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AVERAGE CLASS SIZE_Courtsy of Wayne Eardley_Trent University
(Photo courtesy of Wayne Eardley/Trent University)
Education

Canada’s Best Universities 2023: Average Class Size

Maclean’s tracks undergraduate class sizes, which can vary significantly and impact students’ learning experience
By Maclean's

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

UniversityUniversityAvg. Size
Moncton23.8
St. Thomas28.6
Mount Saint Vincent29.2
Sherbrooke31.7
Brandon32.8
Lakehead34.5
Laurentian34.9
Nipissing35.6
Cape Breton38.0
Winnipeg38.4
Acadia38.7
New Brunswick39.1
St. Francis Xavier39.4
UQAM39.7
Bishop's40.0
Regina40.0
Laval40.1
UPEI40.9
UNBC41.1
Mount Allison44.3
Memorial44.8
Lethbridge46.1
Saint Mary's49.8
Concordia57.4
Alberta59.4
Saskatchewan62.5
Victoria65.0
McGill65.5
Manitoba69.7
Windsor71.0
Dalhousie73.5
Trent79.3
Simon Fraser82.2
Queen's84.9
Calgary86.8
UBC86.9
York90.6
Carleton91.8
Brock93.8
Wilfrid Laurier93.8
Western105.3
McMaster127.8

Third and Fourth Year

UniversityUniversityAvg. Size
Mount Allison11.4
Moncton13.6
Brandon14.5
Acadia17.0
Mount Saint Vincent17.4
St. Thomas17.4
Laurentian18.0
UPEI18.2
Winnipeg19.2
UNBC19.3
Queen's19.8
Bishop's20.3
Nipissing21.0
Regina22.0
New Brunswick22.2
St. Francis Xavier22.2
Memorial23.0
Lethbridge23.3
Lakehead24.4
Alberta25.5
Trent25.7
Saint Mary's26.1
Victoria27.2
Laval27.4
Manitoba28.6
Dalhousie29.2
McGill29.4
Saskatchewan30.9
York31.3
Sherbrooke31.5
Cape Breton32.3
UQAM32.5
Calgary32.9
Brock33.1
Windsor33.7
Concordia34.6
Western35.3
Wilfrid Laurier38.3
Simon Fraser38.9
Carleton41.2
McMaster52.3
UBC54.4

*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