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Osgoode students help win deportation reprieve for Kazakh family

Judge signing papers

Louis Althaus and Brandon Jeffrey Jang, second-year students at Osgoode Hall Law School, spent three weeks in June testing their practical knowledge of frontline immigration law learned through the School’s Community & Legal Aid Services Program (CLASP) to advocate for an at-risk migrant family facing expulsion.

Guided by CLASP’s veteran immigration lawyer, Subodh Bharati, the pair mobilized every legal strategy available to keep the family – who remain unnamed for privacy purposes – from being forcibly returned to Kazakhstan, where they faced potential persecution and death.

Thanks in part to their hard work in winning a last-minute reprieve, the family’s 14-year-old daughter, who was voted valedictorian by her Grade 8 classmates days before the deportation was to take effect, now has a chance of realizing her dream of becoming a doctor in Canada.

“It was a privilege to work on this case and have so much of the family’s trust,” said Althaus. “We were so thrilled to turn it around and get them the best result we could have hoped for.”

Throughout the case, Jang and Althaus filed a 180-page stay motion to the Federal Court of Canada; detailed affidavits to support a humanitarian and compassionate (H&C) application to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC); and submitted a deferral request to the Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA).

Getting to know the family helped the students add critical information to the H&C application, originally prepared by a Toronto law firm. “It was important to us that we brought their stories to life,” Jang said.

Louis Althaus and Brandon Jeffrey Jang
Louis Althaus and Brandon Jeffrey Jang

The family’s 2017 escape from Kazakhstan, where the father, a shopkeeper, was beaten and threatened with death by a local gang, reunited him with his brother and sister in Canada and enabled him to care for his sister, who was suffering from Parkinson’s Disease. In the six years that followed, the family’s three children became fluent in English and excelled in school.

Althaus, who is originally from Germany, and Jang, a Scarborough native, said many law firms would not have had the resources to delve so deeply into the family’s story on a legal aid retainer. The experience “truly highlighted the magic” of Osgoode’s clinic system, added Althaus.

The two Osgoode students said they were also inspired by Bharati’s guidance and will carry those lessons with them.

“Subodh taught us to be courageous and to take initiative,” said Althaus. “He’s willing to fight for his clients on all fronts and to exhaust every avenue possible within the judicial system – and he has instilled that in us, too.”

Bharati said CLASP offers an incredible opportunity to students.

“They are able to work directly with vulnerable and marginalized people who truly need them,” he explained. “In doing so, they see, not only the privilege an Osgoode education affords them but their immense capacity to do good. These experiences will stay with them for the rest of their careers.”

“Just hearing the real difference you can make actually doing work on a case and having a real influence on someone’s life – that was something I was drawn to,” Jang said of his reason for joining CLASP. “I wanted an opportunity to help give a voice to people who need it the most, and CLASP provides a specialized opportunity to do so. After a few months working here, I can truly say that the clinic believes in its students.”

Althaus likewise said Osgoode’s wide selection of clinical programs was intriguing when it came time to pick a law school.

“When I chose Osgoode, I chose it knowing it has the most extensive clinical system in the country,” he noted. “I don’t think I could have worked on a case like this at any other law school.”

Professor’s book details care home labour exploitation

Exhausted nurse, doctor, medical practitioner sitting on care centre floor

By Joseph Burrell, communications officer, YFile

York University Distinguished Research Professor Emerita Pat Armstrong’s latest book, Unpaid Work in Nursing Homes: Flexible Boundaries (Policy Press, 2023), follows unpaid labourers in nursing homes across six wealthy countries, including Canada, and launches on July 18.

Pat Armstrong
Pat Armstrong

Armstrong, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, leads a team of international researchers who have, over a decade, produced a series of books identifying hazardous trends in health-care systems as well as “promising practices for making nursing home care as good as it can be.”

“You may assume that in nursing homes most of the labour is provided by staff paid and trained for the job. But you would be wrong, especially in Canada,” Armstrong says. “This book is about who does what kinds of unpaid work, under what conditions in nursing homes. By comparing the nature and conditions of this gendered work in different countries, the book shows that the boundaries between paid and unpaid work are flexible not only for families and volunteers, but also for paid staff and residents.”

This latest entry features the results of ethnographic studies carried out in the U.S., U.K., Canada, Norway, Sweden and Germany – each country among the most resource-rich in the world and employing an array of contrasting approaches to long-term care. The follow-up entry to Armstrong’s latest book, Care Homes in a Turbulent Era (2023), also launches in August.

For all of the cultural and practical differences in each country’s approach to delivering care, a common element throughout the team’s research was that many nursing homes were dependent on unpaid labour to varying degrees.

“One of the many things that stood out for us was the amount and range of labour undertaken without pay by families, volunteers, residents and even by staff otherwise paid for the work,” Armstrong explains. “However, the amounts and kinds of unpaid work varied significantly from country to country, indicating that such work is not inevitable.”

This breadth of unremitted work, particularly the work carried out by staff who were paid in some circumstances but not in others, gave rise to the “flexible boundaries” referred to in the book’s title. Although Armstrong emphasizes that these inequities have existed in nursing homes around the world for many years – a fact demonstrated throughout the nearly 30 books that she’s published on the topic since the 1980s – she also points to the COVID-19 pandemic as a recent force stressing the limits of the workforce and illuminating the severity of workers’ situations.

Unpaid Work In Nursing Homes: Flexible Boundaries by Pat Armstrong
Unpaid Work In Nursing Homes: Flexible Boundaries (2023) by Pat Armstrong

As homes were quarantined and family members barred from entering, the dependence on unpaid labour became apparent to the public. But even in light of COVID-19’s global repercussions, some countries proved better equipped to handle the health crisis in nursing homes than others.

“Staffing levels are much higher in Norway and Sweden,” she says. “The ownership of care homes also differs significantly. Norway especially has very few for-profit homes while in Ontario, nearly 60 per cent are for-profit. A poll in Sweden found that a majority would like to enter a nursing home if they needed help with two or more issues, while 90 per cent of those polled in Canada say they don’t want to go into a nursing home at all.”

Noting the similarities in age demographics as well as illness prevalence across all of the countries, Armstrong suggests that differences in health outcomes and perception of nursing homes are owed to “differences in both the quality of care and values.”

Despite their comparative successes, Armstrong cautions that countries like Norway and Sweden shouldn’t rest on their laurels. According to her research, each country shares the common issue of overworking majority-female labour forces and increasingly depending on immigrants from lower-income countries to fill jobs seen as undesirable, making the problem of exploitation one that intersects with sexism, racism and classism.

“Staff members talk about lying awake at night worrying about not having had the time to help Mrs. Jones eat her dinner, to help Mr. Banerjee walk down the hall, or to comfort a daughter when her mother died, even though these staff members came in early and stayed late,” Armstrong says.

A key takeaway throughout all of Armstrong’s work is the variety of solutions applicable to these problems. Such health-care crises are mitigated not just by training more medical professionals, but by educating citizens in effective policy, like increasing public investment in long-term care facilities.

“Long before the pandemic, research had shown that for-profit care homes had the lowest staffing levels, lowest pay and lowest quality of care,” she explains. “Attending to the conditions of work is essential to… responding to the individual needs of residents. The conditions of work are the conditions of care.”

Unpaid Work in Nursing Homes: Flexible Boundaries is available for purchase in paperback format, or for free download as an e-publication, through Policy Press.

Schulich team studies impact of updated accounting code of ethics

two men working together on computer

New research by York University researchers and alumni from the Schulich School of Business shows that the likelihood of professional accountants reporting illegal acts by their employers or clients will increase because of explicit wording that was added to an international code of ethics in 2017.

Linda Thorne close up portrait
Linda Thorne

The language introduced via the updated standard for non-compliance with laws and regulations (NOCLAR) clarifies and elevates accountants’ professional responsibility to report fraud and illegal acts to an external authority. The change was established in 2017 to address previous ambiguity around whether or not to maintain confidentiality when accountants suspected a breach of law.

The findings are contained in a forthcoming article in the Journal of Business Ethics. The article, titled “An Experimental Study of a Change in Professional Accountants’ Code of Ethics: The influence of NOCLAR on the duty to report illegal acts to an external authority”, was co-authored by Linda Thorne, professor of accounting at Schulich, together with two former PhD students at Schulich, Pier-Luc Nappert, an assistant professor of accounting at Laval University; Carolyn McTavish, an associate professor of accounting at Wilfrid Laurier University; and Sameera Hassan, a current Schulich PhD student.

The researchers evaluated the effect of NOCLAR’s updated wording on accountants’ perception of their responsibility to report illegal acts to an external authority. To carry out the evaluation, the research team conducted an experiment involving 113 Chartered/Certified Professional Accountants (CPAs) from the U.S. and Canada that showed that NOCLAR increases clarity and elevates CPAs’ perceptions of professional responsibility to report illegal acts externally.

“Prior to NOCLAR, the international code of ethics was seen by the public, the securities markets, audit regulators, and the audit profession as ambiguous,” says Thorne. “The ambiguity of the code prior to the introduction of NOCLAR facilitated the precedence of the principle of confidentiality over that of external reporting of fraud. But as a result of NOCLAR, there is now language in the code that explicitly grants accountants the right to break confidentiality in the face of illegal acts and outlines the steps for accountants to take when encountering them.

“Our findings suggest that the likelihood of professional accountants reporting illegal acts externally will increase,” Thorne concluded.

Philippine Studies Group offers research and publishing funds

writing in notebook

York University faculty members engaged in research and research creation related to the Philippines, or its diasporas, are invited to submit applications for funding and publication support by Tuesday, July 25.

The Philippine Studies Group (PSG) at the York Centre for Asian Research (YCAR) is offering up to five minor research grants worth a maximum of $4,500 each, as well as support for faculty members to publish research in the field of Philippine studies – with the number and value of the latter set to fluctuate based on the number of applications received. This opportunity is open to full-time York faculty, with a preference for early career scholars.

Available minor research and research creation grants are intended for faculty members wishing to explore subject that could include, but are not limited to: Filipino arts, history, cultures, languages, politics, society, economics and environments; Filipino Canadian relations; Filipinos in Canada; Filipinos in the diaspora; and Canadians in the Philippines. Applicants from Faculties across the University are invited to apply. Ideal applications show a clear link to Philippine studies. Where possible, applications that offer opportunities for training and professional development to undergraduate or graduate students are also welcomed.

Further grant information and applications for research and research creation can be found here.

Grants for publication support are intended to assist in covering expenses that will enable or enhance the publication of research in the field of Philippines studies. Eligible expenses include research support, indexing, artwork, copyright clearance, cartography, image reproduction, translation or copy editing. The fund might also contribute towards the cost of a publishing subvention required by a university press.

Information and applications for publishing support grants can be found here.

For further details, contact the PSG at phillipinestudiesgroup@yorku.ca or visit the YCAR website.

Professor’s new book redefines girlhood during Medieval, Renaissance era

Black woman reading book

Author and Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies (LA&PS) Professor Deanne Williams investigates the overlooked roles of girls in theatre – and performing arts in general – from the 10th through 17th centuries in her new book Girl Culture in the Middle Ages and Renaissance: Performance and Pedagogy (Bloomsbury, 2023).

Williams’ research cites eyewitness testimony, stage directions, paintings and even records of payment to explore girls’ appearance in dramatic performances, as well as their contributions to writing and translating plays, singing, dancing and performing music. While previous histories of the actress have begun with the Restoration in 1660, this book charts this history all the way back to the Middle Ages.

Deanne Williams
Deanne Williams

Through its close analysis of plays from this time frame, as well as the broader cultural environments that produced them, Girl Culture demonstrates that girls were active and influential participants in dramatic culture, rather than passive observers.

“Girls have occupied a marginal role in theatre and cultural history, because of the assumption that performance was largely restricted to boys and men,” Williams explains. “But Girl Culture shows that they played an important role in medieval religious drama, Tudor pageants and royal entries, Elizabethan entertainments, and the Stuart court and household masque.

“My research shows that girlhood was a time of comparatively greater freedom for girls. Performing parts at home or in the schoolroom was a significant part of their education and they participated also in religious as well as civic performances. This book reveals medieval and early modern girlhood as a time of tremendous creativity and intellectual development,” she adds, before girls were “restricted by the expectations placed upon married women to run households and bear children.”

For over twenty years, Williams has devoted herself to research and redefining medieval and early modern girlhood. Her work includes staging readings of Jane Lumley’s Iphigeneia, the first-ever translation of the Greek drama into English, as well as Elizabeth Cary’s Tragedy of Mariam, the first female-authored original play (published in 1613), with Tom Bishop of the University of Auckland. With John Edwards, artistic director of the Musicians in Ordinary, she produced a podcast recording of Milton’s Comus and they are currently working with noted stage director Paul Hopkins on a film production of Elizabeth Brackley and Jane Cavendish’s play, The Concealed Fancies. With her colleague Bernice Neal and research assistant Asra Khonsari, Williams is also putting the finishing touches on a database called the Girls on Early English Stages (GEES) Project.

Girl Culture in the Middle Ages and Renaissance
Girl Culture in the Middle Ages and Renaissance: Performance and Pedagogy (2023) by Deanne Williams

Williams has also explored how even Shakespeare, whose plays were performed on an all-male stage, was influenced by girl culture and the participation of girls in the public sphere. In her previous study, Shakespeare and the Performance of Girlhood (2014), Williams devotes “entire chapters to Ophelia and Juliet, as well as to lesser-known girl characters, such as the Queen in Richard II.

“In [that] book, I argue that girl characters are key to Shakespeare’s plays, and that Shakespeare’s ideas about girlhood developed over the course of his career and shaped our own ideas about girlhood today,” Williams says. “My new book, Girl Culture, takes a very different approach. Rather than exploring the influence of Shakespeare on girlhood, it locates the influence of girls on Shakespeare, whose lived experience of the girl actor, and girls’ significant cultural presence, shaped his conceptualization of girl characters such as Juliet, Rosalind and Celia in As You Like It, Marina in Pericles, and Emilia and the Jailer’s daughter in Shakespeare and Fletcher’s Two Noble Kinsmen.”

Among many other examples Williams hopes readers will be pleasantly surprised by, she highlights Anne Boleyn – whose life was marred by tragedy – as being a far more literary person than sordid histories tend to let on.

“[Boleyn’s] reputation was tarnished by Henry VIII, but her girlhood was bookish, pious and extremely musical,” she says. “I also think readers will be astonished to learn about Hrotswitha of Gandersheim, who wrote six Latin plays to match those of Latin comic playwright, Terence, in order to educate the girls of Gandersheim Abbey. I think she was horrified by what she found in Terence and wanted to provide her girl readers – and actors – with better role models.”

In her graduate and undergraduate teaching, Williams always seizes the chance to share the updated history that’s uncovered in Girl Culture and bring to light the seldom discussed influence on the arts by girls of a bygone era.

Schulich student wins Vector Institute AI scholarship

Medical,Healthcare,Research,And,Development,Concept.,Doctor,In,Hospital,Lab

Darren Singh, a candidate for the Master of Management in Artificial Intelligence (MMAI) at York University’s Schulich School of Business, was named a winner of this year’s Vector Scholarship in Artificial Intelligence (VSAI).

Darren Singh
Darren Singh

Valued at $17,500, the merit-based VSAIs are bestowed upon top candidates pursuing studies in either Vector-recognized master’s programs, which provide students with the AI skills and competencies sought by employers, or individual AI study paths in Ontario.

“The Vector Scholarship allows me to have peace of mind while pursuing my MMAI and serves as a reminder that hard work does pay off,” said Singh. “The countless late nights that I had spent studying, working on assignments and programming during my undergraduate degree in astrophysics and computer science at York University played a large role in me receiving this award.”

Singh says the scholarship will allow him to focus more on his studies and less on funding his education. He is also looking forward to familiarizing himself with Vector Institute’s vast network which will accelerate his learning and education in AI.

“The MMAI, being a 12-month professional degree related to artificial intelligence, allows me to obtain a graduate degree without needing to remain entirely in academia,” says Singh. “The Artificial Intelligence Consulting Project (AICP) that is part of the degree will enable me to obtain relevant work experience before I graduate and enter the workforce.”

Scholarship recipients become part of the Vector Institute’s community of renowned researchers, major Canadian companies and AI startups solving high-impact problems. Recipients receive support for their education, and affiliation with Vector can open high-quality career options through Vector’s networking and career events, Digital Talent Hub and professional development programming.

Five York community members invested to Order of Canada

Order of canada medal laid out on black background

Five individuals with connections to York University are among the 85 new appointments to the Order of Canada, announced in June by Governor General of Canada Mary Simon.

The new member list includes one Officer (O.C.) and four Members (C.M.). The Order of Canada is one of the highest honours awarded to civilians in Canada. Created in 1967, it recognizes people whose service shapes society, whose innovations ignite imaginations and whose compassion unites communities.  

Officer

The Honourable Robert James Sharpe, donor
Sharpe was appointed for his distinguished contributions to the advancement of law in Canada as both a judge and academic.

Members

John Anthony Lederer, alumni, donor
Lederer was appointed for his leadership in business, and for his philanthropy in support of the community and health sectors.

Daniel Levy, former student
Levy was appointed for his trailblazing advocacy of 2SLGBTQI+ communities, and for advancing Canadian television as a critically acclaimed actor, writer, director and producer.

Susan Swan, former faculty, donor
Swan was appointed for her contributions to Canadian literature and culture, and for her mentorship of the next generation of writers.

Robert J. Foster, donor
Foster was appointed for his visionary leadership and acumen as a successful entrepreneur and for his transformational contributions to developing Toronto’s arts communities.

Wendy Ruth Eisen, donor
Eisen was appointed for her commitment to enhancing the welfare of Jewish people and Canadian society as a whole through her philanthropy, volunteerism and activism.

More than 7,600 people from all sectors of society have been invested into the Order of Canada. Appointments are made by the governor general on the recommendation of the Advisory Council for the Order of Canada. For more information about the Order of Canada program, visit www.gg.ca/en/honours/canadian-honours/order-canada.

Professors create VR summer program for high school students

child using virtual reality goggles

York University Faculty of Science Associate Professor Derek Jackson, and Kyle Belozerov, a sessional assistant professor, have partnered with Science Engagement Programs to develop a new Spark Lab virtual reality (VR) research course that will introduce high school students to pharmaceutical chemistry.

Derek Jackson
Derek Jackson
Kyle-Belozerov
Kyle Belozerov

Spark Lab courses are week-long sessions designed for students in grades 9 to 12 who are interested in gaining hands-on experience in the science labs. The Faculty of Science offers courses in the experimental and research categories.

Experimental courses are developed and taught by York undergraduate and graduate students, teacher candidates, or Ontario-certified teachers, while research courses are developed and led by graduate students and/or professors and are based on the research they are conducting at York.

Students enrolled in the new Pharmaceutical Chemistry research course – which runs from July 17 to 21, from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Keele Campus – will explore modern pharmaceutical chemistry through hands-on laboratory drug synthesis experiments and by using virtual reality (VR) to examine their structure and how they interact with their targets. By the end of the week, students will have a deeper understanding of biological molecules and the foundations of drug action in the human body.

As a postdoctoral researcher at the Emory University Medical School, Belozerov worked on pre-clinical development and testing of drug candidates targeting an aggressive form of brain tumor called glioblastoma. He also has taught pharmacology to students in the nursing program at York.

Jackson’s expertise is in organic chemistry, a field of study that is used to synthesize the molecules found in a large number of medications, ranging from everyday medicines, like Tylenol, to complex and life-saving cancer medications. The professors have combined their respective areas of expertise to develop an engaging and dynamic summer lab course for curious Toronto high schoolers.

For more information about Belozerov and Jackson and their pharmaceutical chemistry course, visit the Science Engagement Programs website.

To register for this course, visit the online ActiveWorks registration system.

Microlecture Series in Sustainable Living: Building a better future with Shooka Karimpour

Globe and York branded box for the Microlecture Series launch

Throughout the Microlecture Series in Sustainable Living, six of York University’s world-renowned experts share research, thoughts and advice on a range of critical topics related to sustainability. Their leadership and expertise, however, extends beyond the six-minute presentations.

Over the last several weeks, YFile presented a six-part series featuring the professors’ work, their expert insights into York’s contributions to sustainability, and how accepting the responsibility of being a sustainable living ambassador can help right the future.

Part six features Assistant Professor Shooka Karimpour.

Karimpour is an assistant professor of civil engineering at York University’s Lassonde School of Engineering where she leads the Environmental HydroDynamics (EHD) lab. Karimpour’s research aims to investigate how turbulent mixing and entrainment are induced and how they affect mass and contaminant transport. Currently, her team is working on entrainment of multi-phase flow, focusing on aerated flow and microplastic contaminants.

Karimpour’s research has been published in Journal of Fluid Mechanics, Environmental Science and Technology, and Frontiers in Marine Science. She is also recipient of several international and national awards including the Kefeer Medal from the Canadian Society of Civil Engineering.

Shooka Karimpour
Shooka Karimpour

Q: What does it mean to be a “sustainable living ambassador” and how does it foster positive change?
A: We are reaching a point in that some of the changes to our planet may have severe consequences in the near future. Our ocean, freshwater lakes and rivers, for example, are under extreme pressure on many fronts from ocean acidification to widespread of plastic pollution. York University’s Microlecture Series in Sustainable Living enables the accessible training of “sustainable living ambassadors” on some of the key environmental issues including water quality and climate change.

Q: What does it mean to be a “sustainable living ambassador” and how does it foster positive change?
A: This is a unique and concise program that sets individuals on the right trajectory to understand some of the fundamental issues and it encourages them to take action and to be a part of the solution.

Q: What would make you most proud for viewers to take away from your lecture, and the series as a whole?
A: Unfortunately, today, we are facing many environmental issues that are complex and intertwined. Plastic production, for example, leads to greenhouse gas emission, contributing to climate change. Despite their complexities, there are also solutions, like those presented in the Microlecture Series. We have dealt with and managed other environmental issues in the past, for example the “ozone hole,” through collective actions and proper legislation. I want the viewers to know, we do have the knowledge to address some of these challenges, we have to ask ourselves if we have the collective will.

Q: Equity and equality are a common theme throughout these sustainability lectures. Why is that such a critical component of sustainability?
A: The inequitable impact of climate change, plastic pollution, water security, etc., is evident. For example, we have communities in the Arctic that have very little contribution to plastic pollution but are reported to have plastics in their diets. Coastal communities in a few developing countries, that have a very small contribution to greenhouse gas emission, are paralyzed by sea water level rise due to climate change. These issues, they aren’t limited to geo-political boundaries. They affect many beyond where they are sourced from. Equity must be in the forefront of the conversation on these topics to make sure solutions aren’t just tailored to those with more resources.

Q: Are there changes you’ve made in your work at York that other York community members can learn from?
A: I have made personal changes – carpooling, for instance, to work or going paperless when reading and writing – but I think the most important change I made was to pivot my research. My research is around environmental fluid mechanics and I question myself quite often on how I can incorporate things in my research and teaching with meaningful impacts in terms of making the world more equitable and sustainable.

Q: How do you view collective responsibility vs. personal responsibility in creating a more sustainable future?
A: It’s everyone’s personal responsibility to care. This is important on many levels, one of the most important aspects of it is that it holds industry and for-profit organizations responsible. However, large-scale change isn’t really possible without collective responsibility and commitment from governments and industries.

Q: How is York leading the way towards a more sustainable future?
A: York has been amazing in terms of supporting research on sustainability, which is woven to the University’s Academic Plan. For example, over the past year, it has supported the establishment of a new research unit, OneWATER, and continuously looks for opportunities to empower teaching and research linked to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Visit the Microlecture Series in Sustainable Living to see Shooka Karimpour’s full lecture, as well as those by the other five experts, and earn your Sustainable Living Ambassador badge. This articles concludes the series. Read more in parts one, two, three, four and five.

York makes substantial leap forward in latest QS World University Rankings

Ariel shot of Keele Campus

York University continues to strengthen its global position as a leading research-intensive university as highlighted in the 20th edition of the QS World University Rankings. This year, York climbed more than 100 spots, moving up to 353rd out of 1,500 universities – a 25 per cent improvement in the University’s standing over the past eight years.

“With an unparalleled commitment to creating positive change, York has once again been recognized by the QS World University Rankings for academic and research excellence along with highly valued student outcomes,” said Rhonda Lenton, York University president and vice-chancellor.

According to the QS World University Rankings, this year’s results saw the largest-ever methodological enhancement, introducing three new metrics: Sustainability, Employment Outcomes and International Research Network. The changes were intended to align with evolving student and societal priorities.

This latest ranking news also comes on the heels of York’s impressive results in the 2023 Times Higher Education Impact Ranking and QS’ Subject Report Rankings, both results that were revealed earlier in the year.

York placed in the world’s top 40 universities for advancing the UN Sustainable Development Goals according to this year’s Impact Rankings released in June. The University achieved an especially strong global standing as a result of University initiatives tied to fighting poverty, reducing inequalities and building more sustainable communities.   

Released in March, the 2023 QS Subject Report Rankings evaluated more than 15,000 programs from 1,594 institutions and York ranked among the top 100 in the world in three subject areas: English language and literature, philosophy, and for the first time, performing arts.

“These latest QS World University Rankings build on York’s positive global momentum. The impressive results are a testament to the high quality, interdisciplinary research, teaching and learning that take place at York,” said Lenton.

Guided by a University Academic Plan that strives to both inspire and deliver positive change, York’s high-quality academic programming continues to position the institution as a leader in post-secondary education in Canada and around the world.