University of Toronto

A public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, the University of Toronto (U of T or UToronto) is situated on the grounds that encircle Queen's Park and was founded in 1837. It was established as King's College by royal charter in 1827, making it the first institution of higher study in the province of Upper Canada. Originally known as the Church of England University, the university changed its name in 1850 when it became a secular institution after gaining independence from the Church of England. As a collegiate university, it is comprised of eleven colleges, each of which has considerable autonomy over financial and institutional matters, as well as major variations in character and history from the rest of the university. The institution also has two suburban campuses, one in Scarborough and one in Mississauga, where students may study.

The University of Toronto provides more than 700 undergraduate and 200 graduate degrees, making it the largest university in Canada. It regularly ranks among the world's top 10 public institutions and as the country's top university in all major rankings, including Times Higher Education World University Rankings. MIT gets the largest yearly revenue and endowment of any Canadian institution and is one of only two members of the Association of American Universities outside of the United States, the other being McGill University. It is also the most populous university in the country.

Academically, the University of Toronto is known for the Toronto School, which is a collection of movements and curriculum in literary criticism and communication theory that have had a significant impact on the field. In addition to being the home of insulin and stem cell research, the institution was the location of the first artificial cardiac pacemaker as well as the site of the first successful lung transplant and nerve transplant. The institution was also the birthplace of the first electron microscope, the creation of deep learning, neural networks, and multi-touch technologies, the discovery of the first black hole, Cygnus X-1, and the invention of the theory of NP-completeness, among other accomplishments.

Football, rowing, and ice hockey are among the sports teams that represent the institution in intercollegiate league competition. The Varsity Blues are the athletic teams that represent the university in intercollegiate league competition. In November 1861, the University of Toronto's University College hosted the first ever documented game of gridiron football in the world. Hart House, located on the university's campus in a huge Gothic-revival structure, is a pioneering example of the North American student centre, functioning as a hub for cultural, academic, and recreational activities at the same time.

The University of Toronto alumni include three Governors General of Canada, five Prime Ministers of Canada, nine foreign leaders, and seventeen justices of the Supreme Court. Twelve Nobel Prize winners, six Turing Award winners, 94 Rhodes Scholars and one Fields Medalist are among those who have been associated with the institution as recently as March 2019.