McMaster University has a 129-year tradition of fueling curiosity, inquiry and discovery. Everyday, we push the boundaries of knowledge through our ground-breaking approaches to teaching and learning and our world-class, interdisciplinary research.
With students and faculty from 98 countries worldwide and 70 international academic exchange agreements in place, we celebrate diversity and welcome international perspectives. We are the only Canadian host site of a United Nations University (The Institute for Water, Environment and Health- UNU-INWEH) and are committed to creating a brighter world by advancing human and societal health and well-being..
A one-hour drive from Toronto and a one-hour flight from major American hubs New York City, Washington D.C and Chicago, our campus is located in the heart of one of the most vibrant, innovative and multicultural regions of North America.
Our research and teaching strength
As one of Canada’s top three research-intensive universities, with more than 70 Centres and Institutes including three national Centres of Excellence, we have earned an international reputation for creating solutions to the world’s greatest challenges – measuring our success by the number of lives we affect and the communities we help to improve.
We are the home of problem-based learning – our signature teaching method. Pioneered at McMaster and adopted by institutions around the world, this innovative approach opens young minds to new ideas and hones the critical thinking skills needed to create healthy communities in a complex and changing world.
Our promise
At McMaster, collaborative thinking is a gateway to greater intelligence and greater optimism. In short, it’s helping us create a brighter world.
UNDERGRADUATE
Undergraduate education at McMaster offers students more than 3000 courses across a range of disciplines in Business, Engineering, Health Sciences, Humanities, Science and Social Sciences.
As a research intensive university, we integrate research directly into the classroom, enabling students to create their own futures, and make a world of difference.
POSTGRADUATE
McMaster has a well-earned reputation for excellence in graduate education, offering more than 150 Master’s and Doctoral programs across many disciplines of study. With international students making up 20% of McMaster’s graduate student population, we value and embrace global perspectives.
In addition to the cutting-edge graduate programs offered in the Faculties of Business, Engineering, Health Sciences, Humanities, Science and Social Sciences, McMaster is also home to the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine, ranked #33 in the 2016 QS rankings by subject.
At the heart of our graduate education is McMaster’s internationally recognized research enterprise. One of Canada’s top three research-intensive universities and ranked first in Canada in both total corporate income and total corporate research income, McMaster is home to some of the best laboratories and brightest minds in the country who work everyday to improve human and societal health and well-being.
McMaster University is a public institution that was founded in 1887. The Canadian university's main campus is in a suburban neighborhood of Hamilton, Ontario, near the western edge of Lake Ontario and not far from the U.S. border. Other campuses are located in downtown Hamilton, Burlington, Kitchener-Waterloo and Niagara. The university's international students hail from more than 75 countries, and its full-time faculty members come from more than 55. Tuition costs are higher for non-Canadian students. University-operated student housing is available, with options including themed living communities such as an all-female community, a healthy active living community and a global perspectives community.
The university has six main academic divisions – engineering, health sciences, humanities, science, social sciences and the DeGroote School of Business – and the primary language of instruction is English. McMaster University also has an arts and science program that enrolls around 60 students each year and offers a more interdisciplinary undergraduate experience. The academic calendar for McMaster undergraduates is semester-based and includes an optional spring/summer term. The graduate-level academic calendar has three terms: fall, winter and summer. Some of the university's more than 60 research centers and institutes are the Centre for Health Economics and Policy Analysis, the McMaster eBusiness Research Centre and the Canadian Centre for Electron Microscopy. The university also has its own nuclear reactor, which is used for research. An interesting fact about the university is that one-fifth of Albert Einstein's brain sits in a jar in one of the school's labs where a McMaster neuroscientist studies it and other specimens.