Khaki University
| Motto | Rations for the Mind |
|---|---|
| Type | Canadian educational institution Military college |
| Established | 1917 |
| President | Dr Henry Marshall Tory |
| Undergraduates | available |
| Location | various locations, Great Britain and France |
| Affiliations | Canadian Army |
Khaki University (initially Khaki College) was a Canadian educational institution set up and managed by the general staff of the Canadian Army in Britain 1917-19 during the First World War and again 1945-46 in the Second.
Padres and officers had organized educational classes and Bible study groups for enlisted men from the start of the Great War in 1914. Although Padres J.M. Almond and Clarence MacKinnon wanted the Khaki University under the control of the chaplain services, ultimately, a formal educational program was implemented among their soldiers.
Colonel Gerald Birks, a World War I double flying ace with the Royal Flying Corps, supervisor of the YMCA Canadian Overseas, sought to offer educational courses to keep soldiers busy in their spare time with a view to stave off the evils of gambling and / or drinking. He asked Henry Marshall Tory to write a report which recommended the formalization of educational services of Canadian forces overseas. After the War, Birks became a businessman, patron of the arts, was a painter and philanthropist.
The programs were formalized in 1916 once Dr Henry Marshall Tory recommended in a report on discharged men from the army the establishment of an educational institution in England and France, to be called the Khaki College of Canada, with an extension department providing services for other camps in Great Britain. The educational services of Canadian forces overseas was organized and planned by Dr Henry Marshall Tory who became president of the Khaki College in 1917, while he was on leave as president of the University of Alberta. After the War, Tory returned as President of the University of Alberta, then founded colleges which became Carleton University and the University of British Columbia.
General Arthur Currie approved Khaki University as a component of the training for all soldiers in all divisions on 18 December 1917. After the War, Currie became the President and Vice Chancellor of McGill University in Montreal, Quebec. Under the general staff of the Canadian Army, the Khaki College became the educational services of Canadian Forces overseas in 1918. The program, which grew from the chaplain services of the Canadian Army and study groups of the Canadian of the YMCA, was a forerunner of similar programs in the military forces of other countries.
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