Canadian colleges relax 16-year education requirement for Master’s admission

Graduates wishing to pursue their Master’s degree in Canada have received a major boost with Canadian universities and colleges relaxing their 16-year education requirement for postgraduate admissions.

Traditionally, Canadian universities and colleges require a student to have studied for at least 16 years in order to be eligible for admissions to postgraduate programmes. 

Typically, this requires completing a four-year undergraduate programme.

However, in India, the standard Bachelor’s degree is awarded after a three-year course. 

This means that students from India typically complete only 15 years of education (10+2+3) in order to become a graduate.

For students interested in studying in Canada, this meant that they either had to complete another year-long course in India, or pursue a second Bachelor’s degree in Canada, before they would be eligible for admissions to a Master’s degree programme. This will now change.

Experts note that recent changes in regulations concerning international students have prompted Canadian schools to broaden their admissions criteria — many are now accepting students with 15 years of education behind them for post-graduate courses.

For those with a background in arts and humanities, colleges are offering 3-6 month long foundation courses, and for those with business backgrounds (BBA, BCA, etc.) there are provisions for direct admission.

Students, however, still need to meet English proficiency requirements.

Moreover, after completing a year of the Master’s degree course, students become eligible for a three-year work permit, and earn a lot more points for their Permanent Residency (PR) application compared to undergraduates — improving their chances of getting PR.

For universities, this is advantageous as postgraduate students are exempt from the capping system recently imposed by the Canadian government on each province. Caps do not apply to doctoral degree students as well.