
Canada’s Best Universities 2023: Average Class Size
These average class size figures are for undergraduate classes in the fall of 2019. Maclean’s did not ask universities to report class sizes during the COVID-19 pandemic because the shift to online learning and capacity restrictions disrupted the normal delivery of classes. These numbers reflect primary classes; subsections such as labs, tutorials and practicums are not included.*
First and Second Year
![]() | Avg. Size |
---|---|
Moncton | 23.8 |
St. Thomas | 28.6 |
Mount Saint Vincent | 29.2 |
Sherbrooke | 31.7 |
Brandon | 32.8 |
Lakehead | 34.5 |
Laurentian | 34.9 |
Nipissing | 35.6 |
Cape Breton | 38.0 |
Winnipeg | 38.4 |
Acadia | 38.7 |
New Brunswick | 39.1 |
St. Francis Xavier | 39.4 |
UQAM | 39.7 |
Bishop's | 40.0 |
Regina | 40.0 |
Laval | 40.1 |
UPEI | 40.9 |
UNBC | 41.1 |
Mount Allison | 44.3 |
Memorial | 44.8 |
Lethbridge | 46.1 |
Saint Mary's | 49.8 |
Concordia | 57.4 |
Alberta | 59.4 |
Saskatchewan | 62.5 |
Victoria | 65.0 |
McGill | 65.5 |
Manitoba | 69.7 |
Windsor | 71.0 |
Dalhousie | 73.5 |
Trent | 79.3 |
Simon Fraser | 82.2 |
Queen's | 84.9 |
Calgary | 86.8 |
UBC | 86.9 |
York | 90.6 |
Carleton | 91.8 |
Brock | 93.8 |
Wilfrid Laurier | 93.8 |
Western | 105.3 |
McMaster | 127.8 |
Third and Fourth Year
![]() | Avg. Size |
---|---|
Mount Allison | 11.4 |
Moncton | 13.6 |
Brandon | 14.5 |
Acadia | 17.0 |
Mount Saint Vincent | 17.4 |
St. Thomas | 17.4 |
Laurentian | 18.0 |
UPEI | 18.2 |
Winnipeg | 19.2 |
UNBC | 19.3 |
Queen's | 19.8 |
Bishop's | 20.3 |
Nipissing | 21.0 |
Regina | 22.0 |
New Brunswick | 22.2 |
St. Francis Xavier | 22.2 |
Memorial | 23.0 |
Lethbridge | 23.3 |
Lakehead | 24.4 |
Alberta | 25.5 |
Trent | 25.7 |
Saint Mary's | 26.1 |
Victoria | 27.2 |
Laval | 27.4 |
Manitoba | 28.6 |
Dalhousie | 29.2 |
McGill | 29.4 |
Saskatchewan | 30.9 |
York | 31.3 |
Sherbrooke | 31.5 |
Cape Breton | 32.3 |
UQAM | 32.5 |
Calgary | 32.9 |
Brock | 33.1 |
Windsor | 33.7 |
Concordia | 34.6 |
Western | 35.3 |
Wilfrid Laurier | 38.3 |
Simon Fraser | 38.9 |
Carleton | 41.2 |
McMaster | 52.3 |
UBC | 54.4 |
*Seven universities did not provide figures for fall 2019: Guelph, Montréal, Ontario Tech, Ottawa, Toronto, Toronto Metropolitan and Waterloo.
More on Canada’s best universities:
Average entering grade
Grade distribution
Student retention
Proportion who graduate
Faculty with highest degree in their field