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

University	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

University	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 gradeGrade distributionStudent retention Proportion who graduateFaculty with highest degree in their field