___________________________________________________________________________________________________________ U of T Strategic Enrolment Priorities The University expects to continue to collect full enrolment- based funding from the Province, however the additional domestic enrolment above the ceiling does not generate operate grant funding so it is not sustainable without additional funded spaces. 1 The University is ready to expand its spaces when the government is able to provided additional funded spaces. Enrolment plans are shaped by the University of Toronto’s academic priorities and in service of our core mission of exceptional, globally recognized teaching and research excellence.
These continue to drive strategies and innovations in undergraduate learning (experiential and remote learning), internationalization (diversification of intake), and accessibility (student financial aid). They also support further developments in diversity, inclusion, and outreach programs. The driving goal behind them all is to ensure that the University continues to attract the best and brightest local, regional, and global minds – and foster their success. Under SMA4, the funded enrolment corridor has not materially changed. The government provided the University with 727 additional funded Weighted Grant Units (WGUs) as part of its STEM expansion initiative announced in April 2025.
This represents a 0.4% increase to our corridor midpoint and 1.7% of the total new funded spaces awarded to Ontario universities. The University had submitted a proposal for 4,850 undergraduate and 565 graduate spaces. The University of Toronto is also committed to enhancing its standing as a leader in graduate education and research. Despite its position as a global research-intensive institution, the University trails many of its international peers in its proportion of graduate students. Accordingly, there has been a broad – and successful – strategic objective to increase graduate enrolment and graduate share of enrolment across all three campuses over the past decade.
In July 2025 and as part of an SMA4 commitment, the Province initiated a Funding Model Review with the objective of addressing the long-term sustainability of the postsecondary education sector. The University has been an active participant in these discussions, providing comment and advice to government on program weights, performance funding, efficiency metrics and cost-saving opportunities, and reducing red tape. Provincial Government and the Strategic Mandate Agreement The University’s fourth Strategic Mandate Agreement with the Province (SMA4) came into effect on April 1, 2025 and will continue for five years.
The SMA4 includes a multi-year enrolment plan where the Province holds constant the level of funded domestic enrolment at the University of Toronto over the period of the agreement. The University continues to operate in a funding corridor that provides full enrolment funding so long as we maintain a five-year average enrolment within ±3% of our funded midpoint. This excludes separately funded enrolment expansions in programs like nursing and the Scarborough Academy of Medicine & Integrated Health (SAMIH).
The University is currently above its corridor funded midpoint and is actively working with divisions to return closer to our funded level Other Government Initiatives In recent years, the Province has made several announcements that have impacted this year’s enrolment and the University’s long-range enrolment plans. These include: Scarborough Academy of Medicine and Integrated Health (SAMIH): In May 2022, the Province announced funded expansion spaces in several health care programs to support the University’s new Scarborough medical academy located at UTSC.
SAMIH is a multi-division collaboration to provide a much-needed training facility for undergraduate health education and healthcare professionals and a hub to strengthen connections among healthcare providers in the region. At full expansion, the new funded spaces will support 1 Within the corridor there are also discrete enrolment caps on master’s and doctoral students, with enrolment above these caps excluded from the average compared to the corridor. The enrolment corridor is measured in terms of Weighted Grant Units (WGUs), which reflect FTE enrolment weighted by program costs. WGUs form the basis for the Government’s enrolment-based funding allocations.
Enrolment Report 2025-26 6 University of Toronto