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Study in Canada: graduate opportunities for international students
With some of the most famous universities in the world today and a reputation for being an open and diverse country, Canada is finding increasing numbers of international graduate students choosing Masters and research programs in the country. With excellent facilities, thriving campus communities, excellent value for money and top quality graduate programs, Canada could well be your first choice too.
Academic programs offered by universities in the USA dominate the minds of many international graduate students, yet just to the northern borders of the country lies one of the most exciting, yet amazingly undiscovered destinations for university studies in the world today. Canada represents one of the more unique locations for international graduate students, with its highly developed systems of graduate programs and world-class universities, reasonably priced tuition fees and cost of living, strictly quality-controlled Masters degrees and PhD programs all located in one of the most open and enjoyable countries in the world today.
International students
Another attractive feature of graduate study in Canada is that although the universities and graduate schools are very outward facing and open to receiving international students, many of the institutions are not overwhelmed with students from outside of the country. Over the last ten years, Canada has become increasingly attractive for international students wishing to study at the graduate level, though numbers have yet to exceed 75,000 throughout the country.
Universities and types of degree
Canada’s leading universities are known at the Group of Ten. These institutions are amongst the most research active in the country and specialise in offering joint research programmes. The member institutions are the Universities of Alberta, British Columbia, Laval, McGill, McMaster, Montréal, Queen’s, Toronto, Waterloo and Western Ontario. A range of other Canadian universities are equally well known and offer taught and research programs across a broad range of academic subject areas. Like other universities in the country, three different types of graduate degrees are generally offered. These are:
Course-based Masters degree: this requires the successful completion of a specific program of graduate-level courses and is typically one or two years in duration.
Research-based Masters degree: this requires the successful completion of both graduate - level courses and a thesis and is typically two years in duration. Students typically choose a thesis topic in consultation with a graduate supervisor, although many universities require that the area of research is specified as part of the application.
Doctoral or PhD degree: this requires the successful completion of original research and the defense of a thesis that makes a substantial contribution to the advancement of knowledge in a student’s chosen field of study. The doctoral degree usually requires either two or three years of full-time residency, although it is common that more time of directed research and writing are required to complete the doctoral thesis. A thesis supervisor plays a critical role in helping a student choose an appropriate research topic, designing and directing the research studies within a realistic period and providing the candidate with professional training in the chosen field. Since the research topic will often determine a student’s career path, the choice of program and thesis supervisor requires thoughtful planning and expert advice.
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 recognized internationally.
Most Canadian institutions subscribe to the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada principles of institutional quality assurance. Adherence to these principles is renewed every five years. Further details are available at www.aucc.ca/qa/principles/index_e.html. Within the Canadian structure, universities have to also be in compliance with provincial or regional authorities for quality assurance, thus creating a double guarantee for students. All institutions and programmes subscribe to a regular cycle of reviews by the appropriate authority. These tend to be peer-led and involve an element of self-evaluation and external review by subject experts, the results of which are made public for the sake of transparency.
