TORONTO, UNIVERSITY OF

coeducational institution of higher learning that is the provincial university of Ontario and one of the oldest and largest universities in Canada. It is composed of federated, affiliated, and constituent colleges, a union based originally on British models, and of faculties, schools, institutes, centres, and divisions, modeled more on American lines. All are related to each other through an elaborate and unique Canadian university structure. The university had its origins in the Anglican-founded state university of the Province of Upper Canadathe University of King's College at York (now Toronto), which was chartered in 1827 but was not established until 1843. In 1850, after bitter religious and political controversy, King's College was secularized and renamed the University of Toronto. In 1853 University College was created as the teaching body while the university itself became solely an examining and degree-granting body. As a result of the Federation Act of 1887 the university resumed teaching, and several institutions of higher learning became federated or affiliated with the university. Currently federated or affiliated with the University of Toronto and University College are three autonomous church-related universities: Victoria (United Church of Canada), Trinity (Anglican), and St. Michael's (Roman Catholic); one graduate institute, the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education; a graduate men's residential college, Massey; and three theological collegesEmmanuel (United Church), Wycliffe (Anglican), and Knox (Presbyterian). There are six undergraduate colleges: University, Woodsworth, Erindale, Scarborough, New, and Innis. The University of Toronto offers 39 major teaching divisions. The university is also the home of the Royal Conservatory of Music, the Banting and Best Department of Medical Research, the Connaught Laboratories (which manufacture insulin, discovered by Frederick Banting and others at the university in 1921), the Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies (of the University of St. Michael's College), and the University of Toronto Press, one of Canada's leading publishing houses. The library collections of the university and its related institutions total more than 6,000,000 volumes. The main campus of the university is located on 160 acres (64 hectares) near the centre of downtown Toronto. In the mid-1980s the university's full-time enrollment was more than 50,000 students.