And the UK, and much of the rest of the world. In the UK, college usually refers to either sixth form or Further Education college, between secondary school and university.
Even in America, there was a distinction, or at least there used to be. If it was a "college" then that meant there was limited to no opportunity for graduate studies. On the other hand, a "university" offered full undergraduate as well as graduate programs for most subjects. In highschool, I remember noting that some colleges where quite prestigious, such as Dartmouth and Harvey Mudd College.
Oh god, the fire-escape-as-a-useless-tower-over-an-inaccessible-bridge trope... again. It's a stupid enormous waste of concrete and steel, and would actually be kind of OK if there were a way to get in there and survey the area without setting off alarms.
U of T did you one better: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Robarts_Library.JPG