Educational system and universities

Education in Canada is provided, funded and overseen by federal, provincial, and local governments. Education is within provinicial jurisdiction and the curriculum is overseen by the province, without a ministry of education at the federal or national level. Education in Canada is generally divided by Elementary (Primary School, Public School), followed by Secondary (High School) and Post Secondary (University, College). Within the provinces under the department of education, there are district school boards administering the educational programs. Education is compulsory up to an age of 16. Canada generally has 190 school days in the year, officially starting from September to the end of June (usually the last Friday of the month).

As for University education, even of Canada’s 89 universities appear in the THES – QS World University Rankings Top 200 Universities, demonstrating the good level of quality and reputation in the country’s higher education system.

Additionally, Canada boasts a range of other post-secondary school education institutions, known as colleges, university colleges, institutes of technology and advanced learning, community colleges and colleges of applied arts and technology - many of which are able to grant degree-level qualifications.

Canada’s top institutes are more commonly referred to as the The Group of Thirteen:

• Alberta
• British Columbia
• Laval
• McGill
• McMaster
• Montréal
• Queen’s
• Toronto
• Waterloo
• Western Ontario
• University of Calgary
• Dalhousie University
• University of Ottawa

As one of the largest systems of higher education in the world, Canada has an extremely robust quality assurance and accreditation process ensuring that degree-level studies are recognised internationally. Scholarships are available to offset some of the costs of studying in Canada.

Vocabulary notes

compulsory – обязательный, принудительный

curriculum – курс обучения, учебный план (школы, университета и т.п.)

to offset – возмещать, компенсировать

to oversee – надзирать, наблюдать

robust - крепкий, сильный

scholarship – стипендия