Annual Review - University of Toronto Scarborough

ePort on teaching & research
WoUld yoU describe Utsc as
a local or an international
University exPerience?
rh qBecause of the diverse nature
of our community, internationalism
is not an abstract concept at UTSC.
you see this in a very real and palpable
way. And that’s helped propel us
on a course of action, not just in
our community here in the eastern
end of the City of Toronto but also
abroad. we have programs such as
International Development Studies,
which is unique at UTSC. we train
students to work in the developing
world and bring together areas
of knowledge that often are treated
separately: economics, the
environment, environmental
health, and health in general.
in the world, and it allows us to offer
something that has not been paralleled
elsewhere in Canada, or indeed
throughout higher education.
increasingly, Utsc emPhasizes
“exPeriential” rather than
“co-oP” oPPortUnities.
can yoU exPlain this?
rh qFor many years, we were
regarded as the co-op campus, and
it’s certainly true we’re the one campus
at University of Toronto that runs
a range of co-operative education
programs. But that only begins to
capture the experiential piece. we’re
working to develop experiential
opportunities for our students. These
run the gamut from formal co-op
range from biodiversity measures in
ecosystems to the cultural practices and
language use in human communities.
What else makes the Utsc
camPUs a UniqUe exPerience?
mc qAll of the excellent dynamics
that you come across on the downtown
U of T campus are amplified here
at UTSC because of our relationship
with our surroundings, the nature
of our student body and our
community spirit. what is remarkable
about UTSC is that delivery of the
U of T experience, which is part of
our institutional DNA, is improved by
virtue of our size – big enough to have
critical mass and momentum, but small
enough to have proper community
spirit and connectivity.
Consider our green Path program.
we recruit directly out of a number
of Chinese high schools from all over
the People’s Republic of China and
bring in about 180 students a year to
UTSC, and they form a very important
part of our community. we’re currently
developing similar programs for other
regions. what I can do, when I’m out
recruiting those students, is tell them
that by coming to UTSC, they’re not
simply coming to study alongside
Canadians; they’re coming to study
alongside Pakistani Canadians, Somali
Canadians, Indo-Canadians, Nigerian
Canadians and so on. This learning
environment is probably the most
unique, multicultural and diverse
placements that take them away
from the university setting, away
from the classroom, and put them
in a workplace setting to something
broader, where experience – such
as volunteer activity – gets woven
directly into the classroom experience.
And so, the degree-learning expectations,
the pedagogical outcomes, take
into account learning that might take
place out in the community or in
a non-academic setting.
mc qexperiential learning actually
extends to the research arena, where
students roll up their sleeves and dig
in, whether that means operating a
pipette, being immersed in archives,
being involved in field studies that
rh qwe have an ambitious master
plan for the campus that is largely
about the built environment. It takes
an active imagination to picture the
intellectual and academic milieu
that will emerge as the campus
grows. It’s about moving things as
far forward as we can while our
watch is on. And one of the most
exciting and rewarding things here
is working with colleagues who
are completely committed to the
collective project of the University
of Toronto Scarborough. n
8 UNIVeRSITy oF ToRoNTo SCARBoRoUgH