University of Ontario Institute of Technology - History

History

UOIT was founded in 2002 by the University of Ontario Institute of Technology Act, 2002 passage by the Legislative Assembly of Ontario of Bill 109 on June 27, 2002. It is a public, career-focused university emphasizing science and technology, and a part of the Ontario government’s initiative to create more spaces in postsecondary institutions for the double cohort. UOIT's new slogan, "Challenge, Innovate, Connect" was unveiled in June 2006.

UOIT offered graduate and postgraduate programs and research opportunities to the first 947 students in September 2003 and total enrolment was over 5,000 in the 2007–2008 school year, making it the fastest growing university in Ontario. The student population for 2009 was 6285 and 7018 in 2010; by 2012 there are 9203 students. .

Construction on the university's first buildings began in 2002. The facilities currently include a library shared with Durham College, the Science Building, and the Business and IT Building as well as a state of the art virtual hospital for nursing students. The Ontario Power Generation Engineering Building opened in September 2006. The residences for UOIT are Simcoe Village and South Village. The Automotive Centre of Excellence (ACE) is connected to the Ontario Power Generation Engineering Building (opened in 2011). ACE is a multi-level testing and research centre that will allow for full climatic, durability and lifecycle testing. It has a full range of testing facilities including a five story high climatic wind tunnel.

Plans have been announced for the Centre for Cybercrime Research which will be a separate, permanent location on campus and will be dedicated to leading-edge research and the training of graduate and undergraduate students in various aspects of cybercrime. In addition, an expansion to the athletic facilities, funded largely by students, was completed in September 2007.

The University has established a downtown campus. It purchased and renovated the Regent Theater to be used as a lecture theatre during the week and as a community stage on the weekends. The university also renovated the former Alger Press building which opened in January 2011. UOIT has also initiated plans to renovate Victoria St. (Between King St. and Bond St.) into a pedestrian, social and lounge area. Currently the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities and the Faculty of Education are located downtown. The university just completed a comprehensive master plan for the downtown campus location entitled "Into the Future: A Framework & Action Plan for Growing UOIT & Downtown Oshawa. It will guide university growth over the next years and decades. The study anticipates the relocation of the Faculty of Business and Information Technology from the north campus location to the downtown campus location by 2015.