Located in one of the happiest countries to study abroad, Ontario is also famous as one of the most diverse provinces of Canada. Home to the iconic and picturesque Niagara Falls, Ontario is globally reputed in terms of government effectiveness, safety, and public welfare. It also has a third of Canada’s best universities which attract scores of international students every year. Ontario provides a sought-after scholarship called the Trillium scholarship which is worth $40,000 to 75 best doctoral students from all around the globe. With the Capital city and its financial hub, Toronto situated here, there are promising employment opportunities for graduates in Ontario. Let’s explore the top universities in Ontario and their prospective programs and other exciting aspects this province offers to international students. 

List of Top Universities in Ontario

Amongst the best student cities in Canada and the world, Ontario is the ideal place for students who want to explore the international-level academic, professional and research opportunities across medical, creative, technological and cultural arenas! Here are the top 10 universities in Ontario according to the QS World University Rankings 2020.

Now, let’s explore the major courses and salient features of these top universities in Ontario in further detail:

University of Toronto (U of T)

Founded in 1827 by the Royal Charter, University of Toronto’s notable alumni include 4 Prime Ministers of Canada as well as renowned personalities like Margaret Atwood, William Lyon Mackenzie King and Frederick Banting. The university offers 700 undergraduate programs and 200 graduate programs and ranks the highest among all universities in Ontario. You can find wide-ranging programs in almost every field of study with the most prominent ones in:

• Medicine  
• Teaching
• Psychology
• Educational Theory
• History 
• Administration

The university also offers unique courses in Music and Culture, Rap Poetics, Urban studies, Writings and Rhetorics which helps students tap their creative minds.

McMaster University

Located in the city of Hamilton alongside Lake Ontario, one of the five Great Lakes of North America, McMaster University is a member of the U15-a research enterprise that supports research and development and features as the second leading university among all the universities in Ontario. Along with its prominent Medical courses which receive more than 5000 applications every year (the highest number of applications for medical programs in Canada), it also offers students undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in varied fields of study such as:

• Business
• Engineering
• Health Sciences
• Humanities
• Science
• Social Sciences

University of Waterloo

Waterloo is known for its remarkable initiation of the ‘Cooperative Education’ which combines classroom education with practical methodologies (providing placements and internships). Recently, UWaterloo’s Donna Strickland (along with Gérard Mourou) won Nobel Prize in Physics in 2018 for the invention of chirped pulse amplification. Amongst the top 3 universities in Ontario, the university offers a plethora of full-time and online programs across wide-ranging study areas such as: 

• Quantum Computing 
• Nanotechnology
• Clinical Psychology
• Engineering 
• Health Sciences Research 

Western University

Putting a core emphasis on research in Western University, the institution has successfully established itself amongst the most reputed universities in Ontario as well as Canada. With an aesthetic campus equipped with state-of-the-art infrastructure and laboratories, the college has partnered with various industries and government bodies for their research projects. The main topics of research practiced by the university are:

• Musculoskeletal Health
• Neuroscience
• Global Health
• Green Energy
• Environmental Sustainability
• Imaging
• Philosophy Of Science
• Child And Youth Development
• Wind Engineering
• Natural Disaster Mitigation

Queen’s University at Kingston

Being the first University in Canada to provide higher education to women in the country, Queen’s University holds a royalty of 178 years. Its serene campus and diverse programs attract a large number of students from over 114 countries and it is also among the top medical colleges in Canada. It encourages students to understand art, history and the modern world which makes it stand out among the universities in Ontario. Being another research hub of Ontario, its notable researches are conducted on interesting distinct topics like:

• Globalization Studies
• Mental Health
• Clinical Biomedical Sciences 
• Healthy Environments And Sustainable Energy Systems
• Social Issues- Poverty And Bullying 

[Bonus] Major Requirements for Studying at Universities in Ontario

Take a look at some of the general prerequisites you must know before applying for a program at any of the aforementioned top universities in Ontario:

• Academic Transcripts: All your original documents of the graduate and postgraduate courses with a good academic performance throughout.
• Proof of English Language Proficiency: Acceptable test scores in IELTS or TOEFL are necessary for non-English native students. 
• Immigration Requirements: A valid passport, proof of good medical health, an acceptance letter from the applied university are a few basic immigration requirements that you need to apply to any university in Ontario. 

Hope this blog helped you explore the plethora of academic and research opportunities offered by top universities in Ontario! Planning to study in Canada? Our Leverage Edu experts are here to help you find the right course and university and further sort out the admission process to ensure that you get successfully shortlisted!