UTSC turned over the first piece of sod to construct a new $78-million instructional centre on a sunny afternoon last Thursday. The new building will increase UTSC’s teaching and research facilities by 25 per cent upon completion in 2011.
The centre will host co-op programs and the management and computer science departments. It will also include seven research and teaching labs, 13 classrooms, and 90 offices, as well as study and event spaces and food venues.
A similar $70-million centre at UTM breaks ground next Friday, Oct. 2. The federal and provincial government gave $35 million to each project, as a part of Ontario’s capital funding allocated for post-secondary schools and the federal government’s $2-billion Knowledge Infrastructure Program. The funding comes with a deadline: the buildings have to be completed by March 2011.
The University of Toronto covered the remaining cost of $8 million for the UTSC centre, or approximately 10.3 per cent of the total.
“This groundbreaking ceremony marks a major milestone in UTSC’s growth as an intellectual and cultural hub for the eastern GTA,” said Franco Vaccarino, VP and principal of UTSC, in a news release. Science and technology minister Gary Goodyear was also in attendance at the groundbreaking, and said the centre will provide a venue that will bring academia and industry together. Goodyear said renewed facilities at UTSC will allow researchers at Scarborough to pursue world-class excellence in their fields. Wayne Arthurs, MPP, and Derrick Fung, 2008 UTSC Coop Student of the Year, also offered their congratulations.
Many UTSC students agree that they could use more study space on campus. “We had an orientation for first-year management students only, and there were a lot of us,” said Ariel Duan, a freshman in the management program. “Maybe another building will make our campus less crowded.”
Others want more for the money they’re paying. “With the amount of money the school leeches from their students, I believe it could be put to better use to enhance buildings that are already on campus, such as the terribly outdated Humanities and Science Wings,” said Kyle Larkin, a second-year journalism student.
The Instructional Centre is a part of UTSC’s plan to create a “downtown core” for the campus at the crossroads of Military Trail and Ellesmere, opening a gateway and increasing the visibility of the campus.
