Canadian University Thread

[bkswaroop]

UofA looking over quad towards the Engineering buildings.



http://www.civil.engineering.ualbert...EW_735x284.jpg

[Chadillaccc]

Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT)

Not quite a university, but they do grant degrees.


http://robmosesphotography.com/page/7/

[Canasian]

Originally Posted by David1gray

St. Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, NS:


Source

This is easily one of the coolest University campuses ever. Even better at street level. Antigonish is a charming little town, my fave in eastern NS.

[MonctonRad]

Interesting (and recent) aerial photograph of the Mount Allison University campus in Sackville NB.


source - MTA website

[MonctonRad]

And while I'm at it, here's a couple of aerial photos of my original alma mater, UPEI.





I got my B.Sc here, but spent more time (nine years) at Dalhousie University.

[Echoes]

Cranes at the construction site of the Children's Hospital of Saskatchewan on the University of Saskatchewan campus:


Pair of Cranes at Night by Gerry Marchand, on Flickr

[speedog]

Originally Posted by Chadillaccc

Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT)

Not quite a university, but they do grant degrees.


http://robmosesphotography.com/page/7/

This shot does not do SAiT justice in any way as one can not see the fabulous buildings they have on campus. Mount Royal University and the University of Calgary's buildings are just plain boring in comparison - I sometimes wonder why SAIT can have such amazing buildings while Calgary's other two major post secondary institutions just build pretty much bland boxes.

[Govertical]

Originally Posted by speedog

This shot does not do SAiT justice in any way as one can not see the fabulous buildings they have on campus. Mount Royal University and the University of Calgary's buildings are just plain boring in comparison - I sometimes wonder why SAIT can have such amazing buildings while Calgary's other two major post secondary institutions just build pretty much bland boxes.

I completely agree, mut be due to the size of the campus?

[ssiguy]

I went to Carleton and loved it but as a general rule I like universities that are more in the city. I would have gone to Ottawa U for it's location but I didn't know French. Ottawa is kind of weird because it is a capitol city and has beautiful architecture but it's universities are architecturally uninspiring.

I like universities that are in the downtown {Toronto, McGill, Winnipeg, Concordia} or in the inner city {Western, Queen's, Dalhousie} than suburban schools.

Even older suburban schools which have a lot of interesting architecture and nice surroundings {ie UBC, Sask} seem very detached from the city itself. I think it also robs the core of the city with an intellectual prowess or stimulation.
You don't get those quirky hard core dumpy cafes where philosophy students will talk the hours away about nothing and everything.

You also don't get the political great debates, discourse, or intrigue that you get with cities with schools downtown by the simple fact that all the venues and students live in the suburbs on/near campus. It's kind of weird to explain but I always get the impression with suburban schools {ie more than 2 km from downtown} that they are exactly that.......schools but not much more than that. I found they tend to function more like a standard community college where you do your 4 years and even if you live in the same city, you never go back. They are places for higher learning but little more than that because they are so physically and socially isolated from the city and her citizens.

In many ways the standard suburban institution is the classic Ivory league Institution..........geographically, socially, and economically separated from the community they are in and the community they are suppose to serve.

[1overcosc]

Originally Posted by ssiguy

everything. In many ways the standard suburban institution is the classic Ivory league Institution..........geographically, socially, and economically separated from the community they are in and the community they are suppose to serve.

And yet, of the Canadian universities often compared to the Ivy Leagues--the "Old Four" group of U of T, Queens, Western, and McGill--all four are urban.

[GlassCity]

Originally Posted by ssiguy

I went to Carleton and loved it but as a general rule I like universities that are more in the city. I would have gone to Ottawa U for it's location but I didn't know French. Ottawa is kind of weird because it is a capitol city and has beautiful architecture but it's universities are architecturally uninspiring.

I like universities that are in the downtown {Toronto, McGill, Winnipeg, Concordia} or in the inner city {Western, Queen's, Dalhousie} than suburban schools.

Even older suburban schools which have a lot of interesting architecture and nice surroundings {ie UBC, Sask} seem very detached from the city itself. I think it also robs the core of the city with an intellectual prowess or stimulation.
You don't get those quirky hard core dumpy cafes where philosophy students will talk the hours away about nothing and everything.

You also don't get the political great debates, discourse, or intrigue that you get with cities with schools downtown by the simple fact that all the venues and students live in the suburbs on/near campus. It's kind of weird to explain but I always get the impression with suburban schools {ie more than 2 km from downtown} that they are exactly that.......schools but not much more than that. I found they tend to function more like a standard community college where you do your 4 years and even if you live in the same city, you never go back. They are places for higher learning but little more than that because they are so physically and socially isolated from the city and her citizens.

In many ways the standard suburban institution is the classic Ivory league Institution..........geographically, socially, and economically separated from the community they are in and the community they are suppose to serve.

I disagree. As a UBC student, I love that we have our own giant area to ourselves. Especially as a school that relies so heavily on commuting students, the ability to provide its own distinct sense of place is crucial in creating some sort of spirit. Were it downtown, I think it would just sort of blend into the city and students would be more likely to leave it for nightlife more often, and there would probably be even more commuters as it would be much easier to access. In fact, I wish it was even more remote to have more of that insular, self-contained atmosphere you see in the movies with American schools. I'll admit that I've never spent any time in an urban university so I simply don't know that side of it, but I'm still quite happy with UBC's current position.

[Hali87]

Basically my experience is that with urban campuses, the students tend to engage with the rest of the city (or at least the neighbourhoods near their campus) more. Using Dalhousie as an example, most students above 1st year live off-campus (but usually near campus) and although the university has a few bars of its own, and hosts events regularly (social/cultural/academic/athletic) most of the students spend much of their time downtown, or off-campus at house parties etc. (and the on-campus venues are also used by non-students). What makes it different from UBC and SFU for example is that it's very easy and common to go back and forth between campus and downtown several times in one day/night (excluding the Agricultural campus, the furthest point at Dalhousie is about a 15-20 minute walk, or $4-6 cab ride, from the main shopping/nightlife areas downtown - the Architecture, Planning, and Engineering schools are firmly within the southern fringe of downtown and are directly across the street from said shopping and nightlife)

Basically the way this plays out is that you don't immediately know when you set foot on Dalhousie campus the way you might with UBC, but you really don't know when you've left, either. Dal isn't self-contained, but the rest of the South End feels like an extension of the universities. Downtown, after dark, does as well. Students trickle out of campus between classes, but they're trickling out directly into a very college-town atmosphere. It's kind of hard to avoid students/student-y things anywhere on the Peninsula, and the majority of them are Dal students (to clarify, Saint Mary's, King's College, and NSCAD are all also in the South End and/or Downtown; Dal has about 20,000 students and the other three combined have another 10,000 or so. NSCAD doesn't even have its own residences)




Thought experiment: imagine that UBC actually took up 40-50% of the DTES (instead of being where it is now), and that instead of being like the DTES is now, the rest of the DTES was like Ann Arbor or something. My guess is that many students would live in the DTES, and do most of their day-to-day stuff there, and when they want to go downtown, it's right there, but it's not a void that the entire student population disappears into, and the parts closest to campus would have a very visible student presence at basically all times. A large minority of students (most of the "commuters") would live in nearby places like Strathcona, Chinatown, Commercial/Broadway and maybe the Olympic Village. That's basically what Dalhousie is like. Based on what little I know about them, McGill, Western, Queens, UofA and UNB are all kind of like this as well (to varying degrees). U of T sounds a bit different, and is more geographically dispersed.

It's certainly possible that it would play out very differently in Vancouver though. A big difference is that there's no SkyTrain here which makes the suburbs much less attractive to students.

[ssiguy]

Maybe this is why cities without downtown schools tend to have lousy nightlife. Let's face it much of the nightlife and crowds are under 30 and students. When the students don't live in the city and have fewer reasons to go there, the less go. This conversely results in fewer students mingling with people in general or even other students from different schools.

It adds to the social isolation of the students where many wouldn't know what the real issues of poverty, homelessness, crime, or even pure urbanity if it slapped them in the face. Many suburban schools are so isolated from the city , it's citizens, and it social issues that they are nothing more than one big gated community where the people only communicate with people of their same socio/economic background and wouldn't be caught dead associating with or living near someone who wasn't.

They may have lovely campuses and architecture and offer an excellent education but they never struck me as places for personal growth. If you are going to school just to get a couple letters behind you name they may be ideal but if going to school you consider also a outlet for personal growth, life experience, or the classic "to find yourself" it simply doesn't cut the mustard.

[hipster duck]

Originally Posted by ssiguy

Maybe this is why cities without downtown schools tend to have lousy nightlife. Let's face it much of the nightlife and crowds are under 30 and students. When the students don't live in the city and have fewer reasons to go there, the less go. This conversely results in fewer students mingling with people in general or even other students from different schools.

It adds to the social isolation of the students where many wouldn't know what the real issues of poverty, homelessness, crime, or even pure urbanity if it slapped them in the face. Many suburban schools are so isolated from the city , it's citizens, and it social issues that they are nothing more than one big gated community where the people only communicate with people of their same socio/economic background and wouldn't be caught dead associating with or living near someone who wasn't.

They may have lovely campuses and architecture and offer an excellent education but they never struck me as places for personal growth. If you are going to school just to get a couple letters behind you name they may be ideal but if going to school you consider also a outlet for personal growth, life experience, or the classic "to find yourself" it simply doesn't cut the mustard.

I think you're really stretching it there.

Victoria, Saskatoon and Peterborough have university campuses in the suburbs, but no one would accuse those towns of being dead for their size, and no one would suggest that students from those universities are aloof about urban social issues like poverty and homelessness. In fact, those 3 universities actually strike me as places where people who give a damn about social justice usually go to school.

[Andy6]

Originally Posted by hipster duck

I think you're really stretching it there.

Victoria, Saskatoon and Peterborough have university campuses in the suburbs, but no one would accuse those towns of being dead for their size, and no one would suggest that students from those universities are aloof about urban social issues like poverty and homelessness. In fact, those 3 universities actually strike me as places where people who give a damn about social justice usually go to school.

Maybe students in downtown schools don't understand the middle class and, due to their isolation from the conditions in which the vast majority of their fellow citizens live, end up thinking of suburbs as wastelands.

[1overcosc]

Originally Posted by Hali87

Basically my experience is that with urban campuses, the students tend to engage with the rest of the city (or at least the neighbourhoods near their campus) more. Using Dalhousie as an example, most students above 1st year live off-campus (but usually near campus) and although the university has a few bars of its own, and hosts events regularly (social/cultural/academic/athletic) most of the students spend much of their time downtown, or off-campus at house parties etc. (and the on-campus venues are also used by non-students). What makes it different from UBC and SFU for example is that it's very easy and common to go back and forth between campus and downtown several times in one day/night (excluding the Agricultural campus, the furthest point at Dalhousie is about a 15-20 minute walk, or $4-6 cab ride, from the main shopping/nightlife areas downtown - the Architecture, Planning, and Engineering schools are firmly within the southern fringe of downtown and are directly across the street from said shopping and nightlife)

Basically the way this plays out is that you don't immediately know when you set foot on Dalhousie campus the way you might with UBC, but you really don't know when you've left, either. Dal isn't self-contained, but the rest of the South End feels like an extension of the universities. Downtown, after dark, does as well. Students trickle out of campus between classes, but they're trickling out directly into a very college-town atmosphere. It's kind of hard to avoid students/student-y things anywhere on the Peninsula, and the majority of them are Dal students (to clarify, Saint Mary's, King's College, and NSCAD are all also in the South End and/or Downtown; Dal has about 20,000 students and the other three combined have another 10,000 or so. NSCAD doesn't even have its own residences)

Kingston is the exact same way with Queen's. The student space encompasses both the campus and the surrounding neighbourhoods including the downtown core. And the surrounding neighbourhoods while student-dominated (especially in the area immediately north of the campus), they still belong to the city, too.

This reality you describe happens with large urban universities in smaller cities, where the smallness of the city means that most students come from out of town (ie: very few commuters), and also allows the university to project much more relative influence over the city.

[1overcosc]

Originally Posted by Andy6

Maybe students in downtown schools don't understand the middle class and, due to their isolation from the conditions in which the vast majority of their fellow citizens live, end up thinking of suburbs as wastelands.

There might be some truth to this. Although like any generalization there's exceptions, Queen's and Western students tend to be from fairly privileged families.

[SaskScraper]

Originally Posted by ssiguy

I went to Carleton and loved it but as a general rule I like universities that are more in the city. I would have gone to Ottawa U for it's location but I didn't know French. Ottawa is kind of weird because it is a capitol city and has beautiful architecture but it's universities are architecturally uninspiring.

I like universities that are in the downtown {Toronto, McGill, Winnipeg, Concordia} or in the inner city {Western, Queen's, Dalhousie} than suburban schools.

Even older suburban schools which have a lot of interesting architecture and nice surroundings {ie UBC, Sask} seem very detached from the city itself. I think it also robs the core of the city with an intellectual prowess or stimulation.
You don't get those quirky hard core dumpy cafes where philosophy students will talk the hours away about nothing and everything.

You also don't get the political great debates, discourse, or intrigue that you get with cities with schools downtown by the simple fact that all the venues and students live in the suburbs on/near campus. It's kind of weird to explain but I always get the impression with suburban schools {ie more than 2 km from downtown} that they are exactly that.......schools but not much more than that. I found they tend to function more like a standard community college where you do your 4 years and even if you live in the same city, you never go back. They are places for higher learning but little more than that because they are so physically and socially isolated from the city and her citizens.

In many ways the standard suburban institution is the classic Ivory league Institution..........geographically, socially, and economically separated from the community they are in and the community they are suppose to serve.

Just as an FYI,
University of Saskatchewan wouldn't fit your definition of suburban University. Saskatoon CBD and U of S campus centre bowl are about a mile a part..



I've always found Saskatoon downtown to have a vibrant student presents & it can be particularly noticed during school terms on weekend nights..

[someone123]

Originally Posted by Hali87

Basically my experience is that with urban campuses, the students tend to engage with the rest of the city (or at least the neighbourhoods near their campus) more.

It's interesting to contrast the different setups. I've been a student at both Dalhousie and UBC. I was actually much more involved socially at UBC but I liked Dal's setting a lot more. It's great to be able to walk downtown, and even better if you can walk home as well. It's too bad that Vancouver didn't end up with a Dalhousie-like university somewhere near the centre of the city.

UBC's setting is much prettier and they have space for things like experimental farms and recreational areas that Dal does not. To me these were less desirable than being in town, but plenty of people would weight them more highly and like the relative peace and quiet. I eventually moved to Kits and biked to UBC, which was a pretty good compromise between commuting and getting to live in the city.

The transit situation is funny because, while Vancouver's system is light years ahead of Halifax's system, the universities here aren't actually well-served. Neither SFU nor UBC have rapid transit service; the SkyTrain is far away from UBC and the 145 from SFU is a terrible bus (right now it's running every 30 minutes, and it takes 15 minutes, so the shortest SkyTrain trip to SFU is actually pretty slow). The only thing that's significantly better about the university service here is that there's better night service. I think housing cost has a lot more impact on where students live in the two cities than transit. Taking the 99 out to East Van is really not much more pleasant than taking the 20 to Spryfield or whatever, there's just more of a payoff to doing it.

As far as being a college town, I always thought Halifax was pretty similar to Montreal. Lots of students, and many in central parts of the city, but lots of other stuff going on too. The universities don't loom quite as large in Halifax as, say, Queen's in Kingston.

[Hali87]

It's interesting in that while the South End feels to me like a college town, other (and ultimately larger) areas like the North End and Dartmouth almost feel like a reaction to that, a sort of antithesis. Not necessarily in a bad way. The North End is very much the hip, startup incubator area now (+counterculture and poverty), and Dartmouth provides a dose of "normal Canadian". Students are starting to get pushed out to these areas (or are getting bored with the South End) but neither of them are close to being student-dominated like the South End is.

The downtown-South End (for lack of a better descriptor - the area south of South St and east of SMU) actually has a very heavy international student presence these days (largely Mainland Chinese and Middle Eastern). I remember hearing that local universities had been encouraging higher foreign enrollment because they're allowed to charge foreign students more. I guess this is the manifestation of that.