Is there a difference between studying in Canada and studying at a university in China?

Differences between Canadian universities and domestic universities

1, Canadian university classification

China universities are divided into "one", "two" and "three", and Canadian universities are also divided into three categories. But China University is divided according to the level, but Canada is not. Classified according to the size and purpose of the university.

Universities in Canada are divided into three categories: "Doctor of Medicine", "Comprehensive" and "Basic".

The University of Doctor of Medicine has the largest scale and the most comprehensive disciplines, taking academic research and training high-end degree talents as its own responsibility; Comprehensive universities also offer master's and doctoral degrees widely, but they specialize in technical fields, and the subject setting may not be as complete as the former; The purpose of running a basic university is very clear, focusing on pragmatic undergraduate education.

This classification has nothing to do with the educational level of universities. The threshold of medical doctor university is not necessarily high; There are also many famous schools in North America in comprehensive universities. It is not necessary for graduates from basic universities to find jobs.

What kind of university you choose depends on what you want to do. If you want to work immediately after graduation, a comprehensive and basic university may be a wise choice; If you want to study all the way, the starting point of the medical doctor university will definitely be higher.

Although different types of universities are not comparable, they still pay attention to a ranking under the same category.

2. Localization of Canadian universities.

Universities in Canada are mainly public universities, which are funded by the government. Canada implements provincial education, and all public universities are funded and managed by the provinces. In other words, there are no "national" universities in Canada.

Because universities are run by provinces themselves, Canadian universities have a very obvious localization tendency. For example, his subject setting will adapt to the economic layout of the province; For example, middle school students in this province are generally more inclined to apply for universities in this province; For example, employers in this province will have a certain inclination to college graduates in this province when recruiting; Wait a minute.

The media in BC Province released a survey report, ranking the number of middle school graduates in this province who were promoted to UBC and SFU. You see, he only mentioned UBC and SFU, but he didn't mention other famous Canadian schools such as Dodo, McGill and Waterloo, because none of them are from BC province.

Children whose friends went to high school in China once went on a "study tour" in the remote Atlantic province of Canada to communicate with local students, and found that most local children had no idea about going to universities in Ontario and BC: there are good universities at home, so why run so far?

3. Cooperative courses in Canadian universities.

I talked with friends in China on different occasions. These friends all have children studying in Canada or plan to send their children to study in Canada, so they know a little about Canadian universities. I found that the first university in Canada in their minds is neither the University of Toronto nor McGill University, nor UBC University, but the University of Waterloo.

I think it is accidental for one or two people to say this, and several people I met think so, which makes me have to look at the University of Waterloo with special respect.

According to the classification mentioned above, Sliding University is a comprehensive university, not a giant among Canadian universities. However, the University of Waterloo is famous for its original cooperative courses.

The so-called Co-op course is the cooperation between universities and well-known enterprises, in which students work and study part-time (exactly, one-third work and two-thirds study), so that students can have sufficient internship opportunities during their college years and lay a solid foundation for future employment.

Cooperative is a purposeful mode of university education, and the word "applying what you have learned" has been fully exerted in this mode.

Other universities in Canada also offer Co-op courses, but they are not in an order of magnitude with the University of Waterloo (SFU University has the second largest number of Co-op courses in Canada). Moreover, most of the enterprises cooperating with Sliding University are industrial and commercial giants in Ontario (Ontario is Canada's largest economic province and the province where Toronto, Canada's financial center, is located), so the employment prospects of its cooperative students are infinitely bright.

The most famous cooperative majors in the University of Waterloo are Actuarial Science and Computer Science. In addition, the school's civil engineering major is also very popular.

Many bloggers have introduced the Co-op course, so I won't go into details. It is only emphasized that there is such a very affordable teaching mode in Canadian universities.

4. The main way to enter a Canadian university.

China people enter universities, and since ancient times, thousands of people have crossed the only way to Huashan Mountain. Canada is not. The way they recruit college students is much more flexible.

Of course, their most "mainstream" enrollment model is also "recruiting" directly from middle school graduates. I have written articles about this before. See how children in Canada "test" for details.

In addition, they also have a "side door", which allows students to "save the country by curve" and detour into the ideal university. This was transferred from a community college or other university.

It doesn't matter that your middle school grades are not enough to get students into the ideal prestigious schools. You can find a community college or university with a lower threshold first. As long as your grades in community colleges or universities meet the standards required by prestigious schools, you still have the opportunity to transfer to prestigious schools.

In addition, Canada, as one of the world's major destinations for studying abroad, has a large number of international students. As an international student entering a Canadian university, English IELTS score is a hard indicator.

5. Professions and degrees in Canadian universities

Canadian universities, at least most of them, have no specific majors in the first year, but only a general branch, such as science, arts, engineering and application.

Science, etc. I only study the basic courses of senior one. By the end of the first grade, according to the students' grades and intentions, the courses after the second grade will distinguish the professional direction.

Canadian universities are also very flexible in specialty setting, and students have a lot of room for independent choice. For example, "Actuarial Science" mentioned earlier appeared as an undergraduate major in the University of Waterloo, but in UBC, it is a professional direction under the discipline of "Applied Mathematics". Taking "Applied Mathematics" as an example, students can choose from mathematics education, computer mathematics, financial mathematics, statistical mathematics and other professional directions. For example, if you choose financial mathematics, you can choose to major in mathematics, minor in finance, or double major in mathematics and finance. All these differences are often only in the choice of courses.

Undergraduate degrees in Canadian universities are also different from those in China. Take mathematics as an example. For example, UBC's School of Mathematics can award Bachelor of Science, Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Applied Science. The general direction is to study mathematics, but what kind of bachelor's degree you get is related to your specific professional direction and course selection.

In addition, after the general bachelor's degree, Canada also has an "honorary bachelor's degree", which generally requires another year of study after the normal undergraduate course to obtain this degree. Entering the society directly after graduation, an ordinary bachelor's degree is enough, and an honorary bachelor's degree is just the icing on the cake. But this honorary bachelor's degree is a necessary step to further study for master's and doctor's degrees in Canada.

6. Canadian University School of Medicine

The classification of Canadian universities was introduced earlier, and it was mentioned that there is a kind of university called "doctor of medicine", which means that such universities are eligible to award "doctor of medicine" degrees. If you want to study medicine in Canada, you can only go to such universities.

But studying medicine in Canada is not easy. First of all, Canada implements "protectionism" for medical schools in universities, and in most cases only students with Canadian citizenship or Canadian permanent resident qualifications are admitted. In other words, medical schools in Canada basically do not accept students.

In addition, even those medical doctor universities, you can't find the major of "medicine" in their list of undergraduate majors. In Canada, medicine is a post-bachelor major. If you want to enter the medical school of the university, you must first get a bachelor's degree in related majors, such as "life science", before you can apply for medical school.

Three to four years of undergraduate course, plus an honorary bachelor's degree of 1 year, plus four years of medical school's efforts, can you get a doctorate in medicine? Otherwise, "doctor" and "doctor" are the same word in English. In their place, doctors must be doctors. But just getting a doctorate in medicine is not enough. As a qualified doctor, you have to get a medical license and be a clinical intern in the hospital for three to five years. It takes more than ten years to train a doctor in Canada!

7. Canadian University Campus

Many universities in Canada have different "campuses". For example, the University of Toronto has three campuses: St George's, scarborough and Mississauga. UBC also has two campuses in Vancouver and Okanagan.

The division of their universities can not be simply understood as "the school" or "branch schools", but actually it is called "XXX campus" rather than "XXX campus".

However, it must be admitted that the gold content of diplomas issued by some famous universities in Canada in different campuses is different.

Take UBC as an example, its Vancouver campus is much more difficult to enter than Kenagan campus, and the learning pressure is much greater. Of course, brands are much more difficult. But if you do well in Okanagan campus, you will have the opportunity to transfer to Vancouver campus in the future after applying.

Of course, some universities just put some departments in another campus, which is different from what I said above.

UBC Vancouver Campus is located at the western end of Vancouver, surrounded by the sea on three sides and the virgin forest separating the campus from the urban area on one side. The scenery is beautiful.

8. Learning pressure in Canadian universities.

Everyone says that studying in middle school in China is a painful thing, but going to college is relatively easy. But in Canada, the situation is just the opposite.

Public secondary schools in Canada are civilian education. Sending students to college is not the only purpose or even the main purpose of Canadian public middle schools. No matter how good you are, he won't deliberately promote you. You have to "condescend" to sit in the same classroom with future truck drivers, loggers and restaurant waiters and learn the same simple things.

The public universities in Canada, especially those internationally renowned universities, practice elite education and cultivate high-end talents. If you are lucky enough to enter such a university, then the people who sit with you in class are geniuses from all over the world.

In this way, it is a big step to enter Canadian universities from Canadian middle schools. There is an adaptation process from the civilian education environment to the elite education environment. And this process will make students feel pressure. On a flight from Vancouver to Beijing, I chatted with two foreign students sitting next to me. They are students of SFU (Simon Fraser University) Business School. They only took three classes a semester, but they still felt very stressed and frankly exhausted.

Rao, Canadian universities still belong to the category of "lenient entry and strict exit". There will be a considerable elimination rate after the first school year, which is said to reach 15% to 20%.

Every year, a large number of students are eliminated, and at the same time, a large number of students are transferred from other universities or colleges. This is the process of big waves and sand scouring by famous Canadian schools.

9. Campus life in Canadian universities

Big Mac universities like He Da and UBC, because of the huge number of students, can only guarantee freshmen to live in student apartments on campus. After the second grade, I can only find a way to solve the accommodation problem myself.

There are several restaurants in the university, and there are many North American chain restaurants on campus. Students' meals are collected by the school and put into the student card. Students can use this card to eat all over the school.

The university will charge a "student fee" at the same time as the tuition fee, which is all-in. Students can swim, play ball, skate and exercise at school, and there is no extra charge with their student cards.

Canadian universities implement the credit system and shift system, and students have no fixed classes and classrooms. In addition, they have great autonomy and flexibility in course selection and learning process arrangement, so even students with the same major may not have too many contact opportunities, so it is difficult to form a stable and close relationship with domestic university students. The close relationship between their college classmates is more established through social and club activities on campus.

10, University Holiday in Canada

Canadian universities also have "winter and summer vacations". Their winter vacation is very short, usually starting from the middle and late June, 65438+February, and starting school after New Year's Day, which adds up to about 3 weeks.

However, the "summer vacation" of Canadian universities is extremely long. Many schools end their final exams at the beginning of the school year in May and have a holiday after the last class. The holiday will not end until the beginning of September. The whole summer vacation lasted for 4 months.

There is a purpose for the school to have such a long summer vacation:

Purpose 1: class. There is no fixed "four-year system" in Canadian universities. How many years to get a bachelor's degree depends on how many courses you choose each semester. You can get a bachelor's degree in three years. If you have few choices, you may not graduate in five years. Generally speaking, it is normal to take 4 or 5 courses in a semester. If you choose more courses, the pressure may be even greater. In order to help students learn faster and save credits, universities will also offer some courses during the summer vacation. In this way, students can take one or two other courses during the summer vacation after completing the courses they choose during the semester.

Purpose 2: Work. The tuition fee of a Canadian university in one academic year is about 10 thousand Canadian dollars (referring to Canadian students, the tuition fee of international students should be doubled or even more), and the room and board plus miscellaneous fees should be at least 10 thousand a year. Twenty thousand Canadian dollars a year, even for Canadians who have taken the capitalist road for more than 100 years, is not a small expense. Many Canadian students earn their tuition by working after school without family support. The four-month summer vacation is the "golden season" for students to work. The Canadian Labor Department counts the unemployment rate, one of which is "the unemployment rate of students working", which shows that the whole Canadian society attaches importance to students working.