Academic Insights- Canada Edition

By Hannah-Safiyya Awan, York University, Toronto, Canada

While attending the Schulich School of Business, I noticed the vast differences between the UK and Canadian university education systems. Despite their differences, adjusting doesn’t take too long, and there are many positive insights to take away from the Canadian system.

The Culture

The culture of Canadian universities are quite competitive as students are motivated to deliver the best results to show that they have put effort into their work. The professors or lecturers also encourage you to do the best and to think deeper and come up with creative and thoughtful responses. Students pay attention to detail and want their work to be perfect. This also encouraged me to pay more attention to my work and think beyond surface level arguments in my responses, making sure my work is detailed and visually appealing as well as perfecting the content of it.

Students are highly involved in extra-curricular activities such as student clubs; getting involved in showcases and competitions and having an internship or work experience is common, as people mention their experience in class. They are academically centred and focused on building their expertise through networking and other activities to strengthen their applications and to improve themselves.

You also will be informed of events happening on campus or other opportunities for careers, networking or cultural events! They are useful and fun too so I would recommend attending or checking out.

In group work, you are expected to participate more ,like an actual business meeting it seems professional and spending more time perfecting your work and scripts for presentations is normal, we even had some zoom calls at 10pm which I was definitely not used to. Though there are guidelines of what is expected and creativity is again encouraged and appreciated which makes it more fun, purposeful and engaging. Also as an exchange student you won’t need to worry about things outside of your course, unless you want to get involved.

Classes can be competitive regarding assignments and participation, but the atmosphere is still supportive, as students and professors are more than happy to help. If you don’t understand something, all you have to do is ask. One thing that stood out to me was how open and friendly students are. Even if they don’t know you, they’re always up for a conversation, and the classroom environment encourages interaction. There are tasks involving discussion or engaging activities, which made learning feel more relevant and participative. For example, in my Conflicts and Negotiations class, we would act out the case studies, while in my Managing Across Cultures class, we had to describe an orange without actually saying orange and would frequently share and compared different cultural experiences.

This interactive style of teaching not only made classes more enjoyable and helped me build friendships and feel comfortable contributing. It was a great way to connect with both local students and fellow exchange students, making the whole experience even more rewarding.

Grading and Credits

The grading system works a bit differently—you’ll receive percentages instead of points, which contribute to an overall GPA ranging from 0-4.0. As an exchange student, you won’t have to worry too much about your GPA, but it’s important to understand how the grading scale works to ensure you have passed. For example, a 75-79% is typically a B which is a passing grade, while an 80-84% is a B+. Achieving an A-/A/A* requires more effort, but it’s definitely possible. Just keep in mind that grades don’t always translate the same way between systems.

Assignments come with thorough recommendations, so you’ll always have guidance on what’s expected. If anything is unclear, you can always email professors for further clarification and they will help. In general, they expect detailed work with strong explanations and connections to real-life examples to support your arguments.

Credits also work differently. A course with 3.0 credits usually means you’ll have three hours of lecture time per week for that course, but workload expectations can vary. It’s always a good idea to check how many credits each course carries and how that translates; for example, if you are expected to take 120 credits per semester, then taking four 3.0 credit classes translates to this. For other Canadian universities, this might be slightly different, but you are expected to take four classes each semester to fulfil the credit requirements.

You can choose modules a few weeks or a couple of months in advance as the exchange university will email you about modules you are able to take, and similar to UoM, you can change modules within the first few weeks of starting if you need to. This is the perfect opportunity to take modules that are not available at UoM and explore something different that interests you.

Professors/ Lecturers

One of the best things about the professors here is their passion for what they teach. Many have extensive industry experience, and they bring their real-life knowledge into their teachings, sharing what they did, how it impacted their company, why it mattered, and the key lessons they learned along the way in their career journeys. Their enthusiasm makes topics feel more engaging, and they don’t just teach concepts, they show you how to apply them to real-world cases and why they matter in practice and career opportunities available from studying these topics.

They also make sure you truly understand the material. Rather than assuming you already have knowledge of the subject, they break things down clearly and build from the basics, which helps you gradually understand complex topics. They actively encourage participation and want you to get involved and share your ideas or contributions, this way it becomes more of a discussion and emphasis on how the topic is relevant.

Professors appreciate detailed, reflective, and critical viewpoints, so engaging deeply with the material and of your own views will make a big difference as well as showing that you are passionate and interested what you’re learning about. For example, group presentations can involve coming up with creative business ideas and concepts and fully planning it out as though its your own company, exploring challenges and how this can be tackled, while coursework is similar with flexible, reflective and in depth discussions of topics or businesses. This is quite balanced because you are marked on both your own creativity and reflection as well as understanding of topics.

While I’m unsure about the process for mitigating circumstances, I found that with a valid reason, like travelling home at the end of the term or being affected by a strike, it was possible to ask for an extension. Otherwise, submit everything on time and to a good standard!

Assignments / Assessment Methods

Assignments are quite a mix of group work, course work and/or midterms. There is a bit of everything which allows for a balanced approach to assessment methods. Make sure you attend class, as participation is generally worth 10%; even if you answer one or two questions, it’s worth making the effort to contribute. Attending and participating in class not only helps you stay on top of the material, but also ensures you don’t miss out on easy marks that could make a difference in your final grade!.

Weekly discussion boards are worth around 15%. These are just for discussing the weekly reading, which is a short article or journal passage, and sharing your thoughts and opinions on it. These discussions help reinforce key concepts, can give you new perspectives, and, again, allow you to share your perspective and understanding.

Group work can involve presentations or a group report. They are taken quite seriously and professionally, so expect to use Canva and Zoom/ Teams a lot! I wasn’t used to the level of perfectionism and detail in these tasks, but it made our work a really high and meaningful standard. Midterms are generally multiple-choice or short answer based on lectures and readings, you will probably be given a hint as to which ones and they don’t take too long to complete.

Coursework is reflective, critical and in-depth. Showing thoughtfulness through considering both sides of the argument and interlinking examples in your work is encouraged, as well as creativity in coming up with ideas and solutions being valued. Some tasks may require you to reflect on your own life and how this links to course concepts or a specific brand and how they can be analysed through teachings. This way course concepts remain purposeful and you can showcase your learnings and ability in practice.

There may also be weekly tasks; for example, for my Conflicts and Negotiations class, we had to complete one worksheet based on a case study each week. This is relatively simple and just requires thought and detail, its a good reminder of how to apply course concepts to different cases. Though you won’t have all forms of assessment in each module, across them all, you are likely to experience most of these. This variety keeps things interesting and allows you to develop a range of skills, from critical thinking and analysis to teamwork and creativity.

Lecture Environment

At the beginning or in the middle of lectures a register is taken to verify attendance, but you can email beforehand if to inform professors of an absence if you need to. As each module is worth 3.0 credits, each lecture is 3 hours, so I had four 3 hour lectures per week ,which sounds like a lot, but we didn’t have any seminars as these are embedded into lectures and they all take place at reasonable times as I would either finish at 11:30, 2:30 or 5:30 and I wouldn’t have lectures everyday.

Lectures encompass teachings from lecturers but also discussion, group work, and activities, making them more engaging and creating energy and excitement. It’s also a great chance to talk to people and connect with classmates. Sharing experiences and opinions is normal and frequent, often coming up in debates and discussions. Even when answering questions, students tend to relate their responses to personal experiences, making the learning environment more interactive and insightful.

This environment makes it feel comfortable to answer or ask any questions. You may have to do readings before the lecture, which are normally short articles, as these will be discussed at the beginning (this is a good way to gain those points for participation). They are relevant, based on current issues and interesting to discuss as the environment is quite casual and encouraging for participating and sharing insights or thoughts.

There are breaks of course, and you can leave and come back to get a drink or use the washrooms. This is also a great time to talk to people. Most people are fascinated by exchange students anyway, which makes it easier to make conversation, and you can find other exchange students to become friends and share similar experiences, which is really comforting and useful when building a network of people to make plans or know that they’re also on campus.

I learned so much from my professors, not just from their teachings but also from their real-life experiences and how they applied concepts in practice. They made it clear why these ideas matter beyond the classroom and were always open to questions, embracing curiosity and encouraging deeper discussions.

I gained so many valuable insights from my classmates too, and experiencing a whole new way of learning was both enriching and impactful. It not only shaped my academic journey but also helped me build new skills and perspectives that I’ll carry forward!