The University of Toronto

You may be able to tell from the small blue signs around you… But you’ve just crossed the threshold of University Avenue. A significant number of the city’s most prestigious institutions line both sides of this wide, eight-lane road. The street is actually named after one of these buildings: the University of Toronto. You’ll see the Gothic façade of its main building at the end of the avenue, on your left. Founded in 1827 under the rule of King’s College, this Canadian university is one of the most selective and prestigious in the world. In 1849 it broke away from the Church, and took its current name the following year, soon becoming the most prominent institution in Canada. But how? Well, through the merger of four teaching units in Toronto and Virginia. Today, more than 90,000 students are spread across its three campuses: St. George, the main campus, and two others located in Mississauga and Scarborough, within the Greater Toronto Area. With over 900 undergraduate and graduate programs, a research budget of 1.3 billion dollars, and state-of-the-art facilities across all disciplines, the University of Toronto is Canada’s leader in learning, discovery, and innovation. In fact, eight Nobel Prize winners have walked these halls and studied right here, in U of T, as it’s commonly called – including two Peace Prize laureates. This makes it the second-ranked university in North America in terms of research publications—just behind Harvard.