University of King's College - History - King's Reformed

King's Reformed

In the early 1970s, King's faculty and alumni created the Foundation Year Programme (FYP), 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 almost 300 a year, most of whom live in residence on campus. Many of those who taught in the programme in its early days (and to some degree this is still true) were colleagues and students of the philosopher James Doull, who exercised a not inconsiderable degree of influence on the programme in its formative stages. In 1989 Doull was awarded an honorary doctorate by the College.

In 1977, King's introduced two Bachelor of Journalism programs: a four-year Honours degree and a one-year compressed degree for students who already hold a Bachelor's degree.

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

In 2000 and 2001, King's launched the Early Modern Studies Programme and the History of Science and Technology Programme modeled after Contemporary Studies, but with different subject matters. Each are modeled on the Foundation Year Programme and focus on individual intellectual development and interdisciplinary study as opposed to traditional university departmentalization.

Today, there are just over 1,100 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 1970s. Its first year class is made up mainly of Foundation Year Programme students. In 2001, the FYP class was 274 students, with slightly over a hundred of these students coming from Ontario. The growing number of students from out of province reflects King's growing academic reputation and its transformation from a small, local college to a nationally acclaimed university. However, King's maintains strong ties to its host city and province and the number of Nova Scotians attending King's rose 23% between 1994 and 2004.

The largest ever FYP class was in 2004, with 309 students. However, the administration wants to cap future classes at just under 300. With improved retention rates, the school's population should then stabilize at around 1,200 in future years. The number of students leaving after first year has dropped significantly since the introduction of the upper year inter-disciplinary programs.

Overall, King's the transformation of King's from a small college catering mainly to local Anglican students into a more intellectually cosmopolitan university with a strong national profile has been a resounding success. In terms of teaching quality, King's has been placed in the same academic league as top Canadian research universities like McGill and Toronto. One recent academic commentator summed up King's growing renown for its quality of teaching and eccentric student culture by remarking "If there is a Harvard of the North, it’s more likely King’s than McGill — although a better analogy would be a cross between Harry Potter’s Hogwarts and Camp Wanapitei in Temagami." The new programs, combined with a rigorous set of academic expectations and a cooperative academic culture, have proven a hit with high achieving high school students. Conservative estimates put the entrance average of first year King's students at 87%, or a strong A in Canadian high school marks. In 2006, however, the Administration of the College dropped the admission requirements to a 60 per cent highschool grade average. This has, in turn, attracted more students from Toronto.

One problem for King's, as for all of Nova Scotia's 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 its 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, more than 50% of costs were covered by student fees.

In 2005, the Nova Scotia government reached a Memorandum of Understanding with the universities of the province. It limited tuition increases to 3.9% for 3 years. In exchange, the government guaranteed a 5.8% increase in funding the first year, and slightly smaller increases for the remaining 2 years. Since King's relies more heavily on tuition than government funding, the University's financial situation will suffer as a result.

A library building was built in 1990, replacing a smaller one in the Arts and Administration building. The library has won numerous architectural awards. The same architect designed the school's New Academic Building in 2000. Additional residence rooms were added in the basement of the female residence (Alexandra Hall) in 2001 to accommodate some of the new students. Residence can currently accommodate 274 students, and nearly all on-campus living spaces are reserved for FYP students, though some spaces are reserved for upper-years who often provide valuable advice on what can be a daunting program. All buildings on the present campus are celebrated reconstructions and derivations of the buildings of the original 1789 campus in Windsor, Nova Scotia. Built in the Georgian style typical of the original campus, the residences retain the name of 'Bays', as the original residences were termed in Windsor. Each Bay—modeled on the system of 'staircases' at England's Oxford University—has been named with a seemingly ironic moniker (except Middle Bay); one Bay, Chapel Bay, is named for the campus chapel, but located the furthest distance from it, while Radical Bay originally housed the refined, quiet divinity students, and North Pole Bay sits atop the university's boiler rooms, arguably, the warmest location on campus. A system of tunnels connects the residences to the other buildings of the campus: a feature common to North American universities, and particularly common to many institutional buildings in Halifax.

The King's Library houses an impressive collection not only of rare Anglican church documents, but also a vast collection of original artwork, Renaissance and medieval books, and extensive archival material of relevance both to the history of Nova Scotia and the university. It also has some ancient artifacts, along with the Weldon Collection of fine imported china. Many of the rare books stem from the original, private collection of university founder, Charles Inglis. Recently, the blueprints for the buildings of the current campus were consulted in the library to restore the famed cupola crowning the A&A Building to its original, 1920s condition.

The current President and Vice-Chancellor, Dr. William Barker, was installed in October 2003, replacing Dr. Colin Starnes. Dr. Barker and the rest of the University administration have declared that King's has grown as much as it can and should. They describe the coming years as "a time of consolidation", with a focus on retention and development of new programs.

The University's 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,' were cancelled for the first time in 2003, theoretically because of the increased number of minors now living in residence. The University administration felt that it would be inappropriate to expose so many young people to the excesses of alcohol that usually mark those events. However, Bay Parties saw a revival during the 2005-06 school year, with both Radical Bay and Cochran Bay hosting several highly successful events.

Another consequence of increased enrolment 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, thus making way for more first years. In 2006, Alexandra Hall, traditionally the all-girls residence, was made co-ed for the first time with rooms in the basement alternating between male and female occupants as well as one wing of the first floor becoming all-male. In addition, two of the five bays were re-converted to co-ed living spaces in 2006.

In July 2006, the King's Student Union founded the King's Co-op Bookstore; it stocks every title on the FYP Reading List, as well as all necessary books for King's other courses and a number of Dalhousie courses and general interest fiction and non-fiction. The Bookstore is student-owned co-operative which operates separately from both the student union and the college.

King's College administration has not avoided controversy. After the Sodexho cleaning staff unionized in 2004, the housekeeping contract was awarded to a different company during the summer. The King's Student Union had been involved in encouraging the workers to unionize in order to improve their working conditions, and there were strenuous objections with the awarding of the new contract.

University of King’s College's Arms were registered with the Canadian Heraldic Authority on August 15, 2007.