Canadian Education System

The Canadian Education system comprises of primary, secondary, and tertiary education. The primary and secondary education is grouped as K-12, which is short for "Kindergarten to Grade 12". Tertiary education, more commonly referred to post-secondary education in North America, is attained at universities, colleges, CEGEPs, and vocational schools, where students can earn undergraduate and postgraduate degrees, diplomas and certificates.

Education in Canada at the post-secondary level

The Canada education at the post-secondary level can be acquired from universities, university colleges, Community colleges, Career Colleges and Technical institutes.

Universities: The universities in Canada are majorly publicly funded. Thus, the education offered here is undoubtedly of high quality across the rural and urban set ups. Also these universities are internationally recognized for the high standards of teaching and research.

University Colleges: Under this setting the students will find an arrangement of Canadian university and college ethnicities with a great emphasis of applied and study programs available in campus environments. Here students will find a wide choice of programs in addition to practically-oriented college diplomas and certificates.

Community Colleges: These colleges are mainly responsible for training needs of business, industry and the public service industries. Such colleges fulfill the academic requisites of vocationally-oriented graduates, job-seeking graduates, along with lifelong learning needs of the professionals.

CEGEPs : CEGEP, which stands for Collège D’Enseignement Général et Professionnel, and translates to "General and Vocational College" is a type of post-secondary institution that is only present in the province of Quebec. A CEGEP offers pre-university and technical programs which lead to "Diploma of College Studies", equivalent to grade 12 and the first year of university studies. For students in Quebec, completion of CEGEP is a prerequisite for admission into Year two (of four) in Quebec universities.

Career Colleges and Technical Institutes: These are independently or privately run institutions offering training programs to train students with practical skills to make them job ready. Provincially approved and regulated these colleges and institutes ensure quality. Students looking forward to take up short-term training programs in computer or internet studies, film studies, multimedia, graphic design and hospitality and so on can explore these career colleges.

Designated Learning Institutions

When deciding where to study and what to study, we recommend first confirming that an institution is accredited as a Designated Learning Institution (DLI). DLIs are approved by the government to offer a letter of acceptance to international students, leading to the possibility of a study permit.

While students can study at other schools, only students at DLIs are eligible to work during study. Learn more about the eligibility criteria in the Working While Studying section of this course.

Furthermore, only graduates from the approved list of programs at DLIs are eligible for the Post-Graduate Work Permit (PGWP), a legal document which allows students to stay and work in Canada after graduation.

Levels of Education

Canada Education System offers education at various levels. These may include: Certificate, Diploma, Bachelor’s degree, Bachelor’s degree (Honours), Masters, Doctorate or Ph.d, and the Academic Year.

Certificate: Post Senior Secondary education majorly for one year offered specifically in colleges.

Diploma: Post senior secondary qualification usually for one to two years usually offered in colleges.

Bachelor degree: Undergraduate program or post senior secondary qualification spanning for three to four years offered by the universities and lead to graduate level studies.

Bachelor degree (Honors): Undergraduate program comprising higher degree of concentration in the honors subject, and is offered at universities. At certain universities an honors degree requires an extra year of study.

Master's degree: Graduate program granted on successful completion of two years of study. Doctorate or Ph.D.: Highest qualification awarded on completion of four to seven years of study in a particular stream or specialization. It also comprises some coursework, but mainly evaluated on unique research and thesis submitted.

The academic year: It usually begins in September and completes in May. Academic year normally comprises of two semesters and the second semester begins in January. There are institutes that have a trimester system comprising three semesters in an academic year.