Lifestyle and Leisure
The height of learning
While a Canadian post-secondary education might be enough to help you graduate to permanent residence, the right university could open even more doors for you
Given a choice, when looking for a decent job in the UK, would you rather be writing the Edge Hill College of Higher Education or the University of Cambridge on your CV? Thought so.
Even though Canada is far less class-ridden than British society, that doesn't mean that the right university can't open doors for you that the lesser universities just cannot reach. And just as Oxford or Cambridge regularly top the 'Times Higher Education Supplement' (THES) UK university rankings, so in Canada that honour falls to Montreal's McGill University. Regularly topping the class in the THES rankings and the Macleans rankings – which weighs up seven factors such as faculties and finances – of Canadian universities, McGill is considered the leader in medical doctoral education.
Although forging its reputation in fields like neurosciences, cancer research and public policy, more of McGill's 32,700 students are in the Arts, Sciences, Engineering and Management faculties. Furthermore, for the last six years, McGill students have won more national prizes on average than their peers at any other university in Canada.
Those readers concerned that studying in such an establishment might mean they stick out like a sore – and very English – thumb should note that international students comprise 19 per cent of McGill's student body, making it the most diverse in Canada. Furthermore, you won't need to learn French, either, as McGill is an English language institution. Just pipped to the top of the Canadian class is the University of Toronto. Home to a massive 67,692 students, most of whom are based at the St George campus in downtown Toronto, U of T's alumni read like a who's who of famous Canadians: Margaret Atwood, David Cronenberg, and Jeff Skoll (eBay) are just a few of the movers and shakers who once studied in silence in these hallowed halls. And there are soon to be even more ivory towers added. U of T is in the midst of the largest capital expansion programme in 40 years, building over one million square feet of classrooms, research facilities, libraries and residences. The university will be looking to build on its excellent research reputation and its contribution to the fields of medicine and pharmacy, but like McGill also has well-respected Science, Engineering, Arts, Law, Management and Education faculties.
Although international students make up a smaller percentage (9 per cent) of U of T students than is the case at McGill, due to its sheer scale this still results in U of T having 6,000 international students, 2,500 more than its Montreal-based rival. Not dissimilar to the Oxbridge dominance of English university rankings, McGill and U of T have put daylight between themselves and their rivals through years of excellence. However, institutions such as the universities of Western Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta, Montreal and Saskatchewan also have door-opening reputations and should not therefore be struck off any prospective student's plans.
But even those establishments a little further away from the top of the class are not necessarily to be underestimated. Indeed, St Francis Xavier in Nova Scotia has been commended by Macleans for the support its undergraduates receive. Last, but certainly not least, as finding off-campus work has now been made more straightforward, take note that the University of Waterloo's co-op programme is renowned for placing about 60 per cent of its undergraduates with local employers annually. After all, there's more than one way to the top of the emigration class.
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