one of the largest institutions of higher learning in Canada, founded in 1827. The University of Toronto consists (as of 1975) of eight colleges, embracing the natural sciences and the humanities, with faculties of applied science and engineering, arts and science, forestry, food sciences, medicine, dentistry, education, law, and pharmacy. The university has a graduate program and 30 appointive chairs.
The University of Toronto is affiliated with several institutes devoted to research in aerospace, bioelectronics, and pediatrics, as well as to the study of the ecology of the Great Lakes and the history of science and technology. It also sponsors the Banting and Best medical institutes and the Connaught Medical Research Laboratories. The university supports a center for Russian and Eastern European studies. It has schools of architecture, hygiene, preschool education, and business. Included in the university complex are a conservatory, an astronomical observatory, a computer center, a museum, and a library with holdings of approximately 2 million.
In 1975 the University of Toronto had approximately 43,000 undergraduate and graduate students and more than 5,000 teachers, including 619 professors.