Montreal Education

Education

With access to six universities and twelve junior colleges in an 8 kilometre (5 mi) radius, Montreal has the highest concentration of post-secondary students of all major cities in North America (4.38 students per 100 residents, followed by Boston at 4.37 students per 100 residents).

There are two anglophone universities in the city:

• McGill University is one of Canada’s oldest universities, and widely recognized as a world-class institution. McGill has consistently been ranked in the top 25 universities in the world for the past six years (as of 2009).
• Concordia University is the other English-language university, created from the merger of Sir George Williams University and Loyola College. A separate institution is affiliated to the university: John Molson School of Business.

There are also two francophone universities located in the city of Montreal:

• Université de Montréal (UdeM) is the second largest research university in Canada. Two separate institutions are affiliated to the university: the École Polytechnique de Montréal (School of Engineering) and HEC Montréal (School of Business).
• Université du Québec à Montréal (UQÀM) is the Montreal campus of Université du Québec. UQÀM generally specializes in liberal-arts. It has several separately run schools, notably the École de technologie supérieure (ETS), the École nationale d’administration publique (ENAP) and the Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS).

Additionally, two French-language universities, Université de Sherbrooke and Université Laval have campuses in the nearby suburb of Longueuil on Montreal’s south shore.

The education system in the province of Quebec is slightly different from other systems in North America. Between the high school and university levels, there is an additional college level calledCEGEP. It is at the same time a preparatory school (preparing students for admission to university) and a technical school (offering courses which lead to technical diplomas and specializations). In Montreal,seventeen CEGEPs offer courses in French and five in English.

English-language elementary and secondary public schools on Montreal Island are operated by theEnglish Montreal School Board and the Lester B. Pearson School Board. French-language elementary and secondary public schools in Montreal are operated by the Commission scolaire de Montréal (CSDM), Commission scolaire Marguerite-Bourgeoys (CSMB) and the Commission scolaire Pointe-de-l’Île (CSPI).