400
M. Bardecki et al.
1 Introduction and Context
In Canada, education lies within Provincial jurisdiction; Federal involvement is limited. Each of the ten provinces and three territories has its own system for providing
post-secondary education. These systems are overwhelmingly in the public sector as
there is a very small private sector involvement in Canadian postsecondary education.
The province of Ontario has a binary system of post-secondary education, with
separate systems of universities and colleges. The colleges system (Colleges of
Applied Arts and Technology and Institutes of Technology and Advanced Learning)
generally provide more technically-focused education and since 2012 have offered
bachelor’s degree programs. There are limited connections between the colleges
and universities, although there are new linkages and developing interrelationships
between individual colleges and universities in providing joint programs and credentialing.
There are 21 universities in Ontario ranging in size from University of Toronto
with over 80,000 students on three campuses to Algoma University with an enrolment
of about 1000. Individual universities have a wide-latitude in self-regulation through
the Council of Ontario Universities, although the Province retains overall oversight
and financial control.
Ryerson University is a comprehensive university imbedded in the heart of
Toronto, Canada’s largest city (2.7 million inhabitants). In the 2016–2017 academic
year there were 35,166 full- and part-time undergraduate students in 62 programs
(31,574 full-time equivalents [FTE]), 2605 students in 49 Master’s and 15 Ph.D. programs (2107 FTE), and 66,461 course registrations in Continuing Education. The
university has 877 full-time faculty members (plus sessional and part-time instructors). The University is academically divided into six Faculties, each headed by a
Dean:
• Faculty of Arts
• Faculty of Communication & Design
• Faculty of Community Services
• Faculty of Engineering and Architectural Science
• Faculty of Science
• Ted Rogers School of Management.
Moreover, both Graduate Studies and Continuing Education, the Yeates and G.
Raymond Chang Schools, respectively, operate at a decanal level in the university
structure.
Ryerson University has undergone a transformative change since the start of the
millennium as a result, in part, to a change in the university’s mandate. This led to
a period of unprecedented growth as student numbers and the faculty complement
expanded. Between the 2001–2002 and 2016–2017 academic years the university’s
undergraduate FTE expanded 2.4 times from 21,987 to 31,575. The first graduate
programs were introduced in 2000–2001. Full-time faculty numbers grew from 537
to 877. In the Faculty of Arts, proportional change was even more dramatic as FTE
M. Bardecki et al.
1 Introduction and Context
In Canada, education lies within Provincial jurisdiction; Federal involvement is limited. Each of the ten provinces and three territories has its own system for providing
post-secondary education. These systems are overwhelmingly in the public sector as
there is a very small private sector involvement in Canadian postsecondary education.
The province of Ontario has a binary system of post-secondary education, with
separate systems of universities and colleges. The colleges system (Colleges of
Applied Arts and Technology and Institutes of Technology and Advanced Learning)
generally provide more technically-focused education and since 2012 have offered
bachelor’s degree programs. There are limited connections between the colleges
and universities, although there are new linkages and developing interrelationships
between individual colleges and universities in providing joint programs and credentialing.
There are 21 universities in Ontario ranging in size from University of Toronto
with over 80,000 students on three campuses to Algoma University with an enrolment
of about 1000. Individual universities have a wide-latitude in self-regulation through
the Council of Ontario Universities, although the Province retains overall oversight
and financial control.
Ryerson University is a comprehensive university imbedded in the heart of
Toronto, Canada’s largest city (2.7 million inhabitants). In the 2016–2017 academic
year there were 35,166 full- and part-time undergraduate students in 62 programs
(31,574 full-time equivalents [FTE]), 2605 students in 49 Master’s and 15 Ph.D. programs (2107 FTE), and 66,461 course registrations in Continuing Education. The
university has 877 full-time faculty members (plus sessional and part-time instructors). The University is academically divided into six Faculties, each headed by a
Dean:
• Faculty of Arts
• Faculty of Communication & Design
• Faculty of Community Services
• Faculty of Engineering and Architectural Science
• Faculty of Science
• Ted Rogers School of Management.
Moreover, both Graduate Studies and Continuing Education, the Yeates and G.
Raymond Chang Schools, respectively, operate at a decanal level in the university
structure.
Ryerson University has undergone a transformative change since the start of the
millennium as a result, in part, to a change in the university’s mandate. This led to
a period of unprecedented growth as student numbers and the faculty complement
expanded. Between the 2001–2002 and 2016–2017 academic years the university’s
undergraduate FTE expanded 2.4 times from 21,987 to 31,575. The first graduate
programs were introduced in 2000–2001. Full-time faculty numbers grew from 537
to 877. In the Faculty of Arts, proportional change was even more dramatic as FTE