North York could provide site for Toronto's next university

[attach]4407[/attach]Toronto’s vital role in Canada is driven by its economic prowess and educational dominance.

Our city is home to three universities, a degree-granting college of art and design, and four colleges of applied arts and technology — as well as many private educational institutions.

Toronto’s dominance in education and research should continue to be supported so it can flourish. Not only is it good for the future, but universities are also big business.

The University of Toronto has more than 20,000 staff and faculty members and almost 70,000 students on three campuses. It has an operating budget of $1.4 billion and its economic impact on the Toronto area is estimated to be $5.4 billion.

In fact, the enrolment at U of T, York and Ryerson is about 127,000. And talk about attracting foreign investment: Each year, about 20,000 students from around the world pursue their education at one of Toronto’s universities or colleges.

There has been a consensus for some time that Toronto could use another degree-granting university. An economical way of approaching this might be to leverage existing resources and fill current capacity.

One such site might be at North York Civic Centre, just north of Yonge Street and Sheppard Avenue.

The first advantage is it’s easily accessible by public transportation, notably the subway.

There is also a great deal of existing infrastructure that can be utilized.

For example, there is some surplus capacity at the Toronto Centre for Performing Arts. This magnificent facility — when not hosting plays and concerts — can be a great venue for lectures and other events. Right across from Mel Lastman Square is The North York Centre Library.

With a little refreshing, this institution could operate both as a public and university library and study area. North York Civic Centre, with its council chamber, committee rooms and surplus offices could be reconfigured to meet the needs of a post-secondary institution.

And then there’s the headquarters of the Toronto District School Board.

Long the subject of debate of whether to stay or go, this five-storey complex would be excellent for professor offices, small lecture and tutorial rooms and other needs.

Complementing the ripple effect of this initiative would be strengthening the resolve to complete the Sheppard subway link from Downsview Station to Yonge Street.

I will be approaching my city council colleagues as well as my counterparts at the federal and provincial governments to move this initiative forward.