Dalhousie University

Dalhousie University (commonly known as Dal) is a large public research university in Nova Scotia, Canada, with three campuses in Halifax, a fourth in Bible Hill, and a second medical school campus in Saint John, New Brunswick. Dalhousie offers more than 4,000 courses, and over 200 degree programs in 13 undergraduate, graduate, and professional faculties. The university is a member of the U15, a group of research-intensive universities in Canada.

The institution was established as ''Dalhousie College'', a nonsectarian institution established in 1818 by the eponymous Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia, George Ramsay, 9th Earl of Dalhousie, with education reformer, Dr. Thomas McCulloch, as its first principal. However, the college did not hold its first class until 1838, with operations remaining sporadic due to financial difficulties. The college was reorganized in 1863 and renamed ''The Governors of Dalhousie College and University''. The university formally changed its name to ''Dalhousie University'' in 1997 through the same provincial legislation that merged the institution with the Technical University of Nova Scotia.

There are two student unions that represent student interests at the university: the Dalhousie Student Union and the Dalhousie Association for Graduate Students. Dalhousie's varsity teams, the Tigers, compete in the Atlantic University Sport conference of Canadian Interuniversity Sport. Dalhousie's Faculty of Agriculture varsity teams are called the Dalhousie Rams, and compete in the ACAA and CCAA. Dalhousie is a coeducational university with more than 20,000 students and 150,000 alumni around the world. The university's notable alumni include a Nobel Prize winner, 93 Rhodes Scholars, and a range of senior government officials, academics, and business leaders.

History

Dalhousie was founded, as the Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia George Ramsay, 9th Earl of Dalhousie, desired a non-denominational college in Halifax. Financing largely came from customs duties collected by a previous Lieutenant Governor, John Coape Sherbrooke, during the War of 1812 occupation of Castine, Maine; Sherbrooke invested GBP£7,000 as an initial endowment and reserved £3,000 for the physical construction of the college. The college was established in 1818 though it faltered shortly after, as Ramsay left Halifax to serve as the Governor General of British North America. The school was structured upon the principles of the University of Edinburgh, located near Ramsay's home in Scotland, where lectures were open to male students, regardless of Christian religion or nationality.

In 1821, Dalhousie College was officially incorporated by the Nova Scotia House of Assembly under the 1821 Act of Incorporation. The college did not hold its first class until 1838; operation of the college was intermittent and no degrees were awarded. In 1841, an Act of the Nova Scotia House of Assembly conferred university powers on Dalhousie.

Dalhousie's first principal, Dr. Thomas McCulloch (1838 –1843), turned the school into an operating educational institution, and by doing so he was able to set important foundations for the university's non-sectarian outlook and positioning, not only within the communities of Halifax and Nova Scotia, but also as a government-funded and sanctioned institution within the British colonies. He fought with the government in Halifax for more equitable and non-sectarian education in Nova Scotia.

McCulloch, a Presbyterian minister and naturalist, was the founder of Nova Scotia's second degree-granting institution (after King's College, now University of King's College), Pictou Academy in Pictou, Nova Scotia, which attracted students from PEI, Cape Breton, as well as the Caribbean due of McCulloch's views and the school's ecumenical stance. On the founding of Pictou Academy in 1808, McCulloch writes,

Our view in establishing this institution is the instruction of youth. We do not merely design to advance them in learning; we propose that much care be taken in forming their minds, by correcting the natural propensities of the heart and instilling into them the principles of virtue, that education may not merely make them great but good men and good members of society. In doing so we intend to furnish them with the means of an extensive and liberal education; and this we hope, in connection with the former, will tend to make them ornaments to human nature and an honor to their country.

These beliefs set him apart in Nova Scotia as a radical education reformer.

In 1838, the board of Dalhousie College was able to convince McCulloch leave Pictou Academy and take on the floundering Dalhousie. With a reputation as an anti-papal pamphleteer and firmly against the Church of England's hold on higher education in Nova Scotia (through King's College), McCulloch carried with him from Pictou his education theory and pedagogy, “If Dalhousie College acquires usefulness and eminence, it will be not by an imitation of Oxford, but as an institution of science, and practical intelligence.” His approach to education was radical: he firmly believed that all schools "ought first to be ascertained, how far it is calculated to improve the community; and, if its general utility appear, it is, in proportion to its value and to the extent of the public funds, unquestionably entitled to the protection of Government, whether it belong to churchmen or resbyteriandissenters, protestants or catholics, ought to be entirely disregarded!" He was responsible for creating a chair of natural history at Dalhousie to teach "geology, mineralogy, botany, and zoology."

Following McCulloch's death, the college fell into decline once again and was reorganized as a high school in 1848. In 1863, the college opened for a third time and was reorganized by another legislative act, which added "University" to the school's name: "The Governors of Dalhousie College and University". Dalhousie reopened with six professors and one tutor. When it awarded its first degrees in 1866, the student body consisted of 28 male students working toward degrees and 28 occasional students.

Despite the reorganization and an increase in students, money continued to be a problem for the institution. In 1879, amid talks of closure due to the university's dire financial situation, George Munro, a wealthy New York publisher with Nova Scotian roots, began to donate to the university; Munro was brother-in-law to Dalhousie's Board of Governors member John Forrest. As such, Munro is credited with rescuing Dalhousie from closure. In honour of his contributions, Dalhousie observes a university holiday called George Munro Day on the first Friday of each February. The first female graduate was Margaret Florence Newcombe from Grafton, Nova Scotia, who earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1885.

Originally located at the space now occupied by Halifax City Hall, the college moved in 1886 to Carleton Campus and spread gradually to Studley Campus. Dalhousie grew steadily during the 20th century. From 1889 to 1962 the Halifax Conservatory was affiliated with and awarded degrees through Dalhousie. In 1920, several buildings were destroyed by fire on the campus of the University of King's College in Windsor, Nova Scotia. Through a grant from the Carnegie Foundation, King's College relocated to Halifax and entered into a partnership with Dalhousie that continues to this day.

Dalhousie expanded on 1 April,1997 when provincial legislation mandated an amalgamation with the nearby Technical University of Nova Scotia. This merger saw reorganization of faculties and departments to create the Faculty of Engineering, Faculty of Computer Science and the Faculty of Architecture and Planning. From 1997 to 2000, the Technical University of Nova Scotia operated as a constituent college of Dalhousie called Dalhousie Polytechnic of Nova Scotia (DalTech) until the collegiate system was dissolved. The legislation that merged the two schools also formally changed the name of the institution to its present form, Dalhousie University. On 1 September 2012, the Nova Scotia Agricultural College merged into Dalhousie to form a new Faculty of Agriculture, located in Bible Hill, Nova Scotia.

Campuses

Dalhousie has three campuses within the Halifax Peninsula and a fourth, the Agricultural Campus, in Bible Hill, Nova Scotia.

Studley Campus in Halifax serves as the primary campus; it houses the majority of the university's academic buildings such as faculties, athletic facilities, and the university's Student Union Building. The campus is largely surrounded by residential neighbourhoods.

Robie Street divides it from the adjacent Carleton Campus, which houses the faculties of dentistry, medicine, and other health profession departments. The campus is adjacent to two large teaching hospitals affiliated with the school: the IWK Health Centre and the Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre.

Sexton Campus in Downtown Halifax hosts the engineering, architecture and planning faculties. Sexton Campus served as the campus of the Technical University of Nova Scotia prior to amalgamation. The Agricultural Campus in Bible Hill, a suburban community of Truro, served as the campus for the Nova Scotia Agricultural College prior to its merger with Dalhousie in 2011. The university presently operates the largest academic library system in Atlantic Canada, and hosts the headquarters for the Ocean Tracking Network.

The buildings at Dalhousie vary in age from Hart House, which was completed in 1864, to the Collaborative Health Education Building, completed in 2015. The original building of Dalhousie University was completed in 1824 on Halifax's Grand Parade. It was demolished in 1885 when the university outgrew the premises, and the City of Halifax sought possession of the entire Grand Parade. Halifax City Hall presently occupies the site of the original Dalhousie College.

Libraries and museums

The university has five libraries. The largest, Killam Memorial Library, opened in 1971. It is the largest academic library in Atlantic Canada with over one million books and 40,000 journals.

The library's collection largely serves the faculties of arts and social sciences, sciences, management, and computer science. The W. K. Kellogg Health Science Library provides services largely for the faculties of dentistry, medicine, and other health professions. The Sexton Design & Technology Library is located within Sexton Campus. Its collection largely serves those in the faculties of engineering, architecture and planning, and houses the university's rare books collection. The Sir James Dunn Law Library holds the university's collection of common law materials, legal periodicals, as well as books on international law, health law, and environmental law. MacRae Library is located at the university's Agricultural Campus, and has the largest collection of agricultural resource material in Atlantic Canada. The Dalhousie University Archives houses official records of, or relating to, or people/activities connected with Dalhousie University and its founding institutions. The archives also houses material related to theatre, business and labour in Nova Scotia. The collection consists of manuscripts, texts, photographs, audio-visual material, microfilm, music, and artifacts.
The university's first library, Macdonald Memorial Library, was built after alumni raised funds on the death of professor Charles Macdonald, who had left the university $2,000 to buy books in English literature on his death in 1901.

The biology department operates the Thomas McCulloch Museum in Pictou, Nova Scotia. The most notable of the museum's exhibits include its preserved birds collection. Other collections include its Lorenzen ceramic mushrooms, its coral and shell collection, and its butterfly and insect collection. The museum's namesake Thomas McCulloch was a Scottish Presbyterian minister who served as Dalhousie's first president and created the Audubon mounted bird collection which is now housed at the museum.

The Dalhousie Art Gallery is both a public gallery and an academic support unit housed since 1971 on the lowest level of the Dalhousie Arts Centre. Admission is free of charge. It is host to a permanent collection of over 1000 works. Some of the outdoor sculptures around the campus are part of this collection, such as the distinctive ''Marine Venus'' which has sat in the median of University Avenue since 1969. A notable exhibition from the Dalhousie Art Gallery includes "Archives of the Future" (March – April 2016) exploring the relationship between art creation and commerce with work by artists Zachary Gough, Dawn Georg, Sharlene Bamboat, Katie Vida and Dana Claxton.

Housing and student facilities

The university has ten student residences throughout its Halifax campuses: Gerard Hall, Howe Hall, LeMarchant Place, Mini Rez, O'Brien Hall, Residence Houses, Risley Hall, Shirreff Hall, Glengary Apartments, and Graduate House. The largest, Howe Hall in Studley Campus, houses 716 students during the academic year. Howe Hall's most recent addition to the residence is called Fountain. It is the only residence in Howe Hall to have a sink in every room. The university also operates three residences in its Agricultural Campus: Chapman House, Fraser House, and Truman House. The largest residence in the Agricultural Campus is Chapman House, housing 125 students during the academic year. The residences are represented by a Residence Council responsible for resident concerns, providing entertainment services, organizing events, and upholding rules and regulations.

The Student Union Building serves as the main student activity centre. Completed in 1968, it is located in the Studley Campus. The Student Union building hosts a number of student societies and organization offices, most notably the Dalhousie Student Union. The building houses five restaurants, both independently owned and international franchises such as Tim Hortons.

Sustainability

Dalhousie University is actively involved in sustainability issues and has received a number of sustainability awards and recognition for academic programs, university operations, and research. In 2022, Dalhousie received a GOLD rating from AASHE STARS (Version 2.2) In 2009, the university signed the University and College Presidents' Climate Change Statement of Action for Canada to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. Dalhousie is also a signatory of UNEP's International Declaration on Cleaner Production. In 1999, the university signed the Talloires Declaration, which committed Dalhousie and other higher education institutions to developing, creating, supporting, and maintaining sustainability.

In 2008, the College of Sustainability, the Office of Sustainability, and the Dalhousie Student Union Sustainability Office were formed. During 2008, the President's Advisory Council on Sustainability was also created. The council meets quarterly to discuss pan-university sustainability issues. Dalhousie's international award-winning College of Sustainability offers an undergraduate Major in Environment, Sustainability and Society (ESS) integrating with seven bachelor's degrees and 40 subjects across five faculties. The College of Sustainability offers a virtual and a physical space for the intersection of interdisciplinary collaboration, conversation, and teaching with a core of cross-appointed Dalhousie faculty members joined by visiting fellows, distinguished guest lecturers, community leaders, and environmental advocates. In addition, the Sustainability Leadership Certificate program offers students the opportunity to participate in an engaged exploration of personal and group leadership and empowers their sense of personal agency to address environmental and social change.

The Office of Sustainability spearheads a number of campus sustainability plans and policies including the Climate Change Plan, Natural Environment Plan, and Green Building policy. A number of initiatives have been developed and implemented with campus partners including numerous energy and water retrofits, residence Eco-Olympics competition, an Employee Sustainability Leadership Program, and an Employee Bus Pass. The Dalhousie Student Union Sustainability Office promotes awareness and behaviour change. DSUSO hosts "Green Week," the "Green Gala" and the "Greenie Awards" to celebrate campus accomplishments on sustainability. A number of student societies are also active in sustainability issues from on-campus gardening and food security to environmental law.

Administration

University governance is conducted through the Board of Governors and the Senate, both of which were given much of their present power in the Unofficial Consolidation of an Act for the Regulation and Support of Dalhousie College in Chapter 24 of the Acts of 1863. This statute replaced ones from 1820, 1823, 1838, 1841 and 1848, and has since been supplemented 11 times, most recently in 1995. The Board is responsible for conduct, management, and control of the university and of its property, revenues, business, and affairs. Board members, known as Governors of the Board, include the university's chancellor, president, and 25 other members. Members include people from within the university community such as four approved representatives from Dalhousie Student Union, and those in the surrounding community, such as the Mayor of Halifax. The Senate is responsible for the university's academics, including standards for admission and qualifications for degrees, diplomas, and certificates. The Senate consists of 73 positions granted to the various faculty representatives, academic administrators, and student representatives.

The president acts as the chief executive officer and is responsible to the Board of Governors and to the Senate for the supervision of administrative and academic works. Deep Saini is the 12th president of the university, and has served since January 2020. Thomas McCulloch served as the first president when the office was created in 1838. John Forrest was the longest-serving president, holding the office from 1885 to 1911.

Affiliated institutions

University of King's College is a post-secondary institution in Halifax affiliated with Dalhousie. The institution's campus is located adjacent to Dalhousie's Studley campus. Established in 1789, it was the first post-secondary institution in English Canada and the oldest English-speaking Commonwealth university outside the United Kingdom. The University of King's College was formerly an independent institution located in Windsor, Nova Scotia, until 1920, when a fire ravaged its campus. To continue operation, the University of King's College accepted a generous grant from the Carnegie Foundation, although the terms of the grant required that it move to Halifax and enter into association with Dalhousie. Under the agreement, King's agreed to pay the salaries of a number of Dalhousie professors, who in turn were to help in the management and academic life of the college.

Students at King's have access to all of the amenities at Dalhousie, and academic programs at King's would fold into the College of Arts and Sciences at Dalhousie according to the agreement. Presently, students of both institutions are allowed to switch between the two throughout their enrolment. In spite of the shared academic programs and facilities, the University of King's College maintains its own scholarships, bursaries, athletics programs, and student residences.

Finances

The university completed the 2017–18 year with revenues of $697.354 million and expenses of $664.274 million, yielding a surplus of $33.08 million. The largest source of revenue for the university was provincial operational grants, followed by tuition fees. The total endowment revenue reported in fiscal 2017–2018 was $481.372 million.

Diversity

The university has attempted to increase the representation of under-represented groups at Dalhousie through inclusive recruitment strategies.

Academics

Dalhousie is a publicly funded research university, and a member of the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada, as well as the U15. , there were 20,970 students enrolled at the university. Dalhousie offers more than 4,000 courses and over 200 degree programs in 13 undergraduate, graduate, and professional faculties. The requirements for admission differ between students from Nova Scotia, students from other provinces in Canada, and international students due to lack of uniformity in marking schemes. The requirements for admission also differ depending on the program. In 2011, the secondary school average for incoming first-year undergraduate students was 85 percent.

Canadian students may apply for financial aid such as the Nova Scotia Student Assistance Program and Canada Student Loans and Grants through the federal and provincial governments. Financial aid may also be provided in the form of loans, grants, bursaries, scholarships, fellowships, debt reduction, interest relief, and work programs. The university's registrar provides scholarships for its students in order to provide financial assistance, or to reward academic merits or performances in another fields, such as community involvement and leadership. The value of the scholarships ranges C$380 to $30,400. The university also provides bursaries valued between $152 to $456 for students in need of financial assistance. Dalhousie University offers $3 to $6 million in bursary funding for both domestic and international undergraduate students.

Reputation

The 2022 Academic Ranking of World Universities ranked Dalhousie University 301–400 in the world and 13–17 in Canada. The 2023 QS World University Rankings ranked the university 308th in the world, and twelfth in Canada. The 2023 Times Higher Education World University Rankings placed Dalhousie 301–350 in the world. In the 2022–23 '' U.S. News & World Report Best Global University Ranking'', the university placed 314th in the world, and 11th in Canada. In terms of national rankings, ''Maclean's'' ranked Dalhousie seventh in their 2023 Medical-Doctoral university rankings. Dalhousie was ranked in spite of having opted out – along with several other universities in Canada – of participating in Maclean's graduate survey since 2006.

Dalhousie also placed in a number of rankings that evaluated the employment prospects of its graduates. In the Times Higher Education's 2022 global employability ranking, Dalhousie placed 186th in the world, and eighth in Canada. In QS's 2020 graduate employability ranking, the university ranked 301–500 in the world, and 10–16 in Canada.

Research

In 2018, Research Infosource ranked Dalhousie as 15th on their list for top 50 research universities in Canada, with a sponsored research income (external sources of funding) of $150.038 million in 2017. In the same year, Dalhousie's faculty averaged a sponsored research income of $130,000, while its graduate students averaged a sponsored research income of $44,600. In 2003 and 2004, '' The Scientist'' placed Dalhousie among the top five places in the world outside the United States for postdoctoral work and conducting scientific research. In 2007 Dalhousie topped the list of ''The Scientists "Best Places to Work in Academia". The annual list divides research and academic institutions into American and international lists; Dalhousie University ranked first in the international category. According to a survey conducted by ''The Scientist'', Dalhousie was the best non-commercial scientific institute in which to work in Canada.

Dalhousie's research performance has been noted in several bibliometric university rankings, which use citation analysis to evaluate the impact a university has on academic publications. In 2019, the Performance Ranking of Scientific Papers for World Universities ranked Dalhousie 301st in the world, tied for 12th in Canada with the University of Manitoba

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