Canadians are generally well educated. Most Canadian children receive twelve years of education, in Elementary School (1-6), Junior High School (7-9), and High School (10-12). Education varies from one province to another because education is governed and administered by the provincial, not the federal government. The 1996 census found that about 9% of Canadians over the age of fifteen held a first university degree (Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science, and so forth); 2% held a Master's degree, and 0.46% or about one in every 100,000 had a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, also known as doctorate), the highest degree offered by any university.

Most Canadians perceive that higher education leads to a good income, whether that education is obtained at a community college or at a university. Community colleges teach trades and skills other than those needed for a profession. Universities usually concentrate on the professions (medicine, law, engineering), physical sciences, computer sciences, social sciences, business, humanities, and some of the fine arts.

The largest universities in Canada are the University of Toronto, the University of British Columbia, the University of Alberta, and McGill University. There are very few private universities in Canada; almost all the more than fifty degree-granting institutions are publicly funded through taxation.