McGill University

McGill University is a public research university in Montreal, Canada, officially founded by royal charter in 1821. The University bears the name of James McGill, a prominent Montreal merchant from Scotland whose bequest in 1813 formed precursory McGill College.

McGill's main campus is set at the foot of Mount Royal in Downtown Montreal with the second campus situated near fields and forested lands in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, 30 kilometres west of the downtown campus on the Montreal Island. All the academic units are organized into 11 main Faculties and Schools.[7] The University is one of the two members of Association of American Universities located outside the United States.[8]

McGill offers degrees and diplomas in over 300 fields of studies with the highest average admission grade of any Canadian university.[9] Most students are enrolled in the five larger Faculties, namely Arts, Science, Medicine, Engineering, and Management.[10] Tuition fees vary significantly between in-province, out-of-province, and international students,[11] and the scholarships are very generous yet highly competitive and relatively difficult to attain, compared to other institutions in the country.[12][13][14][15] The University is ranked among the top three within Canada and the top 70 worldwide by different ranking agencies.[16][17][18][19][20][21]

McGill counts among its alumni 12 Nobel laureates and 138 Rhodes Scholars, both the most in the country,[22][23] as well as three astronauts, two Canadian prime ministers, 13 justices of the Canadian Supreme Court,[24] four foreign leaders, 28 foreign ambassadors, nine Academy Award winners, three Pulitzer Prize winners,[25][26] and 28 Olympic medalists. Throughout its long history, McGill alumni were instrumental in inventing or initially organizing football, basketball, and ice hockey.[27] McGill or its alumni also founded several major universities, including the Universities of British Columbia, Victoria, and Alberta, and Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.

Contents  [hide] 

1 History

1.1 Royal Institution for the Advancement of Learning

1.2 McGill College

1.3 University development

1.3.1 Campus expansions

1.3.2 Women's education

1.3.3 McGill in the Great War

1.4 Related institutions

2 Campus

2.1 Downtown campus

2.1.1 Residence

2.2 Macdonald campus

2.3 McGill University Health Centre redevelopment plan

2.4 Sustainability

2.5 Other facilities

3 Administration and Organization

3.1 Structure

3.2 University identity and culture

3.3 Finances

4 Academics

4.1 Admissions

4.2 Teaching and Learning

4.3 Language policy

4.4 Rankings and reputation

4.5 Research

4.6 Libraries, Archives and Museums

5 Student life

5.1 Student body

5.2 Student organizations

5.3 Athletics

5.3.1 Athletic history

5.3.2 Fight song

5.3.3 Rivalries

5.4 Historical links

6 Notable people

7 See also

8 Notes and references

9 Further reading

10 External links

History[edit]

Royal Institution for the Advancement of Learning[edit]

The Royal Institution for the Advancement of Learning (RIAL) was created in 1801 under an Act of the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada - An Act for the establishment of Free Schools and the Advancement of Learning in this Province. In 1816 the RIAL was authorized to operate two new Royal Grammar Schools, in Quebec City and in Montreal. This was a turning point for public education in Lower Canada as the schools were created by legislation, the District Public Schools Act of 1807, which showed the government's willingness to support the costs of education and even the salary of a schoolmaster. This was an important first step in the creation of nondenominational schools. When James McGill died in 1813 his bequest was administered by the RIAL. The original two Royal Grammar Schools closed in 1846 and by the mid-19th century the RIAL lost control of the other 82 grammar schools it had administered.[28] Its sole remaining purpose was to administer the McGill bequest on behalf of the college. The RIAL continues to exist today; it is the corporate identity that runs the university and its various constituent bodies, including the former Macdonald College (now Macdonald Campus), the Montreal Neurological Institute and the Royal Victoria College (the former women's college turned residence). Since the revised Royal Charter of 1852, The Trustees of the RIAL comprise the Board of Governors of McGill University.[29]

McGill College[edit]

James McGill, the original benefactor of McGill University.

James McGill, born in Glasgow, Scotland on 6 October 1744, was a successful English- and French-speaking merchant in Quebec, having matriculated into Glasgow University in 1756.[30] Between 1811 and 1813,[31] he drew up a will leaving his "Burnside estate", a 19-hectare (47-acre) tract of rural land and 10,000 pounds to the Royal Institution for the Advancement of Learning.[32][33][34]

Upon McGill's death in December 1813, the Royal Institution for the Advancement of Learning, established in 1801 by an Act of the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada,[35] added the establishing of a University pursuant to the conditions of McGill's will to its original function of administering elementary education in Lower Canada. As a condition of the bequest, the land and funds had to be used for the establishment of a "University or College, for the purposes of Education and the Advancement of Learning in the said Province."[35] The will specified that a constituent college would be required to bear his name and the school must be established within 10 years of his death; otherwise the bequest would revert to the heirs of his wife.[36]

On March 31, 1821, after protracted legal battles with the Desrivières family (the heirs of his wife), McGill College received a royal charter from King George IV. The Charter provided that the College should be deemed and taken as a University, with the power of conferring degrees