Canadian Education System
The Canadian higher education system has three major institutions, universities, community colleges and colleges of general and vocational education (CEGAPs). Students graduate from high school, and either enter university directly or they may take a college course, leading to a certificate or diploma, and then enter university. Universities assess candidates on their own criteria, there is no universally recognized standard of entrance.
Canadian undergraduate degrees consist of bachelor degrees, usually taking from three to five years to complete. Many students complete a certificate or diploma from a college, using this as an entrance qualification to University.
Graduate (post-graduate) education consists of masters degrees, largely taught courses, of between 1 and 2 years in length, and doctorate degrees, which are usually research based and can take from 2 years to 7 years, depending on previous qualifications and other activities.
Education in Canada is the responsibility of the difference provinces, and standards and funding are not highly centrally controlled. This means that individual universities have some discretion in entrance levels, length of degrees and graduation criteria. However, it is generally held that the level of undergraduate education is similar to US and other commonwealth countries, and higher education standards are good.
As Canada is a bi-lingual country, there are many programs of higher education that are in two languages, English and French. This does not make a difference to the student, as they will select courses in their first language.
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