The University of Toronto is Canada's largest university, but for president Dr. David Naylor, the goal isn't to keep expanding. In fact, the long-term plan is to eliminate thousands of undergraduate spots at its main St. George campus in downtown Toronto.
This school year there are close to 35,000 full-time undergraduates at the main campus, with another 5,000 attending classes part-time. The University of British Columbia, by comparison, had about 23,400 full-time undergraduates at its main campus last year. McGill had just under 20,000.
UofT is planning to increase undergrad spaces at its two suburban campuses, while decreasing the number of undergrads downtown by a greater number. The final tally will depend on many factors, including provincial funding.
Fewer students means fewer dollars, but Dr. Naylor argues that as a leading research university, UofT needs to be more graduate-intensive than other schools. The university will increase the number of graduate students at all three campuses, with a higher proportion at the downtown campus.
With its focus on professional programs, masters and PhD degrees, UofT will not be the best choice for all undergrads. Some will be better served attending smaller universities that focus on undergraduate programs. In The Globe and Mail's University Report Card, published last fall, students said that UofT's size can be intimidating, and gave the school poor marks for student-faculty interaction and campus atmosphere.
Dr. Naylor says taking undergraduate numbers back to where they were a decade ago or more will make the experience that much better for those who come to the main campus. "We believe we can be better at undergraduate education on the St. George campus if we just reduce the numbers," he said. "Right now we have an awful lot of undergraduate students relative to our faculty and staff."
Dr. Naylor became UofT's 15th president in 2005. He received his MD from the University of Toronto's Faculty of Medicine in 1978 with scholarships in medicine, surgery, and pediatrics; and his D.Phil. from the Faculty of Social and Administrative Studies at Oxford University in 1983, where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar.
Dr. Naylor was online earlier to take your questions about undergraduate studies and enrolment at the University of Toronto.
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Danielle Boudreau, globeandmail.com writes: Hello Dr. Naylor, thank you for taking the time today to answer questions on enrolment at the University of Toronto. Do you feel that large undergraduate class sizes have an effect on the quality of education for your students?
Dr. David Naylor writes: Yes, large classes can be a challenge. But it's not totally straightforward.
We have taken pains at U of T to make big class experiences as positive as possible. Our first- and second-year students can hear world-class scholars like Spencer Barrett — a famous biologist, or Janice Stein — a leader in international relations. And there is no question that, if you have the right faculty member lecturing, the right AV support, and excellent teaching assistants, a large class experience can be very good indeed.
However, those big classes should ideally be balanced by smaller-sized classes for more interactive and more personalized instruction. That's why for several years we've offered undergraduate seminars to first year students in Arts and Science on the St. George campus. Over 40% of first years in A&S now participate in seminar courses with no more than 24 students in each course.
There are lots of other ways we try to create smaller and more supportive learning communities on our campuses. You can get an idea of what we're doing with these links — First Year Learning Communities are at flc.utoronto.ca/ and two College-based programs that provide seminar opportunities are described here - www.vicu.utoronto.ca/vic/one.htm and www.trinity.utoronto.ca/Academics/Trinity_One/default.htm.
Upper year students need more specialized courses, and those advanced courses usually demand a more interactive format. That's why students in third and fourth year are often enrolled in much smaller-sized classes, particularly as they specialize.
So, real progress has been made. But in the long run, we'd definitely like to be able to offer more small-sized classes on all three campuses.
Ashley McBride from Toronto, ON Canada writes: Dear Dr. Naylor, University of Toronto is known for its research. But for someone wishing to eventually become a professor of mathematics in a renowned university, would you suggest him or her to pursue an undergraduate degree in mathematics in University of Toronto, or in another university then conduct masters or PhD studies in University of Toronto? Thank you very much, Ashley McBride from Toronto, ON
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