The University of Toronto (U of T) is a tri-campus public research university in the Greater Toronto Area of Ontario, Canada. Based on the grounds that surround Queen's Park in Toronto, it was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada. Originally controlled by the Church of England, the university assumed its present name in 1850 upon becoming a secular institution. Its three campuses are known as St. George, Mississauga, and Scarborough. The main downtown Toronto campus, St. George, is the oldest of the three and operates as a collegiate university, comprising 11 colleges, each with substantial autonomy on financial and institutional affairs and significant differences in character and history. Its suburban campuses in the Toronto district of Scarborough to the east and city of Mississauga to the west were established in the 1960s, and together make up over one third of the university's undergraduate student body.
The University of Toronto is the largest post-secondary institution in Canada, with more than 100,000 students across its campuses and colleges. It offers over 700 undergraduate and 200 graduate programs. The university receives the most annual scientific research funding and endowment of any Canadian university. It is also one of two members of the Association of American Universities outside the United States, alongside McGill University in Montreal. Academically, the University of Toronto is noted for influential movements and curricula in literary criticism and communication theory, known collectively as the Toronto School.
