Education

There are three kinds of schools in Canada：public schools，separate schools and private schools.Public schools are usually financed by the provincial government and provide free education to all Canadian children whose parents wish them to attend.Separate schools are religious schools generally run by the Roman Catholic Church，and supported by public funds in provinces like Alberta，Ontario and Saskatchewan.Private schools are not financed by public money，so they charge tuition.

As different provinces have different education policies，the length of elementary and secondary education may vary from 11 to 13 years.Graduating students are admitted into colleges and universities on the basis of their school performances without taking entrance exams.In Quebec，as elementary and secondary schooling is only 11 years long，students who wish to enter universities must first take courses（usually for two years）in colleges of vocational and technical education before they are finally admitted.

Higher education is conducted by two kinds of institutions in Canada：community colleges and universities with degree granting powers.Community colleges are also referred to as“Colleges of Applied Art and Technology”，or CAAT for short.There are about 200 such colleges throughout the country providing vocational and technical education.The degree⁃conferring universities，which come to over 70 in number，are the major players in Canadian higher education.Unlike Harvard，Yale and many other U.S.universities that are privately funded，Canada’s universities are all financed by provincial governments，although quite a number of them were originally founded by churches in pioneer days.Another feature of the Canadian universities is that many of them have colleges that are“affiliated”with them but are physically independent.Most of the Canadian universities use English as the language of instruction，while a few use French.There are also two universities，the University of Ottawa and the Laurentian University in Ontario，where instruction is bilingual.

The oldest university in Canada is Laval University in Quebec，which was founded during French rule.The country’s most prestigious universities include the University of Toronto，McGill University，Concordia University，the University of British Columbia，and the University of Montreal.The latter is also known as the largest French⁃language university outside of France.

In most Canadian universities，an academic year is composed of a fall semester running from September to December and a winter semester from January to April.Some universities also have a summer semester，known as summer school，which usually begins in late May and ends in August.