Established in 1827 by royal charter, the University of Toronto is the largest research-intensive university in Canada, located in one of the world’s great urban regions.
Operating on three campuses with more than 93,000 students, including over 20,000 graduate students, the University is globally renowned for its teaching and research, and ranks third among universities worldwide in total output of academic publications.
Although master’s degrees were being awarded by the middle of the nineteenth century and the doctorate was established in the 1890s, the School of Graduate Studies (SGS) did not become a distinct academic division within the University of Toronto until 1922.
In 1965, SGS was reorganized and expanded. Today it comprises more than 80 graduate units (departments, centres, and institutes), offering approximately 300 graduate programs.
Most graduate units, while large enough to have a diversity of graduate courses, are small enough to allow students to have a sense of belonging to a recognized community of scholars, colleagues, and associates.
The goal of graduate studies at the University of Toronto is to provide students with the best material and human resources to learn the methods and standards of research necessary to work professionally at the frontiers of knowledge.
Research is central to graduate studies, particularly at the doctoral level. Research-oriented training conveys the importance of keeping pace with a subject, the knowledge of which is always changing. It fosters intellectual curiosity and a creative response to problems. It encourages students to communicate original discoveries effectively.
In the process of education, the graduate student comes to grips with the phenomenon of emerging knowledge. The process enriches the individual as well as the community participating in the exercise. The training and experience are valuable for all areas of work, whether one is teaching in a university; conducting research in government, industry, or private enterprise; or pursuing a professional career.
Research-oriented graduate training provides the means to embark on a lifelong voyage of intellectual discovery, an opportunity and challenge that gives graduate studies pre-eminence in formal education.