The University of Toronto Faculty of Arts and Science (A&S) is the largest academic division of the University of Toronto and its primary undergraduate faculty on the St. George campus in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the most academically diverse division of the university, offering a large variety of programs in a broad range of subjects. The faculty is composed of seven affiliated colleges: Innis, New, St. Michael's, Trinity, University, Victoria, and Woodsworth. With more than 31,000 undergraduate and 4,700 graduate students,[2] the Faculty of Arts and Science makes up over one third of the university's student population as a whole.
The faculty is nearly as old as the university itself, beginning as the Faculty of Arts during the University of Toronto's inauguration in 1843. One of its founding colleges, Victoria University, predates the official opening of the university.[3] The Faculty of Arts and Science represents over half of the student population on the St. George campus; it hosts 64 per cent of its undergraduates and about one third of graduates who pursue degrees in the humanities, social sciences and sciences. It has 800 professors who teach some 2,000 courses arranged in more than 400 undergraduate and 150 graduate programs hosted by 29 departments, 49 centres and institutes.[2] In partnership with the School of Graduate Studies, the faculty hosts graduate programs offered on all three University of Toronto campuses.
Timeline of its history
Below is a timeline of the Faculty of Arts and Science:[3]
1827: King’s College was established by Royal Charter.
1853: University College was established, assuming responsibility for all teaching in Arts in the University; the University became an examining and degree-granting body.
1856: Construction of present University College building started, completed in 1859.
1881: St. Michael’s College became affiliated with the University; it became fully federated in 1910.
1887: Instruction at the University of Toronto began in fields other than arts and the sciences. University College became purely an Arts College.
1890: The east section of the University College building, including University Library, was gutted by a fire.
1892: Victoria College moved from Cobourg and federated with the University of Toronto.
1892: University Library reopened; renovated in 1909 and in 1954 (now Sigmund Samuel Library).
1904: Trinity College federated with the University of Toronto.
1905: Part-time courses leading to the Bachelor of Arts degree were established.
1971: The University of Toronto Act, 1971 established current governance of the University by a Governing Council; Scarborough College became a separate Arts and Science division in the university.
The Department of Economics has been previously ranked as one of the top 25 worldwide economics faculty rankings, placing 23rd and 18th during the years (1995–99)[5] and (2004–08)[6] respectively. The Department of Philosophy ranked 15th overall in the English-speaking world and 1st in Canada in the Philosophical Gourmet Report.[7] The Department of Sociology ranks among the top 10 in North America. In the 2010 Academic Ranking of World Universities, the Department of Computer Science placed first overall in Canada, and ranked 10th worldwide.[8]
Admission statistics
For the 2012–2013 entrance year, Arts had an entry average of 86.6% and Science had an entry average of 88.8%. Rotman Commerce, a joint program with the Rotman School of Management, had an entry average of 91.7%.[9][10] For professional and graduate studies, admission is competitive. For 2011–2012, programs such as public policy and global affairs accept about one-tenth of applicants, though they do not have standardized admissions test requirements. Doctoral-stream master's programs had an acceptance rate of 29.6%, while doctoral programs admitted 21.5% of applicants.[11]
The faculty consists of 29 academic departments, 7 colleges, and 45 interdisciplinary centres, institutes and programs.[12] Below is a list of departments in the faculty:
Raquel Urtasun – University Professor (Computer Science) and researcher in the field of artificial intelligence and deep learning, co-founder of the Vector Institute.
Sanja Fidler – Associate Professor (Computer Science), Director of AI at Nvidia, co-founder of the Vector Institute.
Allan Borodin – University Professor (Computer Science) and former department chair of the Department of Computer Science from 1980 to 1985.
Charles Rackoff – University Professor Emeritus (Computer Science) specializing in cryptography and security protocols.
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