10 Differences in Academic Culture Between UoT and UoM

By Emily Smith, University of Toronto (Scarborough), Canada

1. Relationship with professors – closer to that of teacher-student than lecturer-learner, classes were more social with more class participation; and some of my professors actively encouraged or even required office hours attendance, allowing a genuine rapport to be built up with your teachers.
2. Working hours – whilst University of Manchester keeps to a set 9am-6pm timetable, I had two evening classes 7-9pm
3. Rather than the UoM timetable where 10-11am means the lecture starts at 10 and ends at 10:50, in UTSC the same timetable shorthand would translate to starting lecture at 10:10 and finishing at 11 
4. Because of the extended working hours, and the university not being located in a middle city, unlike Manchester, a variety of food stalls on campus were open until late in the evening (including Chinese food, Subway, KFC, and more)
5. More emphasis on assessment as you go in Toronto – midterms, coursework; in Manchester exams can determine up to 90% of your grade
6. More emphasis on developing soft skills in Canada – coursework was more open to creativity (eg making a TEDtalk or patient information poster), and broader skills for “thinking like a scientist” (assessed journal club)
7. Reason they can get away with this is all modules have TAs (post docs who help with marking) therefore very fast turnaround of coursework
8. UTSC is smaller than UoM, campus based therefore more intimate environment (more likely to see familiar faces in corridors)
9. Because it is smaller, UTSC has fewer options for societies (though they call them clubs not societies which initially caused a little confusion when I was initially making enquiries!) – however, I found this less of a concern as the constant assessment method meant I was kept very busy and often found myself needing to skip the clubs I’d signed up for to stay on top of my studies
10. Assessment system – after growing used to UoM’s standards where 70% is considered a good grade, I remember being shocked when I heard someone remarking they would only be satisfied with at least 90% on their coursework. At UTSC they use a lettered grade system, which is translated into a GPA 0.00-4.00 where 4.00 means an average grade of A