North York centre may court a post-secondary campus

In a bid to keep Toronto’s intellectual edge, one local councillor is proposing to bring a post-secondary institution to North York. The issue was recently referred back to City of Toronto: Economic Development and Parks Committee (EDPC).

Coun. James Pasternak, backed by Coun. Ana Bailão, has recommended that Toronto City Council assemble representatives from economic and educational institutions to create a report on how to attract a potential “micro-university” or college to the North York Civic Centre (NYCC) and area. Coun. Pasternak said a new campus from an out-of-town or small university could educate an estimated 5,000 students and create hundreds of academic jobs, helping alleviate some of what he worries is an unmet demand for post-secondary education in Toronto.

“The University of Toronto has almost 70,000 students. When you add U of T, York and Ryerson, you have almost 127,000 students,” he said. “And they’re turning students away.”

According to Coun. Pasternak, a desirable, campuslike space already exists between the civic centre and nearby buildings belonging to the Toronto District School Board, North York Centre Library and Toronto Centre for the Arts.

That, he said, means a new institution wouldn’t have to pay as much up front for the construction of a new facility.

A university could fill much of the current unused capacity, he added, and “At the same time, it saves the Toronto Centre for the Arts, which has been losing around a million dollars a year.”

The EDPC will work in co-operation with the educational institutions in the NYCC area to draft a plan of action by early summer, said the councillor.

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