It has eleven faculties, including the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies, Faculty of Science, Lassonde School of Engineering, Schulich School of Business, Osgoode Hall Law School, Glendon College, Faculty of Education, Faculty of Health, Faculty of Environmental Studies, Faculty of Graduate Studies, the School of the Arts, Media, Performance, and Design (formerly the Faculty of Fine Arts), and 28 research centers.

York University was established in 1959 as a non-denominational institution by the York University Act, which received Royal Assent in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario on 26 March of that year. Its first class was held in September 1960 in Falconer Hall on the University of Toronto campus with a total of 76 students. In the fall of 1961, York moved to its first campus, Glendon College, and began to emphasize liberal arts and part-time adult education. In 1965, the university opened a second campus, the Keele Campus, in North York, within the neighborhood community now called York University Heights.

Several of York's programs have gained notable recognition both nationally and internationally. York houses Canada's oldest film school, which has been ranked one of the best in Canada,[8] with an acceptance rate comparable to that of the USC School of Cinematic Arts and Tisch School of the Arts. York's Osgoode Hall Law School was ranked fourth best in Canada, behind U of T, McGill, and UBC. In The Economist's 2011 full-time MBA rankings, York's Schulich School of Business ranked ninth in the world, and first in Canada, and in CNN Expansion's ranking of MBA programs, Schulich ranked 18th in the world, placing first in Canada. York's School of Kinesiology and Health Science ranked fourth in Canada and 24th best in the world in 2018.

Over the last twenty years, York has become a center for labor strife with several faculty and other strikes occurring, including the longest university strike in Canadian history in 2018.