News   Dec 20, 2024
UrbanToronto Year-End Poll: Vote on the Best Buildings of 2024, presented by Sapphire Balconies
 1.1K     5 
News   Dec 20, 2024
UrbanToronto's Social Media Presence Skyrocketed in 2024
 866     2 
News   Dec 20, 2024
Mattamy Homes Records A Year of Accomplishments
 1.7K     0 

New University...where should it go?

We could also place a new university in a small town in the middle of nowhere so that we create a college town.

How about Tillsonburg, or Chatham, or Port Colborne?
 
adma said:
Honest Ed's?
Click to expand...

If it were to occupy the land of Honest Ed's, how about keeping the ground floor Honest Ed's and incorporating a large 70 story tower above that would serve as the university?
 
A 70 storey tower in the heart of the Annex, within a 10 minute walk of Jane Jacobs' house. Yeah, right...
 
Hasn't that been a concern with Pittsburgh's Cathedral of Learning?
cius_0005_0004_0_img0719.jpg
 
One problem with dropping a university into a small town is the inevitable accommodation crunch and annoyance to locals (or at least the ones not gouging students for 1/3 of a bedroom) - for instance Oshawa.

As for the putative demand - this was posted on the Macleans blog of Paul Wells:
An email from historian Jack Granatstein:

"'Not enough Canadians are getting into universites. Not enough profs are there to greet them. Not enough ideas get out of labs into the market, and not enough of what goes on in our universities is remotely close to the best in the world.'

"You said this in your post. May I disagree with some of it?

"I took early retirement from York in 1995, and I left in substantial part because I thought standards had sunk dramatically. Everything I hear today suggests matters are worse there—and everywhere. I have taught one undergrad and one grad course since then at two different universities. I was not impressed with the quality of many students. There is no shortage of brains; there may, however, be too many drones stifling the best students.

"Is it not possible that too many students who should NOT be in university are going, rather than too few? Is it not possible that tenure allows many profs who do little to remain in front of classes while new—maybe better—faculty cannot get hired? Your last sentence above directly relates in my view to the points I have just made.

"What we most need is a powerful independent commission to look at what is happening in our universities and to recommend what steps need to be taken to meet our 21st century needs as a nation."
Click to expand...
 
I was told in a class this year that Trent was planning on opening a satelite campus on the Toronto Waterfront. I don't know how much truth there is to that, but just throwing it out there.
 
vicente said:
We could also place a new university in a small town in the middle of nowhere so that we create a college town.

How about Tillsonburg, or Chatham, or Port Colborne?
Click to expand...

Chatham maybe. I would only put new universities next to a passenger rail line. In my opinion the is the biggest mistake with respect to UOIT (besides the name) is that it isn't near the railway line. Perhaps it should have been an add-on to Durham College-Whitby rather than Durham College-Oshawa.

If they were located outside Toronto I think Chatham, Barrie (GO), Stratford (a great name for a university in my opinion), Niagara Falls (there is quite a bit of empty space near the station in the area east of Stanley, south of the hydro canal, and north of Bridge St), Bracebridge (Muskoka U?), and Belleville good candidates.
 
Port Colborne is poor. But, I guess the Niagara Region could desperately use some new jobs.
 
marcus_a_j said:
I was told in a class this year that Trent was planning on opening a satelite campus on the Toronto Waterfront. I don't know how much truth there is to that, but just throwing it out there.
Click to expand...

Seems a little strange considering they wanted to get rid of Traill College due to the cost of running the place. If they can't even support Traill, why would they want to support a campus 2 hours away? Besides they already have Trent at Durham. Mind you, the Trent administration is somewhat messed up, so I guess you really never know what Bonnie has up her sleeve.

afransen said:
Port Colborne is poor. But, I guess the Niagara Region could desperately use some new jobs.
Click to expand...

So true. Port Colborne is a nice little summer town though, especially with the canal being such a focus. But a town of 15,000 or so can't support a university. Might as well put it in Welland as I have said before. It's right in the geographical middle of the region, and is in dire need of some help. I don't know why Brock hasn't thought about establishing a campus in Welland, but it's what I'd like to see happen. One the old Atlas Steeles land is cleaned up, it would be a great location to put a campus and would revitalize the east side of the city, which definitely needs it. There's also a lot of unused land along the canal that could be perfect for a campus. So many possibilities really. It's just too bad Welland has had inept leaders.
 
Has it been proven in Ontario? I mean, Port Colborne would be one of the biggest places in the Eastern provinces. Compare apples to apples at least.
 
lordmandeep said:
in a lot of immigrant/minority families colleges are looked down upon very harshly by thier parents and university is seen as the only way to go.

That is how it was for me and for a lot of people i know.

"Son, you better be going to university or else THAT RESP IS USELESS!!"
Click to expand...
I'm on the other side of the coin. When my family immigrated (or is that emigrated?) to Canada my Dad had only a high school education, but was already a senior sales and marketing man with an international firm. I went to university myself, as do many kids of immigrants, in my case an arts degree, then followed by a stint in business at GB college, before landing my career in international business.

For my own kids, I will not force them to go to university. In fact, I won't let them go (both will have RESP's worth about $45 - $50K each by the time they're ready to go) to university unless it's part of a larger career plan of their's. So, no general arts degree as a method to extend childhood and postpone the realworld, I did that, and got lucky on the career path, but I want my girls to have goals, and then a plan to get there through strategic educational choices. It's my job as their parent to ensure that they keep up their grades in mathematics, sciences, languages, English and the arts, thus allowing them to choose unlimited paths when they graduate from highschool. With hard work, they'll have the grades and the finances from their family to follow their dreams, so they can't blow it on a do nothing degree.

If they want to be electricians, plumbers, mechanics, gardeners or even computer science geeks, as long as they're happy, and do the best they can in the field, that's good enough for me.
 
You must log in or register to post here.

Back
Top