The US and Canada are two premier higher education destinations for students all over. Attracting hundreds of thousands from across the globe, as well as the best indigenous minds, these two countries are home to some of the world’s top-ranking universities. You can also get student assignment help from top experts.
MIT, Harvard, Stanford, University of Toronto, York, Queen’s University- the list goes on. Some of the brightest minds in existence have developed ideas and created marvels that have changed the future of humanity. Currently, the most prominent intellects are brainstorming, designing, researching and inventing things that WILL shape our near & far future.
So, where do the higher education systems of both countries stand concerning the other in terms of quality? This article investigates.
Quality Of Higher Education: the USA vs Canada
World Rankings
In any comparative study or decision-making process involving higher education institutions, world university rankings will play a key role. Two of the most prominent online university rankings are the Times Higher Education World University Rankings and the QS World University Rankings.
A close look at both the ranking lists reveals something notable. In the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2021, the top 10 ranks are held by 8 US universities and 2 UK universities. The only Canadian university to figure in the top ranks in the University of Toronto, at the 18th position.
Similarly, in the case of the QS World University Rankings of 2022, only 2 Canadian universities make it into the top 100 list globally. In stark contrast, US universities dominate, with 29 universities in the top 100 (18 universities are in the top 50).
While these rankings are not conclusive evidence of disparity in education quality, world university rankings play an integral role in any decision-making process. The significant difference is bound to catch the eye of any individual.
The above statistics make things quite obvious, but one key thing to note is that the QS & THE rankings are primarily based on research output & impact, not on pedagogical quality.
It may be fair to say that the USA higher education system is slightly better than Canada’s academic research quality. Still, there are many more factors that need to be considered.
If we consider the quality of teaching across US and Canadian universities, will the results be any different? Let’s find out.
Cost and Value Of Higher Education
When talking about quality, cost invariably becomes a crucial factor. Everything comes at a price, and so does higher education.
A college education is much more costly in the US than in Canada. The average higher education tuition fee is $6653 in Canada. In the US, the approximate fee in a private university is around $48,51, including room and boarding costs.
- Educational quality does NOT differ much across the US and Canadian higher education institutions. Though lagging behind the US in terms of research output and government-funded research (Canada ranks 7thwhile the US ranks 1st in terms of published scientific articles), Canada has a higher ratio of students per teacher, better tertiary level education, and has more investment in knowledge per million (0.146% compared to US’ 0.0212%)
For more information, here are the statistics with all references in detail.
- College tuition fees in Canada cost any international student significantly less than a US university, while the quality of education is almost similar.
The prevalence of students sending “make my assignment” requests at professional writing services across the US is almost the same as the number of students seeking assignment help in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa and elsewhere in Canada.
Generic academic struggles and education system limitations are, thus, the same in both countries.
- Canadian and American higher education institutions are more or less at par with each other and almost equal in terms of the quality of teaching.
Colleges like MIT, Caltech, and Harvard offer path-breaking courses and degree programs with outstanding research opportunities. But, Canadian universities like the University of Toronto, University of York, Montreal, Ottawa are pretty at par. As a result, groundbreaking research takes place in universities across both North American Countries.
- For international students, studying in Canada is more economical. The average cost of education is significantly less than in the USA, with the quality of higher education remaining almost the same.
Detailed research about the quality of higher education in both countries will require substantial data gathering from appropriate sources, careful selection of parameters, implementation of apt research methodologies and the like. However, such research is beyond the scope of this blog.
Before we round up, let’s go through one primary parameter for determining higher education quality across North America.
Differences In Degree Programs
There are specific differences between university grant degrees and college grant certificates & diplomas in US and Canada.
- In Canada, a college is somewhat similar to “community colleges” in the United States. If a student wants to earn a bachelor’s, master’s, or doctoral degree in Canada, they should enrol in universities, not colleges.
- A standard bachelor’s degree in Canada takes four years to complete, just like in the US. However, Canadian universities also offer three-year bachelor’s programs with the four-year programs referred honor’s bachelor’s degrees. Three-year programs are cheaper, but they may fail to meet the graduate school requirements in other countries.
- In the US, any degree-granting institution is known as a college. Generally speaking, a university is a much bigger institution than a college that offers more options. Private universities are less common in Canada, and provincial & central government funding powers most universities. The US has an equal number of reputed public and private universities. (MIT is a private institution while UC Berkeley is a publicly funded institution)
- Both US and Canadian universities offer a broad range of education. Degree programs include traditional lectures, labs, workshops, field activities and research endeavors.
- Canadian universities allow students to pick a major subject right from the time of application, which has the advantages of giving students a sense of direction early on. In the United States of America, colleges and universities allow students to pick a major after the second year. US degree programs, however, offer more flexibility to explore different subjects and disciplines.
Both US and Canadian degree programs tend to strike a healthy balance between soft skills and job-specific & technical skills.
Key Takeaway: All in all, accredited higher education institutions across both countries can be the perfect avenue for developing a prosperous career. The quality of higher education in both countries remain almost at par. The United States has the upper hand regarding research contribution, course flexibility and career options, but costs are significantly higher.
Author-Bio: Michael Haydon is an online journalist at MyAssignmenthelp.com, a leading writing service in North America, offering mathematics assignment help and much more.
