University of King's College

The University of King's College is a post-secondary institution in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. King's is a small university offering only undergraduate programmes. It is affiliated with Dalhousie University, sitting in the northwestern corner of Dalhousie's campus. King's main program is a "foundation year" (FYP) for first year students, in which they read famous works from throughout history. Other programmes for upper year students include a journalism programme and several other "interdisciplinary" offerings.

King's reformed

In the early nineteen-seventies, King's faculty and alumni created the Foundation Year Programme (FYP, pronounced fip), a first-year "Great Books" course that would count for four of a student's first five credits. The programme consisted of six sections from The Ancient World to The Contemporary World, in which students would read the work of major philosophers, poets, historians, and scientists, receive lectures from a range of experts in all these areas, write critical papers and engage in small-group discussion and tutorials. The programme initially had 30 students; it now draws over 250 a year.

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In 1977 King's introduced two bachelor of journalism programmes: a four-year Honours degree and a one-year compressed degree for students who already had a Bachelor's degree.

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In 1993 King's created the "Contemporary Studies Programme," an interdisciplinary humanities programme that could constitute one of a student's majors in a Combined Honours degree.

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In 2000 and 2001 King's launched an Early Modern Studies Programme and a History of Science and Technology Programme modelled after Contemporary Studies but with different subject matters.

Related Topics:
2000 - 2001

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Today there are just over 1000 students at King's, which although a small number for a university represents significant growth over the few hundred students more typical in the 1960s and 70s. Its first year class is made up primarily of Foundation Year Programme (FYP) students, many of whom transfer to other universities after completing their first year. In 2001, the FYP class was 274 students, with slightly over a hundred of these students coming from Ontario. King's has been accused of catering more and more to rich Ontario students, ignoring its own province. However, many students still come from Nova Scotia, the number of Nova Scotians rising 23% between 1994 and 2004.

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One problem for King's, as for all Canadian universities, has been the relative decline in government funding. In 1990, 78% of the university's operating costs were government funded; in 2004 only 31% were. Part of the reason has been a large expansion of the university, with only modest increases in government funding. Another reason is that the government of Nova Scotia funds the universities on a "per Nova Scotia student" basis, resulting in under funding to universities with large numbers of out of province students. Large increases in tuition fees have been used to cover the university's costs. As of 2005 over 50% of costs were covered by student fees.

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A New Academic Building (as it is fondly called) was built in 2000, and residence rooms were added in the basement of the female residence (Alexandra Hall) in 2001 to accommodate some of the new students. A new president, Dr. William Barker, was installed in October 2003, replacing Dr. Colin Starnes, to lead the university for at least the next five years. Dr. Barker and the rest of the university administration believe that King's has grown as much as it can and should. They describe the coming years as 'a time of consolidation'. The growth has changed some King's traditions. Formal meals, with Latin grace and academic gowns, formerly held at regular intervals, were suspended from 2001 until 2003. Only with the arrival of Dr. Barker were they reinstated. Traditional residence parties, known as 'bay parties' have been cancelled for the first time in 2003, theoretically because of the increased number of minors enrolled due to the elimination of grade 13 in Ontario. The university administration feels it would be inappropriate to expose so many young people to the excesses of alcohol that usually mark those events. Another consequence of increased enrollment has been a more unbalanced composition of the residences. Traditionally students from all years of study have lived in residence, but increasingly, very few upper year students continue to live on campus making way for extra first years.

Related Topics:
Colin Starnes - Latin - Grade 13 - Ontario - Alcohol

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