Want the opportunity to acquire the critical skills necessary for success at U of T?
New College offers a unique First-Year Foundation Program for intellectually curious and socially engaged students called NEW ONE: Learning without Borders.
The New One is committed to the principles of sustainability and social justice in an interdisciplinary context. New One classes are small, with a maximum of 25 students in each class, giving you the opportunity to work closely with dynamic faculty and fellow students, and to get enhanced support in meeting university expectations for research and writing.
Why should I take New One?
In New One you’ll acquire key academic skills by exploring, questioning and deepening your understanding of aspects of your daily life that can easily be taken for granted—the food we eat, the languages we speak, the technology we can’t live without, the art we use to express ourselves, and the science that is part of our every-day lives. New One explores the “backstory” of common activities while providing you with the tools to face some of the global challenges of the 21st century.
As well as offering exciting subject matter, New One helps to prepare you for academic success with hands-on workshops on everything from research, writing, working on time management, and managing mental health.
The small class size provides not only closer connections with engaging faculty but the opportunity to take part in different kinds of activities, including field trips, community events, guest speakers, debates, game-based learning and small-group discussions, as well as lectures.
Past field trips have taken students to Kensington Market, the Hacklab, FreeGeeks, OnSite Gallery, MoCA Toronto, Daniels Spectrum and ChocoSol, for a chocolate-making workshop and guest speakers have included local and internationally renowned artists and activists, Indigenous leaders and knowledge keepers.
Students who are new to Toronto, as well as those who have lived here all their lives, will enjoy exploring the city and the many communities within it.
To browse the course topics for 2024-2025, check out the New One: Learning without Borders webpage.
New One offers ten half-credit courses, five in the Fall and five in the Winter term. For the best experience, students are encouraged to sign up for one-half course each term. However, New One also welcomes students who wish to join the program for only one term.
New One courses satisfy Breadth Category #3, Society and its Institutions, except for NEW104 and NEW114, which fulfill Breadth Category #1, Creative and Cultural Representations.