Partnerships

University of Toronto  is the font of our most robust partnerships in learning and research. The official UTS affiliation with the University means the knowledge and research flows both ways. The University is our largest and most important partner and our home, with our renewed building located on the University’s St. George campus. UTS students benefit from access to University of Toronto facilities, including the Robarts Library, athletics facilities and more, but also the access to the progressive, innovative minds that thrive at the University.

Our school actively contributes to research efforts, giving students a chance to learn firsthand from the best, and putting UTS at the forefront of knowledge about education, youth and other related subjects. UTS also maintains a close relationship with U of T Enrolment Services, forging vital university connections for our students. 

Our University of Toronto partnerships include: 

• Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE)
• Enrolment Services
• Rotman School of Management and the I-Think Team
• Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy
• Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work
• Departments of Psychology, Germanic Languages, Kinesiology, Pharmacy, and more 

UTS lives our commitment to drive progress in the field of education by working in close collaboration with the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE). Our OISE partnerships flourish on a number of fronts.

• UTS provides opportunities for Master of Teaching students to come to our school and learn from our exceptional teaching faculty as part of their training, and work as facilitators at UTS Summer Camps. 
• Core to our work with OISE is expanding what we know about how teaching and how to instill skills for global citizenship. 
• The Eureka! Institute @ UTS also plays a critical role. As one of a few research institutes based at a secondary school in Canada, the Institute serves as a hub for OISE researchers to conduct research in real classrooms and collaborate with UTS teaching staff. 

UTS is one of the partners behind the Global Ideas Institute, an initiative of U of T’s Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy.

• This annual symposium challenges high school students to find innovative solutions to complex world issues.
• The multi-faceted partnership also includes U of T’s Rotman School of Management’s Integrative Thinking programs and OISE. Read more 

Equity-oriented global citizenship is core to the UTS curriculum. UTS forges partnerships across borders and continents to give students a worldwide perspective for these changing times with exchanges, virtual connections and research projects. UTS is also a member of the United Global Education Network, which brings students together across borders to enhance their sense of global responsibility. 

UTS has international partnerships in:

• Copenhagen, Denmark – Rysensteen Gymnasium, a high school
• Shanghai, China – Number Two High School Affiliated with East China Normal University
• Germany - Carl-Schurz-Schule, a high school in Frankfurt
• The U.S. – Tabor Academy in Massachusetts, as a member of the United Global Education Network
• Japan – secondary school educator research partnership through OISE and the Eureka! Institute @ UTS with Consortium for Renovating Education of the Future Project at the University of Tokyo
• Sweden – Kristianstad University transformative learning professional development partnership through OISE

UTS also gives students access to foreign-language exchange programs to France, Germany and Spain, and many other global opportunities.  

The school actively pursues opportunities for collaboration at the local level to enhance our transformative education, support research projects, build community around our school and more. We seek synergies by bringing our partners together. These are just a few of many local partnerships we forge to enrich the UTS education and our greater community:

• Partnerships like the Bridge Project between UTS and the Afghan Women’s Organization Refugee and Immigrant Services allow UTS students to develop citizenship skills by volunteering as tutors for refugee and newcomer children. 
• In 2021, UTS tutors harnessed the power of artificial intelligence to improve students’ literacy, as the Bridge Project partnered with Dr. Eunice Jang at OISE to use the Balance AI platform, an online reading assessment tool for tutors and teachers.
• Our school took part in an LGBTQ+ sexuality and gender research collaboration with the Beyond Bullying Project in spring 2021.
• When the pandemic struck, UTS collaborated with SickKids Research Institute in conjunction with the CALIPER reference interval database to take part in a study to determine the prevalence of COVID-19 exposure in students.

• Experience Innovation @ UTS brings unique experiences to life through the power of partnerships with the University of Toronto and other organizations, while offering work experience for OISE Master of Teaching candidates. 
• Global Health Mini-Masters, where young leaders develop solutions to complex global health issues, runs in partnership University of Toronto Schools, the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education and University of Toronto Postgraduate Medical Education Global Health.
• Maximum City Camp gives young city-builders the opportunity to explore ways of building better cities through a partnership between UTS and Maximum City, an education and engagement agency founded by UTS teacher Josh Fullan. 
• Bright Lights in the Lab, the only research-based neuroscience camp for high school students in Canada, operates in partnership between the Firefly Foundation and UTS. 
• Integrative Thinking program where students develop innovative solutions to complex community problems, takes place in partnership with the I-Think Team at U of T’s Rotman School of Management.

Spotlight on SummerUp

In summer 2021, UTS partnered with the Lifelong Leadership Institute and its Founder Trevor Massey to bring 120 Black youth to virtual UTS summer camps through their Leadership by Design program and SummerUp initiative, raising our profile in the Black community and familiarizing Black students with the program at UTS. Read the story

The partnership continued in 2022.