Top 20 universities of Canada

Want to study in Canada? Find out all you need to know about the top-ranked universities in Canada, the appeal of living in Canada, how much you can expect to pay in tuition fees and where to look for help with funding.

Canada is among the world’s most popular destinations for international students – unsurprising, given its reputation for lively cities, stunning natural attractions, multicultural communities and world-leading universities.

Considering joining the 200, 000 international students and researchers in Canada each year? Read on to find out what makes Canada such an attractive study destination, and what steps to take next.

universities in Canada

First things first: what are universities in Canada like? Well, they could certainly make a claim to being world-leading. A total of 26 universities in Canada feature in the 2013/14 QS World University Rankings®, of which three are in the world’s top 50 and nine make the world’s top 200.

The top two, University of Toronto (17=) and McGill University (21), are based in Toronto and Montréal, both in the east of the country. But the nation’s brains are not entirely concentrated on this side! Vancouver, on the west coast, is home to the third-ranking university in Canada, the University of British Columbia (UBC) – and the city also boasts a pretty unbeatable combination of beaches and close proximity to some of the world’s best ski resorts.

These are of course by no means the only appealing destinations for international students, though their respective provinces – Ontario (home to Toronto), Quebec (Montréal) and British Columbia (Vancouver) – have so far led the way in attracting high numbers of international students.

Also ranked within the world's top 200 are the Université de Montréal, University of Alberta, McMaster University, University of Waterloo, Queen's University, Ontario, and Western University.

Living in Canada

Jaime Young, associate director of admissions at UBC’s Sauder Business School, sums up the appeal of living in Canada as a student: “Canada is welcoming for international students (more an international ‘mosaic’ than a ‘melting pot’), it’s a relatively safe country with a stable economy, and there’s a wide choice of great public universities that are globally recognized.”