york university

York University (French: Université York), also known as YorkU or simply YU, is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's third-largest university,[3] and it has approximately 55,700 students, 7,000 faculty and staff, and over 370,000 alumni worldwide.[3] It has 11 faculties, including the Lassonde School of Engineering, Schulich School of Business, Osgoode Hall Law School, Glendon College,[4] and 28 research centres.

York University was established in 1959 as a non-denominational institution by the York University Act,[5] which received royal assent in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario on 26 March of that year.[6] Its first class was held in September 1960 in Falconer Hall on the University of Toronto campus with a total of 76 students.[7] In the fall of 1961, York moved to its first campus, Glendon College, which was leased from U of T, and began to emphasize liberal arts and part-time adult education.[6] In 1965, the university opened a second campus, the Keele Campus, in North York, within the neighbourhood community now called York University Heights.

Over the last twenty years, York has become a centre for labour strife with several faculty and other strikes occurring,[8][9][10][11][2][12] including the longest university strike in Canadian history in 2018. The university has also faced challenges in handling antisemitism on campus.

History[edit]

York University Faculty Members, 1961

York University was established in 1959 as a non-denominational institution by the York University Act,[5] which received Royal Assent in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario on 26 March of that year.[6] Its first class was held in September 1960 in Falconer Hall on the University of Toronto campus with a total of 76 students.[7]

The policy of university education initiated in the 1960s responded to population pressure and the belief that higher education was a key to social justice and economic productivity for individuals and for society.[6] The governance was modelled on the provincial University of Toronto Act of 1906, which established a bicameral system of university government consisting of a senate (faculty), responsible for academic policy, and a board of governors (citizens) exercising exclusive control over financial policy and having formal authority in all other matters. The president, appointed by the board, was to provide a link between the two bodies and to perform institutional leadership.[6]

In the fall of 1961, York moved to its first campus, Glendon College, and began to emphasize liberal arts and part-time adult education.[6] York became independent in 1965, after an initial period of affiliation with the University of Toronto (U of T), under the York University Act, 1965.[13] Its main campus on the northern outskirts of Toronto opened in 1965.[7]

Murray Ross, who continues to be honoured today at the university in several ways – including the Murray G. Ross Award – was still vice-president of U of T when he was approached to become York University's new president.[14] At the time, York University was envisaged as a feeder campus to U of T, until Ross's powerful vision led it to become a completely separate institution.[15]

In 1965, the university opened a second campus, the Keele Campus, in North York, in the Jane and Finch community.[16] The Glendon campus became a bilingual liberal arts college led by Escott Reid, who envisaged it as a national institution to educate Canada's future leaders, a vision shared by Prime Minister Lester Pearson, who formally opened Glendon College in 1966.[16]

The first Canadian undergraduate program in dance opened at York University in 1970.[14] In 1972, Canada Post featured the nascent institution on 8¢ stamps, entitled York University Campus, North York, Ont.[17] The first Canadian PhD program in women's studies opened with five candidates in January 1992.[14]

Its bilingual mandate and focus on the liberal arts continue to shape Glendon's special status within York University.[18] The new Keele Campus was regarded as somewhat isolated, in a generally industrialized part of the city. Petrol storage facilities are still across the street. Some of the early architecture was unpopular with many, not only for the brutalist designs, but the vast expanses between buildings, which was not viewed as suitable for the climate. In the last two decades, the campus has been intensified with new buildings, including a dedicated student centre and new fine arts, computer science and business administration buildings, a small shopping mall, and a hockey arena.[citation needed] The Aviva Centre tennis stadium, built in 2004, is a perennial host of the Canada Masters tennis tournament. As Toronto has spread further out, York has found itself in a relatively central location within the built-up Greater Toronto Area (GTA), and in particular, near the Jane and Finch neighbourhood. Its master plan envisages a denser on-campus environment commensurate with that location. Students occupied the university's administration offices in March 1997, protesting escalating tuition hikes.[14]

In June 2014, the university announced that a new campus would be constructed in Markham, Ontario.[19] The campus will be built near Highway 407, between Kennedy Road and Warden Avenue in partnership with Seneca College.[20] The new campus would house approximately 4,200 students[21] and is anticipated to accommodate up to 10,000 students in future phases.[22] On May 20, 2015, the provincial government announced it will provide financial contribution to this new project.[23]

On October 24, 2018, the provincial government announced it would pull its funding for the campus, along with funding for the planned satellite campuses of Laurier University and Ryerson University.[24][25] After this cancellation of funding for the Markham project, York University and its partners planned to seek alternative funding.[26] In July 2020, the provincial government allowed plans for the university to go through.

Campuses[edit]

Keele Campus[edit]

An outdoor art exhibit outside of Scott Library, Keele Campus

Main article: Keele Campus

The Keele Campus is the main campus of York University and is located in northern Toronto bordering York Region.[27] Most of the university's faculties reside here, including Liberal Arts, Fine Arts, Business, Law, Environmental Studies, Science and Engineering, Education, and Health. All together, nearly 50,000 students attend classes on the Keele campus.York University station is a Toronto subway station located on Keele campus. Other transit infrastructure located on or near Keele campus includes the York University Busway and the former York University GO Station.

Glendon Campus[edit]

Main article: Glendon College

Glendon College is a bilingual liberal arts faculty and separate campus of York University.[28] Glendon College is home to the Leslie Frost library.[29]

Markham Campus[edit]

In 2018, York University announced a proposal to construct a third campus in the city of Markham. The Government of Ontario supported to partially fund the construction and was announced by premier Doug Ford on July 23, 2020.[30] The Markham Campus is due to open in for the spring 2024 term.[31]

Other locations[edit]

While most of the Schulich School of Business and Osgoode Hall Law School programs are offered at the Keele Campus, both of them maintain satellite facilities in downtown Toronto. Schulich operates the Miles S. Nadal Management Centre at 222 Bay Street (Ernst & Young Tower within the Toronto-Dominion Centre), while Osgoode Hall has a Professional Development Centre at One Dundas West Tower within the Toronto Eaton Centre.

Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change The Lillian Meighen Wright Centre is billed as an eco campus next to Las Nubes Forest Reserve in Costa Rica.[32]

The Schulich School of Business operates a co-campus with GMR School of Business at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad, India.[33]

Academics[edit]

York University Campus

York's approximately 1500 full-time faculty and academic librarians and archivists are represented by the York University Faculty Association. Contract faculty, teaching assistants, and graduate assistants are represented by CUPE Local 3903.[34]

Admissions[edit]

York University has over 120 undergraduate programs with 17 degree types (BA, iBA, BHS, BSc, iBSc, BBA, iBBA, BEng, BES, BDes, BPA, BFA, BCom, BEd, BDEM, BHRM, BScN, BSW) and offers over 170 degree options. They admit to 30 international degrees offering international language study and opportunities to study abroad at more than 100 international universities. Its international students represent over 150 countries around the world. York University's Film Department houses Canada's oldest film school.[35]

Reputation[edit]

York University has been ranked in a number of post-secondary rankings. In the 2022 Academic Ranking of World Universities rankings, the university ranked 401-500 in the world and 18-19 in Canada.[36] The 2024 QS World University Rankings ranked the university 353rd in the world, and sixteenth in Canada.[43] The 2024 Times Higher Education World University Rankings ranked York 351–400 in the world, and 18th in Canada. In 2023, York ranked 40th Globally and 9th in Canada in the Times Higher Education Impact Rankings for Sustainable Development.[44] In the 2022–23 U.S. News & World Report Best Global University Ranking, the university ranked 426th in the world, and 16th in Canada.[40] The Canadian-based Maclean's magazine ranked York University fourth in their 2024 Canadian comprehensive university category.[41]

The university's research performance has been noted in several bibliometric university rankings, which uses citation analysis to evaluates the impact a university has on academic publications. The 2019 Performance Ranking of Scientific Papers for World Universities ranked the university 488th in the world, and 19th in Canada,[45] whereas the University Ranking by Academic Performance placed the university 488th in the world, and 19th in Canada.[46]

York University has also been featured in rankings that evaluates the employment prospects of its graduates. In QS's 2022 graduate employability ranking, the university ranked 301–500 in the world, and 10–17 in Canada.[38]

Faculties[edit]

View of Vari Hall from Harry W. Arthurs Common

York University currently has 11 faculties: the School of Arts, Media, Performance & Design, the Faculty of Education, the Faculty of Environmental & Urban Change, Glendon College, the Faculty of Graduate Studies, the Faculty of Health, the Lassonde School of Engineering, the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies, Osgoode Hall Law School, the Schulich School of Business, and the Faculty of Science.

York University's Film Department houses Canada's oldest film school[47] and has been ranked one of the best in Canada,[48] with an acceptance rate comparable to that of USC School of Cinematic Arts and Tisch School of the Arts.[49]

The Faculty of Environmental & Urban Change is the oldest and largest environmental studies faculty in Canada.[50] From 1999 to 2018, York University offered the first and largest graphic design program in Ontario York/Sheridan Design (YSDN).[51] It was a four-year University degree delivered jointly by the two leading educational institutions of design in Canada (York University and Sheridan College). The joint program has been discontinued and beginning with the class entering in 2019, four-year design students will enrol in a new Bachelor of Design offered by York University, one which is geared for the future of the profession.[52]

The Osgoode Hall Law School moved from a downtown location to the York campus in 1969, following the requirement that every law school affiliate with a university.[53] Osgoode Hall offers a number of joint and combined programs.[54]

Research centres and institutes[edit]

York researchers at the York University Research Leaders 2014 event.

York University is home to 31 organized research units that provide research development beyond the traditional academic units and faculties:

• Centre for Atmospheric Chemistry

• Centre for Research on Biomolecular Interactions

• Centre for Research in Earth and Space Science

• Centre for Research in Mass Spectrometry

• Centre for Vision Research (CVR)

• York Institute for Social Research

• York Institute for Health Research

• Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies

• Centre for Feminist Research

• Israel and Golda Koschitzky Centre for Jewish Studies

• York Centre for Asian Research[55]

• York Centre for International and Security Studies

• York Entrepreneurship Development Institute (YEDI)

• Centre for Public Policy and Law

• Centre for Refugee Studies

• Centre for Research on Latin America and the Caribbean

• Institute for Technoscience and Society

• Institute for Research on Learning Technologies[56]

• The Jack and Mae Nathanson Centre on Transnational Human Rights, Crime and Security

• LaMarsh Centre for Child and Youth Research

• The City Institute at York University (CITY)

• Global Labour Research Centre

• The Harriet Tubman Institute for Research on the Global Migrations of African Peoples

• York Centre for Education and Community

• Muscle Health Research Centre

• Sensorium: The Centre for Digital Arts and Technology

• Centre for Research on Language Contact

• York Centre for Field Robotics

• The Mariano A. Elia Chair in Italian Canadian Studies

• Psychology Resource Centre

• ONE Water

York University was involved with NASA's Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite

The Art Gallery of York University houses the permanent art collections.[57] The collection of 1500 objects includes Canadian, American, Inuit, and European mixed media, multimedia, installations, painting, photography, prints, drawings, sculpture, sketchbooks, film and video.[58]

The School of the Arts, Media, Performance and Design (AMPD, formerly the Faculty of Fine Arts),[59] offers programmes such as design, ethnomusicology, cultural studies, visual arts, music, dance, and theatre. York's Jazz Department was once overseen by Oscar Peterson. York also has a joint Bachelor of Design program with Sheridan College. York's Departments of Film, Theatre and Creative Writing (which is not affiliated with the Faculty of Fine Arts) offers programmes in film production/directing, acting, and writing respectively, producing many award-winning graduates.

Seneca@York[edit]

The Keele campus is host to a satellite facility of Seneca College,[60] and York University offers a number of joint programs with Seneca College

Libraries[edit]

Main article: York University Libraries

The York University library has a number of branches.[61] The Scott Library has materials in humanities, social sciences, fine arts, and environmental studies.[62] The business library is the Peter F. Bronfman Business Library.[63]