This is the smallest of our three Canadian subject lists and the cleanest. We hold 6 Electrical and Computer Engineering master's at six universities, and every one of the six carries a verified tuition figure read off the university's own page. No gaps, no estimates.
The same degree, five times the price
Four of these six are a Master of Engineering in Electrical and Computer Engineering. Not similar degrees — the same qualification, under the same name.
The University of Manitoba lists it at CAD 14,373 a year. The University of Toronto lists it at CAD 73,760. Concordia University is CAD 17,888 and the University of British Columbia CAD 27,419. Across all six the range is CAD 14,373 to CAD 73,760 with a median of CAD 32,833.
A five-fold difference for a degree with the same title is not something you can reason about from the qualification alone. What you are paying for at the top is the city, the research funding, the industry adjacency and the name on the certificate — not a different level of award. Whether that premium returns itself depends on what you do afterwards, and it is worth being honest with yourself about which of those four things you are actually buying.
Every one is a major research university
The six are the University of Toronto, the University of British Columbia, McGill University, the University of Waterloo, Concordia University and the University of Manitoba.
That makes this list unusual among the subjects we hold for Canada. Our computer science list runs from Memorial and Lakehead up to Toronto, and our business list sits mostly at smaller universities. Here there is no small-university tier at all — the cheapest programme on the list is still at a U15 research institution.
The practical consequence is that the CAD 14,373 at Manitoba is not a budget option in the sense that a smaller university would be. It is a research university charging less, which is a materially different proposition and the single best-value entry on any Canadian list we hold.
Mostly two years
Three run 24 months, one runs 20 and one runs 12. The two-year shape is the Canadian norm and the structural difference from a British engineering master's, which is normally twelve months.
For engineering specifically the second year earns its keep more clearly than in most subjects: there is room for a genuine research project or a co-op placement, and an MEng with industrial experience attached is a different CV from one without. The cost is another year of living expenses, which in Toronto or Vancouver is not a small line.
Entry requirements
The English requirements here are stated with more precision than in any other group we hold, and several are compound: 7.0 overall with no less than 6.0 in each component, 7.0 with at least 6.5 in each, 6.5 with at least 6.0 in writing and speaking. One specifies Academic IELTS explicitly.
Read the component minimum, not the overall. These are the programmes most likely to refuse an application on a single weak band, and the phrasing differs enough between universities that a score clearing one of them may fail another on the same overall number.
Our listings record no academic cut-off for these six, so we will not quote one. A research-stream MEng or MASc also usually needs a supervisor willing to take you, which is a departmental conversation rather than a threshold.
The work permit, and the test nobody mentions
There is no field-of-study requirement for degree graduates. The restriction introduced for study permit applications from 1 November 2024 covers college, polytechnic and other non-university programmes. IRCC states there are no field-of-study requirements for graduates with a bachelor's, master's or doctoral degree.
There is a language requirement, and it is a different test. University degree graduates need CLB 7 in all four abilities. IRCC's published equivalence puts CLB 7 at IELTS General Training 6.0 in each — General Training, not the Academic test you sat for admission. CELPIP-General 7 and PTE Core are the alternatives.
Anyone admitted on a 7.0-with-component-minimums requirement should clear General Training 6.0 comfortably. It is still a separate booking and a separate fee at the end of a two-year degree, and it is better known about in year one than discovered in the final term. More in post-study work visas.
Browse the set: Electrical and Computer Engineering in Canada, master's only, or the subject across every destination we list. The wider picture is in master's in Canada for Indian students.
Catalogue figures counted from our published listings on 20 October 2026: all 6 programmes carry a tuition figure verified against the university's own page, in Canadian dollars. PGWP eligibility and the CLB 7 requirement from canada.ca, and the CLB-to-test equivalence from IRCC's language testing page, both read 20 October 2026. Immigration rules change; confirm on canada.ca before you plan around them.