York University
York University, also known as YorkU or simply YU, is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's third-largest university, and it has approximately 53,500 students, 7,000 faculty and staff, and over 375,000 alumni worldwide. It has 11 faculties, including the Lassonde School of Engineering, Schulich School of Business, Osgoode Hall Law School, Glendon College, and 32 research centres.
York University was established in 1959 as a non-denominational institution by the York University Act, which received royal assent in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario on 26 March of that year. Its first class was held in September 1960 in Falconer Hall on the St. George campus of the University of Toronto with a total of 76 students. In the fall of 1961, York moved to its first campus at Glendon Hall, which was leased from U of T, and began to emphasize liberal arts and part-time adult education. In 1965, the university opened a second campus, the Keele Campus, in North York, within the neighbourhood community now called York University Heights.
Over the last twenty years, York has become a centre for labour strife with several faculty and other strikes occurring, including the longest university strike in Canadian history in 2018.
History
York University was established in 1959 as a non-denominational institution by the York University Act, which received Royal Assent in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario on 26 March of that year. Its first class was held in September 1960 in Falconer Hall on the University of Toronto St. George campus with a total of 76 students.The policy of university education initiated in the 1960s responded to population pressure and the belief that higher education was a key to social justice and economic productivity for individuals and for society. The governance was modelled on the provincial University of Toronto Act of 1906, which established a bicameral system of university government consisting of a senate, responsible for academic policy, and a board of governors exercising exclusive control over financial policy and having formal authority in all other matters. The president, appointed by the board, was to provide a link between the two bodies and to perform institutional leadership.
In the fall of 1961, York moved to its first campus, Glendon College, and began to emphasize liberal arts and part-time adult education. York became independent in 1965, after an initial period of affiliation with the University of Toronto, under the York University Act, 1965. Its main campus on the northern outskirts of Toronto opened in 1965.
Murray Ross, who continues to be honoured today at the university in several ways – including the Murray G. Ross Award – was still vice-president of U of T when he was approached to become York University's new president. At the time, York University was envisaged as a feeder campus to U of T, until Ross's powerful vision led it to become a completely separate institution.
In 1965, the university opened a second campus, the Keele Campus, in North York, in the Jane and Finch community. The Glendon campus became a bilingual liberal arts college led by Escott Reid, who envisaged it as a national institution to educate Canada's future leaders, a vision shared by Prime Minister Lester Pearson, who formally opened Glendon College in 1966.
The first Canadian undergraduate program in dance opened at York University in 1970. In 1972, Canada Post featured the nascent institution on 8¢ stamps, entitled York University Campus, North York, Ont. The first Canadian PhD program in women's studies opened with five candidates in January 1992.
Its bilingual mandate and focus on the liberal arts continue to shape Glendon's special status within York University. The new Keele Campus was regarded as somewhat isolated, in a generally industrialized part of the city. Petrol storage facilities are still across the street. Some of the early architecture was unpopular with many, not only for the brutalist designs, but the vast expanses between buildings, which was not viewed as suitable for the climate. In the last two decades, the campus has been intensified with new buildings, including a dedicated student centre and new fine arts, computer science and business administration buildings, a small shopping mall, and a hockey arena. Sobeys Stadium, a tennis stadium built in 2004, is a perennial host of the Canadian Open. As Toronto has spread further out, York has found itself in a relatively central location within the built-up Greater Toronto Area, and in particular, near the Jane and Finch neighbourhood. Its master plan envisages a denser on-campus environment commensurate with that location. Students occupied the university's administration offices in March 1997, protesting escalating tuition hikes.
In June 2014, the university announced that a new campus would be constructed in Markham, Ontario. The campus will be built near Highway 407, between Kennedy Road and Warden Avenue in partnership with Seneca College. The new campus would house approximately 4,200 students and is anticipated to accommodate up to 10,000 students in future phases. On 20 May 2015, the provincial government announced it will provide financial contribution to this new project. On 24 October 2018, the provincial government announced it would pull its funding for the campus, along with funding for the planned satellite campuses of Laurier University and Toronto Metropolitan University. After this cancellation of funding for the Markham project, York University and its partners planned to seek alternative funding. In July 2020, the provincial government allowed plans for the university to go through. The Markham Campus opened for the Fall 2024 session.
Campuses
Keele Campus
The Keele Campus is the main campus of York University and is located in northern Toronto bordering York Region. Most of the university's faculties reside here, including Liberal Arts, Fine Arts, Business, Law, Environmental Studies, Science and Engineering, Education, and Health. All together, nearly 50,000 students attend classes on the Keele campus. York University station is a Toronto subway station located on Keele campus. Other transit infrastructure located on or near Keele campus includes the York University Busway and the former York University GO Station.Glendon Campus
Glendon College is a bilingual liberal arts faculty and separate campus of York University. Glendon College is home to the Leslie Frost library.Markham Campus
In 2018, York University announced a proposal to construct a third campus in the City of Markham. The Government of Ontario supported to partially fund the construction and was announced by premier Doug Ford on 23 July 2020. The Markham Campus was due to open for the spring 2024 term, but officially opened in September 2024.The campus currently hosts over 1,000 students, with capacity projected to be up to 4,200 students over the next several years. Markham is the first public university campus in York Region.
The campus hosts programs in arts and media, IT, liberal arts, environmental studies, engineering, science, and business.
York University is projected to recover its capital investment in the new campus by 2038.
Other locations
While most of the Schulich School of Business and Osgoode Hall Law School programs are offered at the Keele Campus, both of them maintain satellite facilities in downtown Toronto. Schulich operates the Miles S. Nadal Management Centre at 222 Bay Street, while Osgoode Hall has a Professional Development Centre at One Dundas West Tower within the Toronto Eaton Centre.Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change's Lillian Meighen Wright Centre is billed as an eco campus next to Las Nubes Forest Reserve in Costa Rica.
The Schulich School of Business operates a co-campus with GMR School of Business at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad, India.
In 2024, the Government of Ontario provided $9 million initial start-up funding to establish the York University School of Medicine that will be located in the Vaughan Healthcare Centre Precinct adjacent to Cortellucci Vaughan Hospital in Vaughan. York will be the third medical school in the Greater Toronto Area, joining Toronto Metropolitan University and the University of Toronto. In April 2024, it was announced that the York University School of Medicine will accept 80 undergraduate students and 102 postgraduate residents at doors open in 2028, expanding to 240 undergraduate students and 293 postgraduate residents across all years once operating at full capacity.
Academics
York's approximately 1500 full-time faculty and academic librarians and archivists are represented by the York University Faculty Association. Contract faculty, teaching assistants, and graduate assistants are represented by CUPE Local 3903.York University has over 120 undergraduate programs with 17 degree types and offers over 170 degree options. They admit to 30 international degrees offering international language study and opportunities to study abroad at more than 100 international universities. Its international students represent over 150 countries around the world.
Rankings and reputation
York University has been ranked in a number of post-secondary rankings. The 2026 QS World University Rankings ranked the university 333rd in the world and 14th in Canada. The 2025 Times Higher Education World University Rankings ranked York 401–500 in the world and 18th in Canada. In 2025, York ranked 38th globally and 7th in Canada in the Times Higher Education Impact Rankings for Sustainable Development. The 2024 Academic Ranking of World Universities ranking placed York in the 401-500 global bracket and tied for 17th in Canada. In the 2024–25 U.S. News & World Report Best Global University Ranking, the university ranked 466th in the world, and 17th in Canada. The Canadian-based Maclean's magazine ranked York University 4th in their 2024 Canadian comprehensive university category.The university's research performance has been noted in several bibliometric university rankings, which uses citation analysis to evaluates the impact a university has on academic publications. The 2019 Performance Ranking of Scientific Papers for World Universities and the University Ranking by Academic Performance both ranked the university 488th in the world, and the former additionally ranked it 19th in Canada.
York University has also been featured in rankings that evaluates the employment prospects of its graduates. In QS's 2022 graduate employability ranking, the university ranked 301–500 in the world.