Art Centre contains three major art collections. The Malcove Collection is primarily represented byEarly Christian andByzantine sculptures, bronzeware, furniture, icons and liturgical items.[132] It also includes glassware and stone reliefs from theGreco-Roman period, and the paintingAdam and Eve byLucas Cranach the Elder, dated from 1538.[132] The University of Toronto Collection featuresCanadian contemporary art,[133] while the University College Art Collection holds significant works by theGroup of Seven and 19th centurylandscape artists.[133]
In the 2022Academic Ranking of World Universities (also known as the Shanghai Ranking), the university ranked 22nd in the world and first in Canada.[134] The 2026QS World University Rankings ranked the university 29th in the world, and second in Canada afterMcGill.[135] In 2019, it ranked 11th among the universities around the world bySCImago Institutions Rankings.[139] The 2023Times Higher Education World University Rankings ranked the university 18th in the world, and first in Canada.[136] In the Times' 2020 reputational ranking, the publication placed the university 19th in the world.[140] In the 2024–25U.S. News & World Report Best Global University Ranking, the university ranked 17th in the world, and first in Canada.[137] The Canadian-basedMaclean's magazine ranked the University of Toronto second in their 2022–2023 Medical Doctoral university category.[138]Maclean's 2023 university rankings also ranked the University of Toronto first in its reputation survey.[141] The university was ranked in spite of having opted out—along with several other universities in Canada—of participating inMaclean's graduate survey since 2006.[142]
Along with academic and research-based rankings, the university has also been ranked by publications that evaluate the employment prospects of its graduates. In theTimes Higher Education's 2022 global employability ranking, the university ranked 11th in the world, and first in Canada.[145] InQS's 2022 graduate employability ranking, the university ranked 21st in the world, and first in Canada.[146] In a 2013 employment survey conducted byThe New York Times, the University of Toronto was ranked 14th in the world.[147]
In 2018, University of Toronto Entrepreneurship was ranked the fourth best university-basedincubator[148] in the world by UBI Global[149] in the "World Top Business Incubator – Managed by a University" category.
Since 1926, the University of Toronto has been a member of theAssociation of American Universities, a consortium of the leading North American research universities. The university manages by far the largest annualresearch budget of any university in Canada with sponsored direct-cost expenditures of $878 million in 2010.[151][152][153] In 2021, the University of Toronto was named the top research university in Canada by Research Infosource, with a sponsored research income (external sources of funding) of $1,234.278 million in 2020.[154] In the same year, the university's faculty averaged a sponsored research income of $446,600, while graduate students averaged a sponsored research income of $61,000.[154] The federal government was the largest source of funding, with grants from theCanadian Institutes of Health Research, theNatural Sciences and Engineering Research Council and theSocial Sciences and Humanities Research Council amounting to about one-third of the research budget. About eight per cent of research funding came from corporations, mostly in thehealthcare industry.[153]
Generations of students have attended speeches, debates and concerts atHart House.
A notable hub for social, cultural and recreational activities at the University of Toronto isHart House, aneo-Gothicstudent activity centre at theSt. George campus that was initiated and financed by alumnus-benefactorVincent Massey and named for his grandfatherHart.[181] Opened in 1919, the complex aimed to establish a communitarian student culture in the university and its students, who at the time kept largely within their own colleges under the decentralized collegiate system.[182] The Hart House offers a range of services and facilities, including a library, restaurants, barbershops,[183] an art gallery, a theatre, concerts, debates, study spaces, and a swimming pool. The confluence of assorted functions is the result of an effort to create a holistic educational experience, a goal summarized in the Founders' Prayer.[184][182] The Hart House model was influential in the planning of student centres at other universities, notablyCornell University'sWillard Straight Hall inIthaca, New York.[185][186]
Hart House resembles some traditional aspects of student representation through its financial support of student clubs, and its standing committees and board of stewards that are composed mostly of undergraduate students. However, administrative and policy issues are mostly handled by the manystudents' unions that exist on at each of the three campuses, along with various colleges, academic faculties and departments. The largest of these is theUniversity of Toronto Students' Union which represents every full-time undergraduate student at theSt. George campus.[187] Others include theUniversity of Toronto Mississauga Students' Union[188] and Scarborough Campus Students' Union,[189] for full-time undergraduate students at theMississauga campus andScarborough campus respectively. Part-time undergraduates and graduate students at all three campuses are represented by the Association of Part-time Undergraduate Students[190] and Graduate Students' Union respectively.[191]
TheHart House Debating Club employs adebating style that combines the American emphasis onanalysis and the British use ofwit.[192] Smaller debating societies at Trinity, University and Victoria College have served as initial training grounds for debaters who later progress to Hart House.[192] The club won theWorld Universities Debating Championship in 1981 and 2006.[193] The North American Model United Nations (NAMUN) hosts an annualModel United Nations conference on campus, while the United Nations Society participates in various North American and international conferences.[194][195] The Toronto chess team has captured the top title six times at thePan American Intercollegiate Team Chess Championship. TheFormula SAE Racing Team won the Formula Student European Championships in 2003, 2005 and 2006.[196]
The University of Toronto also has an annual student-run tradition, the University of TorontoAphrodite Project, where thousands of students complete a psychology questionnaire and are matched with their best algorithmic match on campus forValentine's Day.[197]
Greek life
The University of Toronto is home to the firstcollegiate fraternity in Canada,Zeta Psi, whose Toronto chapter has been active since 1879.[198] Today, there are many further fraternity chapters at the university.[199][200]
Theatre and music
Sunlight fillsKnox College Chapel during a Christmas concert of the engineering faculty's Skule Choir.
Hart House Theatre is the university's studentamateur theatre, generally producing four major plays every season. As old as Hart House itself, the theatre is considered a pioneer inCanadian theatre for introducing theLittle Theatre Movement from Europe.[201][202] It has cultivated numerous performing-arts talents, includingDonald Sutherland,Lorne Michaels,Wayne and Shuster andWilliam Hutt. Three members of theGroup of Seven painters (Harris,Lismer andMacDonald) have been set designers at the theatre,[203] and composerHealey Willan was director of music for 14 productions.[203] The theatre also hosts annual variety shows run by several student theatrical companies at the colleges and academic faculties, the most prominent of which areU.C. Follies of University College,Skule Nite of the Faculty of Engineering, andDaffydil of the Faculty of Medicine, the latter in its 100th year of production in 2010–2011.[204]
The main musical ensembles at Hart House are the orchestra, the chamber strings, the chorus, the jazz choir, the jazz ensemble and the symphonic band. TheJazz at Oscar's concert series performsbig band andvocal jazz on Friday nights at the period lounge and bar of the Hart House Arbor Room.[205]Open Stage is the monthlyopen mic event for singers, comics, poets, and storytellers. The Sunday Concert is the oldest musical series at Hart House; since 1922, the series has performed more than 600 free classical music concerts in the Great Hall.[206][207]
Student media
21 Sussex Court holds office space for several student organizations, likeThe Varsity newspaper.
The Varsity is one of Canada's oldest student-run newspapers, in publication since 1880.[35] The paper was originally a daily broadsheet, but has since adopted a compact format and is now weekly during the Fall and Winter semesters. It publishes online in the summer.Hart House Review, aliterary magazine, publishes prose, poetry, and visual art from emerging Canadian writers and artists.The Newspaper is an independent student-run community newspaper, published weekly since 1978.CIUT-FM is the university'scampus radio station, while the University of Toronto Television broadcasts student-produced content. Students at each campus, college and academic faculty also produce their own set of journals and news publications. University College'sThe Gargoyle was an early training ground for such notables as journalist and authorNaomi Klein and musician/comedianPaul Shaffer. Victoria University'sActa Victoriana is the oldest active literary journal in Canada, and provided first publication credits to such literary figures asMargaret Atwood andNorthrop Frye.Juxtaposition Global Health Magazine is another peer-reviewed student publication at the university.[208]
Members of the student press have contributed to activist causes on several notable occasions. At the height of debate on coeducation in 1880,The Varsity published an article in its inaugural issue voicing in favour of admitting women.[35] In 1895, the university suspended the editor ofThe Varsity for breach of collegiality, after he published a letter that harshly criticized the provincial government's dismissal of a professor and involvement in academic affairs. University College students then approved a motion byVarsity staff member and futurePrime MinisterWilliam Lyon Mackenzie King and boycotted lectures for a week.[209][210] After Prime MinisterPierre Trudeaudecriminalized homosexuality throughout Canada in 1969, a medical research assistant placed an advertisement inThe Varsity seeking volunteers to establish the first university homophile association in Canada.[211]
Student social media
SeveralFacebook pages that postsmemes about student life at the university were created in the 2010s, particularly True🅱lue, and has impacted the student culture of the institution.[212] The University of Toronto is also among the first institutions to use Facebook, long before it opened to the public.
Residences
Teefy House, a residence hall ofSt. Michael's College, is home to female first-year undergraduate students.
The St. George campus has 14 residences which accommodate approximately 6,400 students in all. The university guarantees housing only for undergraduates in their first year of study, while most upper-year and graduate students reside off-campus. The Mississauga and Scarborough campuses have space for 1500 students each, however this is set to increase with plans to build more student housing on all three campuses.[59][213] Traditionally, the adjacent neighbourhoods ofThe Annex to the north andHarbord Village to the west are popular settling grounds for St. George students, forming a distinctstudent quarter enclave,[214][215] thoughChinatown andKensington Market, both to the south of the university, are increasingly populated by students.
The University of Toronto has the most students of any Canadianpost-secondary institution. Total enrolment across the university's three campuses surpassed 100,000 students for the first time in 2024. The university is known for having a high enrolment of international students. It planned to grow its international enrolment to 20.1 per cent by 2021–22. In 2017, the University of Toronto had more international students enrolled than all other Canadian post-secondary institutions.[216][217] In 2024–25, 28.8 per cent of students were international.
In 2001–02, the overall gender ratio was about 57.1 per cent female to 42.9 per cent male for enrolled students, or about 15 males for every 20 females.[218] This gender gap has improved slightly in recent years to 54.8 per cent female, 42.7 per cent male, and 2.5 per cent who identified asanother gender or unreported in 2024–25.[219] This gap is more pronounced for graduation rates, with 59 per cent of degrees conferred on females.[218] Gender ratios also depend on undergraduate versus graduate enrolment, and department.
The overall average of high school grades for first-year students was about 86 per cent for fall 2014.[220] The retention rate was 92.1 per cent.
In 2024–25, 25.2 per cent of the total students from all three campuses were enrolled in the Social Science and Humanities, and 28.1 per cent in Biology, Engineering, and Mathematics & Physical Sciences. General arts and science education accounted for and 14.9 per cent enrolment (all students). Health Professions was 13.0 per cent, Education 5.1 per cent, and Fine Arts 2.4 per cent.[219]
Campus suicides
The University of Toronto has faced significant criticism of its handling of student suicides andstudents' mental health problems.[221][222][223] From 2017 to 2019, four students committed suicide at the school, three of them in theBahen Centre for Information Technology by jumping off from the higher floors.[223] Student advocacy groups have said that the university contributed to the suicides by failing to provide mental health resources, with computer science student Shahin Imtiaz saying in an interview that "the university has turned into a pressure-cooker of intense demands, without the resources to meet the student needs to back it up."[223] While the university does not generally acknowledge student deaths as suicides,[224][225] the university responded to the deaths by adding additional safety barriers to the Bahen Centre in 2021[226] and by promising additional support, adding close to three million dollars in funding for student wellbeing.[222]
The 44 sports teams of theVarsity Blues represent the university in intercollegiate competitions. The two main leagues in which the Blues participate areU Sports (formerly known as Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS)) for national competitions and the auxiliaryOntario University Athletics (OUA) conference at the provincial level. Theathletic nickname of Varsity Blues was not consistently used until the 1930s; previously, references such as "Varsity", "The Big Blue", "The Blue and White", "The Varsity Blue" and simply "The Blues" also appeared interchangeably.[227]The Blue and White is commonly played and sung in athletic games as afight song.[228]
North American (gridiron) football traces its very origin to the University of Toronto with the first documented football game played at University College on November 9, 1861.[20][229][230] TheBlues played their firstintercollegiate football match in 1877 against theUniversity of Michigan in a game that ended with a scoreless draw.[227] Since intercollegiate seasons began in 1898, the Blues have won fourGrey Cup, twoVanier Cup and 25Yates Cup championships, including the inaugural championships for all three trophies.[227] However, the football team has hit a rough patch following its last championship in 1993.[231] From 2001 until 2008, the Blues suffered the longestlosing streak in Canadian collegiate history, recording 49 consecutive winless games.[232] This was preceded by a single victory in 2001 that ended a run of 18 straight losses.[233] The site ofVarsity Stadium has served as the primary playing grounds of the Varsity Blues football andsoccer programs since 1898.[25] It also served as the venue forarchery during the2015 Pan American Games.
Formed in 1891, the storiedVarsity Blues men's ice hockey team has left many legacies on the national, professional and international hockey scenes.Conn Smythe played for the Blues as acentre during his undergraduate years, and was a Blues coach from 1923 to 1926.[234] When Smythe took over theToronto Maple Leafs in 1927, his new team adopted the Varsity Blues' familiar blue-and-white sweater design.[234] Blues hockey competed at the1928 Winter Olympics and captured the gold medal forCanada.[235] At the1980 Winter Olympics, Blues coachTom Watt served as co-coach of theCanadian hockey team in which six players were Varsity grads.[234] In all, the Blues have won theU Sports University Cup national hockey title ten times, last in 1984.Varsity Arena has been the permanent home of the Blues ice hockey programs since it opened in 1926.[25] In men's basketball, the Varsity Blues have won 14 conference titles, including the inaugural championship in 1909, but have not won a national title.[236] In swimming, the men's team has claimed the national crown 16 times since 1964, while the women's team has claimed the crown 14 times since 1970.[237] Established in 1897, theUniversity of Toronto Rowing Club is Canada's oldest collegiaterowing club.[238] It earned a silver medal for the country in themen's eight rowing event in the1924 Summer Olympics in Paris, finishing second toYale's crew.[238]
The University of Toronto alumni-founded companies generate roughly equivalent to one-quarter ofthe Canadian GDP according to a survey published in 2021.[241]
In popular culture
The university's three campuses have been the filming locations for several films and TV series, often standing in for other universities.
Films
Movies filmed at the University of Toronto include:[242]
Gen V (2023– ), a spin-off ofThe Boys where the Mississauga and St. George campuses are used as the fictional Godolkin University.Maanjiwe nendamowinan serves as the School of Crimefighting.
The Boys (2019– ), which filmed at the Mississauga campus. The Innovation Complex Rotunda was used in an interior shot of Vought Tower.
^abcdeThis figure is for the university overall. For individual data on the three campuses in its tri-campus structure,St. George,Mississauga, andScarborough, refer to the respective articles.
^Originates fromHoraceOdes, book I, ode 12, line 45: "crescit occulto velut arbor ævo fama Marcelli" ("The fame of Marcellus grows like a tree over time unseen").
^abEndowment figure does not include separate endowment funds maintained by individual colleges, which amount to C$555.7 million for Victoria University, C$83.7 million for Trinity College, and C$88.5 million for the University of St. Michael’s College in their respective most recent financial reports (2020-2023)Financial Report - 2024(PDF). Financial Services Department, University of Toronto. 2024.Archived(PDF) from the original on August 30, 2023. RetrievedJanuary 2, 2025.Financial Statements of Trinity College - 2022(PDF). KPMG LLP. 2022. RetrievedOctober 22, 2023.Financial Statements - 2023(PDF). Financial Services Department, Victoria University. 2023. RetrievedOctober 22, 2023.Financial Statements of the University of St. Michael's College - 2020(PDF). KPMG LLP. 2020. RetrievedOctober 22, 2023.
^abcdefgFriedland, Martin L. (2002).The University of Toronto: A History. University of Toronto Press. pp. 4, 31, 143, 156, 313, 376,593–96.ISBN978-0-8020-4429-7.
^Faught, Brad (2000)."The Cast of Presidents".University of Toronto Magazine. No. Summer 2000. Archived fromthe original on February 18, 2007. RetrievedNovember 30, 2008.
^Russel, C.H. (February 1999). "The Legacy Continues:C. A. Chant and the David Dunlap Observatory".Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada.93 (1): 11.Bibcode:1999JRASC..93...11R.
^"U of T reinstates researcher".The Globe and Mail. The Globe and Mail Inc. September 9, 2000.Archived from the original on February 8, 2022. RetrievedSeptember 7, 2019.
^abcPask-Aubé, Corinne (2012).University of Toronto Facts and Figures. Office of Government, Institutional and Community Relations.Archived from the original on April 30, 2016. RetrievedFebruary 23, 2016.
^abcAllsop, Robert; et al. (1999)."Investing in the Landscape".Investing in the Landscape. The Open Space Steering Committee, University of Toronto. Archived fromthe original on July 28, 2009. RetrievedJanuary 11, 2009.
^Duffy, Dennis (2002)."As Canadian as a Snowflake".University of Toronto Magazine (Spring 2002). Archived fromthe original on January 18, 2008. RetrievedJanuary 11, 2009.
^abFraser, Brian J. (1995).Church, College, and Clergy: A History of Theological Education at Knox College, Toronto, 1844–1994. McGill-Queen's University Press. p. 126.ISBN978-0-7735-1351-8.
^Leeper, Muriel (1998). "Ringing the bells – Carillon demonstration by musician Gerald Martindale at the Soldiers' Tower Carillon at the University of Toronto in Canada".Performing Arts & Entertainment in Canada.32 (1).ISSN1185-3433.
^McClelland, Michael; Stewart, Graeme; E.R.A. Architects (2007).Concrete Toronto: A Guidebook to Concrete Architecture from the Fifties to the Seventies. Coach House Books. pp. 34, 164, 173.ISBN978-1-55245-193-9.
^abRoss, Murray G. (April 1972). "The dilution of academic power in Canada: The University of Toronto Act".Minerva.10 (2). Springer Netherlands:242–258.doi:10.1007/BF01682420.S2CID143134795.
^"Introduction to New College". New College, University of Toronto. 2007. Archived fromthe original on February 21, 2009. RetrievedDecember 27, 2008."About Innis College". Innis College, University of Toronto. 2005. Archived fromthe original on December 10, 2008. RetrievedDecember 27, 2008."Mission and History". Woodsworth College, University of Toronto. 2006.Archived from the original on January 24, 2009. RetrievedDecember 27, 2008.
^"What is REED?".Records of Early English Drama. Centre for Research in Early English Drama, University of Toronto. 2006.Archived from the original on March 31, 2009. RetrievedJanuary 19, 2009.
^"About the Dictionary of Old English".Dictionary of Old English. Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Toronto.Archived from the original on July 24, 2019. RetrievedJanuary 19, 2009.
^"Hospital Partners".Experience Research. Office of the Vice-President, Research, University of Toronto. 2008. Archived fromthe original on February 17, 2012. RetrievedMarch 15, 2009.
^Statistics Commission; presented to Parliament by the Financial Secretary to the Treasury by Command of Her Majesty, July 2007. (2007).Annual Statistics: 2006–07(PDF). University of Toronto Libraries.ISBN978-0-10-171382-5.Archived(PDF) from the original on December 17, 2008. RetrievedNovember 30, 2008.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
^"2018–2019 RANKING BY COUNTRY". Informatics Institute of Middle East Technical University. 2018.Archived from the original on November 4, 2018. RetrievedNovember 3, 2018.
^abcChallis, John R. G. (2006)."2005–2006 Annual Research Report"(PDF). Office of the Vice-President, Research and Associate Provost, University of Toronto. Archived fromthe original(PDF) on December 17, 2008. RetrievedNovember 16, 2008.
^Cheng, Alice Y.Y.; Zinman, Bernard (2002). "Insulin analogues and the treatment of diabetes".Diabetes: From Research to Diagnosis and Treatment. Informa Health Care.ISBN978-1-84184-151-9.
^Seaberg, Raewyn M.; Smukler, Simon R.; Kieffer, Timothy J.; Enikolopov, Grigori; Asghar, Zeenat; Wheeler, Michael B.; Korbutt, Gregory; van der Kooy, Derek (August 22, 2004). "Clonal identification of multipotent precursors from adult mouse pancreas that generate neural and pancreatic lineages".Nature Biotechnology.22 (9):1115–1124.doi:10.1038/nbt1004.PMID15322557.S2CID24176019.
^McGregor, Nancy; Wardrop, Patricia; Winters, Kenneth."Hart House".Encyclopedia of Music in Canada.Historica Canada.Archived from the original on June 9, 2019. RetrievedAugust 20, 2019.
^"The Founders' Prayer". Hart House. Archived fromthe original on November 22, 2007. RetrievedFebruary 28, 2009. "... discover within its walls true education that is to be found within good fellowship, in friendly disputation and debate, in the conversation of wise and earnest men, in music, pictures and the play, in the casual book, in sports and games and the mastery of the body".
^"Willard Straight Hall Student Union". Office of the Dean of Students, Cornell University. 2009.Archived from the original on September 8, 2008. RetrievedFebruary 28, 2009.As one of the United States first college unions, this Gothic structure was modeled after Hart House at the University of Toronto.
^"Question 9".Dear Uncle Ezra. Cornell University.Archived from the original on June 23, 2010. RetrievedFebruary 28, 2009.The room itself is modeled after the University of Toronto's Hart House, the student union at U of T. The Memorial Room is a smaller version of the Great Hall in Hart House, which is about 3 times the size of the Straight and includes a large wing devoted to athletics.
^"About the UTSU".University of Toronto Students' Union. RetrievedOctober 4, 2025.
^"About Us".University of Toronto Mississauga Students' Union. RetrievedOctober 4, 2025.
^"Who We Are".Association of Part-time Undergraduate Students. RetrievedOctober 4, 2025.
^"About".University of Toronto Graduate Students' Union. RetrievedOctober 4, 2025.
^abWebb, Margaret (2003)."Fighting Words".University of Toronto Magazine (Summer 2003). Archived fromthe original on January 1, 2013. RetrievedFebruary 28, 2009.
^Flynn, Colm (2006)."Dublin Worlds 2006".World Debate Website. Archived fromthe original on September 27, 2007. RetrievedSeptember 24, 2007.
^"UTMUN". University of Toronto Model United Nations.Archived from the original on July 28, 2011. RetrievedApril 28, 2011.
^"Breaking New Ground".The History of Zeta Psi. Zeta Psi Fraternity of North America. 2007.Archived from the original on September 30, 2008. RetrievedFebruary 28, 2009.
^"Internuts".Daffydil 2009. University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine. 2009. Archived fromthe original on October 15, 2011. RetrievedFebruary 25, 2009.
^"Kicks for free: bargain activities".Toronto Life. Toronto: St. Joseph Communications. March 2003.ISSN0049-4194.
^"Rupert M. K. Schieder 1915–2008".Globe and Mail. Canada. September 5, 2008.
^"Sunday Concert". Hart House Music Committee. 2008. Archived fromthe original on January 8, 2009. RetrievedFebruary 25, 2009.
^"Student Journal Publishing".utoronto.ca. University of Toronto. May 1, 2019.Archived from the original on September 21, 2019. RetrievedSeptember 21, 2019.
^Bébout, Rick (January 2000)."Conception & birth".On the Origins of the Body Politic.Archived from the original on November 18, 2008. RetrievedFebruary 28, 2009.
^abXuelun Liang (2012)."Facts & Figures 2012"(PDF). University of Toronto.Archived(PDF) from the original on December 11, 2019. RetrievedOctober 29, 2017.
^ab"Facts & Figures: Students".University of Toronto Institutional Research and Data Governance. RetrievedJuly 25, 2025.
^abOkens, Patrick (1999). "Blues Before Sunrise: Rowing at the University of Toronto". University of Toronto Graduate Department of History.{{cite journal}}:Cite journal requires|journal= (help)
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