Graduate Studies / John F. Flinn
Over the years the requirements for a master’s degree at the University of Toronto became more rigorous. In 1920 a sentence was added in the calendar to the effect that “a knowledge of standard classic authors is presupposed.” The School of Graduate Studies was established two years later and took over administration of all graduate studies. In the 1922-23 calendar the ma entry received a small, but significant amendment: mention of the thesis was qualified by an “if offered.” Was this tradition no longer favoured by the staff or popular with the students? Then in 1930, candidates in the Department of Romance Languages were advised that they would be required to pass an oral examination.
With these amendments, the criteria for the ma programme as outlined in the
1916-17 calendar would remain unchanged until 1936, when they disappeared entirely, to be replaced by the simple statement “Candidates for this degree are accepted under the general regulations.” Presumably requirements differed among the three departments represented in the Department of Romance Languages. In the calendar for 1950-51, the department spelled out in great detail a number of regulations, among them one stipulating, “A candidate normally devotes at least a full year, in residence, to four graduate courses within the Department, culminating in an examination of their content.” Candidates also had to show evidence of an oral command of one Romance language and a knowledge of Latin before qualifying for the degree. They were warned, “Granting of the m.a. degree does not, however, mean that a student may automatically continue for the doctorate. The Department will make an individual decision in each case.” The thesis had
disappeared after a century. And in 1947 the Department of Romance Languages had become the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures, reflecting a new emphasis: the calendar for that year listed twenty-two courses in literature, as opposed to only two in language, offered by the Department of French.
In 1916, when the first separate graduate calendar had appeared, the Department of Romance Languages had included French, along with Italian and Spanish, in a PhD programme. Candidates selected their major and two minor subjects under the direction of the staff in Romance Languages. The major was chosen from one of four groups: Romance Philology, French Language and Literature, Italian Language and Literature, and Spanish Language and Literature. Both minors could be chosen within the department – one had to be selected thus, but the second one could be chosen from a department “cognate with that of the major
subject.” In 1922 a requirement was introduced that some work be done in each of the four groups of study within the department. As proof of the seriousness with which it regarded the degree, the department adopted an admonitory paragraph that apparently was not in general use among the graduate departments and which it retained until 1950. “The department will not recommend the conferring of this degree merely because of the completion of a certain programme of studies. Evidence must be exhibited of special aptitude and of high attainment in the field chosen by the candidate. The thesis must be a distinct contribution to the literature of the subject discussed.”
Twenty courses in Romance Languages had been offered in 1916, eleven by members of the Department of French, as follows:
• The History of Prose Fiction in France, with special reference to the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries. Two hours a week. Professor Kittredge.
• Representative French Dramatists since the middle of the Nineteenth Century. One hour a week. Professor Cameron.
• Seminar in the Intellectual and Religious History of Modern France. Professor Will.
The absence of an instructor’s name may indicate that some courses were not offered in a specific year. Up to 1920 seven or eight courses in French had been offered each year. In the mid 1920s this figure dropped to a low of six, perhaps reflecting a decrease in the number of candidates after World War i. It should be noted, however, that the first PhD in the Department of Romance Languages was awarded in 1925 to a candidate specializing in French: Alexander Lacey, then a lecturer at Victoria College.
In 1950, coincident with the introduction of the four-course requirement for the ma, criteria for the PhD degree became much more detailed. Candidates were expected to complete a minimum of three years of residence (two beyond the ma, which candidates in the department were strongly advised to take in passing), to take a minimum of ten graduate courses, and to complete a thesis. When the candidate had received approval of a thesis subject, a doctoral committee was appointed, with the thesis director as chairman. Upon completion of the course requirements, the candidate took written and oral comprehensive examinations, then proceeded to complete the thesis. The final examination was to be oral and consisted of a defence of the thesis. At least six of the ten courses were normally to be taken in the major subject and at least two in each of the minors, all of which were normally to be chosen from the four groups within the department (the
word normally would be much resorted to in departmental regulations and requirements). By this time the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures offered thirty-five courses, three of them in Methods of Research and Bibliography, Romance Philology, and Provençal and twenty in French, principally in literary history.
The 1952-53 calendar introduced an important change: candidates could choose to register for an alternative PhD degree in any one of French, Italian, or Spanish Language and Literature. Later calendars spelt out the requirements for this option: the literature was considered the major subject, with a minimum of six courses required, and the language the first minor, with two courses required. For the second minor, candidates qualified in a second Romance language and
literature could elect a graduate course in that language and literature or one in Romance Philology; other options were graduate work in another Romance language and literature or a graduate course in a subject cognate with the candidate’s programme.
By 1947, thirty years after the entrance into the PhD programme of the Department of French, a total of only ten degrees had been awarded. After that date, the number of successful PhD theses increased rapidly, with twenty-two being awarded in the next twenty years. Since until the creation of separate departments in 1965, graduate students wishing to work in French were enrolled in the Department of Romance Languages (later Romance Languages and Literatures), separate figures according to specialization are not generally
It is not clear who were the students that fell into the category of “others.” They were probably “special” or “non-degree” students, even part-time students, principally Ontario high school teachers with type a teaching certificates who were desirous of improving their qualifications. The category ended rather suddenly, as can be seen, when the monetary reward was abolished by the Department of Education. The startling increase in registrations in both the ma and PhD programmes in 1960-61 may be attributed to the institution of Canada Council fellowships in 1957 to aid research and graduate study in the social sciences and humanities, a very large proportion of which went to University of Toronto students.
With the rise in numbers of students came an increase in faculty members. The number had dropped to five in the war years of 1916-18, but by 1930-31 it had
risen to ten. In 1940-41 it had increased only to eleven, where it stilI stood ten years later, but it had nearly doubled to twenty by 1960-61. From the beginning, graduate instructors were members of the departments of French of University College and the federated colleges. In 1947 the report of the President’s Committee on Graduate Studies, headed by Professor Harold Innis, noted the desirability of having visiting scholars on temporary appointments. Following up on this recommendation, F.C.A. Jeanneret obtained the appointment in 1950 of the first visiting professor to University College, René Bray of the Université de Lausanne, who was appointed at the same time to teach in the graduate department in the 1950-51 year. For over twenty years the Graduate Department of French would enjoy the presence of a distinguished series of visiting professors from France, Belgium, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and French Canada who, in addition to giving graduate courses, delivered public lectures in their particular fields of interest that were much appreciated by staff, students, and the general public.