Ryerson University, Canada

Particularly well-reputed for innovation, Ryerson which has an aggregate enrollment of 25,000 students offers 90 undergraduate, graduate and doctoral programmes

Sited in downtown Toronto (Canada’s most populous and cosmopolitan city), Ryerson University bills itself “Canada’s leader in career-focused education”, offering close to 90 undergraduate, graduate and doctoral programmes across five faculties — arts; communication and design; engineering, architecture and science; community services; and business management. Ryerson’s innovation-driven professional and contemporary arts and science degree programmes combine academic rigour with practical experience, and prepare students to hit the ground running when they graduate.

Particularly well-reputed for innovation, 12 of its undergrad degree programmes — arts and contemporary studies; disability studies; early childhood education; fashion; graphic communications management; health information management; health services management; image arts; international economics and finance; occupational and public health; radio and television, and retail management — are unique among Canadian universities. Moreover, Ryerson’s Daphne Cockwell School of Nursing is Canada’s largest, with 4,000-plus full and part-time students.

Promoted in 1948 as the Ryerson Institute of Technology, the institute changed its name to Ryerson Polytechnical Institute in 1963 and was granted full university status in 1993. Currently it boasts an enrollment of 25,000 full-time undergrad and postgrad students. “Ryerson is a special university. We look for passion and talent, and open the road to great careers and graduate education at Ryerson or universities worldwide,” says Sheldon Levy, president of the varsity.

Toronto. Rated by the US-based business fortnightly Fortune as the world’s best city to live and work in, Toronto (pop. 4.6 million) is Canada’s largest and most culturally diverse metropolis. Over 100 languages and dialects are spoken in Toronto and 49 percent of the city’s residents were born outside of Canada. The streets teem with cafes, restaurants, art galleries and museums, and the city boasts four major sports teams, national ballet and opera companies, a renowned symphony orchestra, and the world’s third largest English language theatre centre.

Toronto is well-served by an extensive, affordable, public transportation system — the second-largest in North America after New York — and is within driving distance of a number of American cities including Washington, Chicago, Boston and New York. Situated on the shores of Lake Ontario, Toronto’s climate is perhaps the mildest in Canada. Spring and summer temperatures range between 15ºC-25ºC while during winter months, the average daytime temperature, with the exception of January, the coldest month, hovers above freezing point.

Campus facilities. Ryerson’s 21-acre campus is located in downtown Toronto, surrounding the Yonge and Dundas squares. The campus is a collection of buildings, some of which were built by the university, but many others are historic buildings converted for use by Ryerson, such as the Theatre School’s building, which was formerly the Ontario College of Pharmacy, built in 1841. Over the past decade the university has embarked on a $210-million campus expansion drive under which six state-of-the-art education complexes have been constructed — the George Vari Engineering and Computing Centre, Sally Horsfall Eaton Centre for Studies in Community Health, Heidelberg Centre-School of Graphic Communications Management,  Student Campus Centre, Heaslip House and Ryerson Business Building. Construction of two other facilities is nearing completion.

The Ryerson Library collection is one of the largest in Canada with over 500,000 books, 3,700 print journal titles and electronic resources valued at $2 million including approximately 23,000 e-journals, e-books, databases and indexes, geospatial data, and catalogued websites or electronic documents. Moroever the university’s Black Star Historical Black & White Photography Collection houses one of the world’s largest photo archives.

The Recreation and Athletics Centre is an award-winning underground facility beneath the ‘Quad’, a large greenspace in the centre of the campus. It features an indoor running track, weight and cardio rooms, four international-sized squash courts, two gymnasiums, three sprung hardwood floor dance studios and a 25-yard pool. Enviable sports facilities apart, Ryerson also hosts 145 student clubs, including academic and campus-wide fraternities.

Admission. The minimum eligibility criteria for admission into Ryerson’s undergraduate programmes is successful completion of Plus Two and proof of proficiency in the English language (TOEFL score 580 plus). Applications for full-time admission are processed through the Ontario Universities’ Application Centre and students can apply online at www.ouac.on.ca. All Ryerson undergrad programmes are divided into Grades-Plus and Grades-Only programs. For grades-plus study programmes (eg. social work, journalism, theatre, early childhood education, etc), students are admitted on the basis of grades plus non-academic criteria such as auditions, interviews and essays, whereas for grades-only (e.g. arts, computer science, business management, nursing, etc) students are selected solely on the basis of academic achievement.

The admission deadline for Grades-Plus programmes is February 1 and Grades-Only March 1. For further information write to the Office of Undergraduate Admissions, 350 Victoria Street, Toronto, Ontario, M5B 2K3 Canada. Tel: ++ 416 979 5080; e-mail: international@ryerson.ca; website: www.ryerson.ca.

Accommodation. Ryerson has three on-campus co-ed halls of residence (Pitman Hall, O’Keefe House and International Living Centre) with a total of 840 rooms. The buildings are all within a five-minute walk from anywhere on campus. Pitman Hall houses 555 students in single rooms, while O’Keefe House has 33 student residences with double and triple occupancy rooms. A former hotel, the International Living Centre houses 252 students on 11 floors in large single rooms.

Degree programmes. In addition to offering full time bachelor’s, Master’s and doctoral degrees across five faculties (see box), Ryerson University also offers part-time degrees and certificates through its Chang School of Continuing Education, which averages an annual enrollment of 65,400 students.

Summiya Yasmeen