Media Releases

Seneca and University of Toronto partner for student success

May 26, 2011

Signing of agreement gives students opportunity to earn Seneca diploma and U of T degree in four years

TORONTO, ON — Seneca Col­lege and the Uni­ver­si­ty of Toron­to (U of T) are pleased to announce a unique post-sec­ondary part­ner­ship that short­ens the time it takes eli­gi­ble Seneca stu­dents to earn a diplo­ma and a degree at both insti­tu­tions to four years.

The Stu­dent Suc­cess Part­ner­ship Agree­ment gives stu­dents the oppor­tu­ni­ty to begin their stud­ies at Seneca and com­plete them at U of T earn­ing both a Lib­er­al Arts diplo­ma and a uni­ver­si­ty Bach­e­lor of Arts degree in four years.

The two insti­tu­tions will sign a for­mal part­ner­ship agree­ment on Thurs­day, May 26 at 12:30 p.m. at Kruger Hall, Woodsworth Col­lege, St. George Cam­pus, 119 St. George Street, Toron­to.

“Our part­ner­ship pro­vides qual­i­fied Seneca stu­dents with a seam­less option for con­tin­u­ing their edu­ca­tion in the Hon­ours BA Pro­gram in U of T’s Fac­ul­ty of Arts and Sci­ence,” said Seneca Pres­i­dent David Agnew. “It speaks to our com­mit­ment to our stu­dents’ suc­cess and ensures ongo­ing co-ordi­na­tion and col­lab­o­ra­tion between our two insti­tu­tions that will allow us to explore fur­ther oppor­tu­ni­ties for our stu­dents.”

Stu­dents in the pro­gram spend their first two years at Seneca, while tak­ing two or three U of T cours­es. They com­plete their stud­ies with a third and fourth year entire­ly at the university’s St. George cam­pus.

“The small class­es, feed­back from pro­fes­sors and sup­port from Seneca make the Lib­er­al Arts pro­gram an ide­al foun­da­tion for stu­dents who want to go on to suc­cess­ful­ly pur­sue a degree at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Toron­to,” said Nico­las Esper, Lib­er­al Arts grad­u­ate who is tran­si­tion­ing into a full-time U of T stu­dent.

Alter­na­tive­ly, after com­plet­ing the first two years at Seneca, stu­dents have the option of con­tin­u­ing their stud­ies at U of T as par­tial load or part-time stu­dents – allow­ing for more flex­i­ble learn­ing.

“We’re delight­ed to help stu­dents reach their goals and achieve suc­cess through this inno­v­a­tive part­ner­ship,” said U of T Vice-Provost Cheryl Regehr.

In 2008, Seneca’s Lib­er­al Arts pro­gram and the Fac­ul­ty of Arts and Sci­ence at U of T estab­lished a pilot project that paved the way for this part­ner­ship agree­ment.

With 10 cam­pus­es across the Greater Toron­to Area, Seneca offers degrees, diplo­mas and cer­tifi­cates renowned for their qual­i­ty and respect­ed by employ­ers. Com­bin­ing the high­est aca­d­e­m­ic stan­dards with prac­ti­cal, hands-on learn­ing, expert teach­ing fac­ul­ty and the lat­est tech­nol­o­gy ensures Seneca grad­u­ates are career-ready. senecacollege.ca

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Toron­to has assem­bled one of the strongest research and teach­ing fac­ul­ties in North Amer­i­ca, pre­sent­ing top stu­dents at all lev­els with an intel­lec­tu­al envi­ron­ment unmatched in breadth and depth on any oth­er Cana­di­an cam­pus. U of T fac­ul­ty co-author more research arti­cles than their col­leagues at any uni­ver­si­ty in the U.S. or Cana­da oth­er than Har­vard. As a mea­sure of impact, U of T con­sis­tent­ly ranks along­side the top five U.S. uni­ver­si­ties whose dis­cov­er­ies are most often cit­ed by oth­er researchers around the world. Estab­lished in 1827, the Uni­ver­si­ty of Toron­to today oper­ates in down­town Toron­to, Mis­sis­sauga and Scar­bor­ough, as well as in 10 renowned aca­d­e­m­ic hos­pi­tals.

 

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For more infor­ma­tion, please con­tact:

Seneca Col­lege Media Rela­tions
416–491-5050 ext. 7018
Uni­ver­si­ty of Toron­to Media Rela­tions
416–978-0100