Canada is a federation of ten provinces and three territories. Under the Canadian constitution, provincial governments have exclusive responsibility of all levels of education. There is no ministry or department of education at the federal level.
Education in Canada is generally divided into primary education, followed by secondary education and post-secondary. Education is compulsory up to the age of 16 in every province in Canada, except for Ontario and New Brunswick, where the compulsory age is 18.
In general, Canadian children attend kindergarten for one or two years at the age of four or five on a voluntary basis. All children begin Grade One at about six years of age. The school year normally runs from September through the following June but in some instances, January intake dates are possible. Secondary schools go up to Grades 11 or 12, depending on the province. From there, students may attend university, college or Cégep studies.
There are more than 175 post-secondary institutions that offer various programs such as Certificate, Diploma and Bachelor's, including vocational and adult-education. These institutions are known as Community colleges, Technical Institute, University College and ce`gep. All these colleges are members of the Association of Canadian Community colleges.
Undergraduate programs are of 4 years duration, except in Ontario, where there is three-year Bachelor degrees and three-year Master's degrees. In the other parts of Canada, post-graduate programs (Master's) are of two years duration.
A degree from a Canadian university is recognized world-wide and as a result, international students who graduate from Canadian universities enjoy successful and prosperous careers.
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