Alberta-based Athabasca University was the first university in Canada to specialize in online distance education. The school is a true pioneer in distance learning, opening as Canada’s first open, correspondence-based university back in 1973.

AU offers more than 980 courses across 50-plus undergraduate and graduate programs offering diplomas, degrees and certificates in business, health, humanities and sciences, including programs in architecture, accounting, data analytics, information security, finance, health administration, and both post-LPN and post-RN nursing degrees. A focused menu of professional development programs, courses and microcredentials are also on tap, with training in specialties such as project management, digital innovation, workplace wellness and AI ethics.

Laurentian University prides itself on a unique educational vision reflective of its location in Northern Ontario; it is the only university in Canada with a bilingual and tricultural mandate, providing courses in English and French with a drive to serve the postsecondary needs of Indigenous learners.

Laurentian Online delivers a similarly diverse menu of 26 degree programs with over 350 courses, including undergraduate degrees in criminology, sociology, forensic identification, business administration and Indigenous social work, as well as an MBA and Primary Care Nurse Practitioner M.Sc. program.

Online certificate and professional development microcredentials cover specialties such as fingerprint detection and analysis, fire scene management and investigation, cardiac care, palliative care and effective survey design.

Kingston, Ontario-based Queen’s was the first university in North America to offer distance education, introducing courses by mail beginning in 1889. Today, more than 4,000 students “attend” Queens online, earning diplomas, degrees, certificates and microcredentials across a wide range of studies.

Queens’ offers more than 140 online courses across 10 schools, including arts and science, education, health sciences, engineering and applied science, law and its prestigious Smith School of Business, as well as numerous postgraduate degrees.

A robust menu of career-enhancing microcredentials includes 19 free self-directed courses, such as neuroscience for neurotech, behavioural assessment techniques and entrepreneurship.

The University of Fredericton, or UFred, is a private, for-profit institution founded in 2005. The New Brunswick-based school has built its name on the strength of its business and leadership-focused programs. Its programs, like the University’s administration, faculty and staff, operate 100 per cent online.

Operating exclusively online, UFred delivers a focused selection of certificate, degree and diploma programs through its Sandermoen School of Business and School of Occupational Health and Safety (OHS). OHS courses include certificates and diplomas in psychological health and safety, OHS and environmental systems and ergonomics, among others.

UFred’s flagship program, though, is the Master of Business Administration, a perennial leader among CourseCompare’s best online MBA programs. The comprehensive and multidisciplinary program gives students the choice between nine leadership specialties such as innovation, consulting, professional selling, HR, business analytics and artificial intelligence. Pre-MBA Executive MBA and MBA certificates are also available for aspiring leaders at every stage of their career.

University of Waterloo is consistently recognized as one of the most innovative postsecondary institutions in Canada, and was an early adopter of online education. The Ontario university has been delivering web-based learning since 1997, four years before the birth of Wikipedia.

Since then, its Centre for Extended Learning has built a sprawling course catalogue with over 600 courses across 40 undergraduate and postgraduate disciplines, including arts, engineering, environmental, health, mathematics and science, with a diverse range of individual courses such as history of the Internet, tactics for workplace success, applied epidemiology, business law, and Vikings! (Yes, the course name includes an exclamation point.)

On top of its range of degree programs, Waterloo also delivers more than 170 online professional development courses and certificate programs in categories such as business administration, computers and IT, languages, project management, sales and marketing, and writing and publishing.

Royal Roads University is a public institution geared primarily toward postgraduates and mature students, with learning models designed to accommodate existing jobs and busy lifestyles. Approximately 70 per cent of RRU students remain in their jobs while studying in the school’s online and blended programs, which have been running since the 1990s.

RRU delivers a focused menu of 20 fully online and 57 blended programs in business, communication, environmental science, executive education, leadership, and tourism and hospitality management, among others. In keeping with its focus on mature and working students, the course catalogue has an emphasis on business, management and leadership-focused education. Programs kick off with a mandatory, non-credit course on academic integrity.

University Canada West is a private university with a focus on business and career education. Since its founding in 2004, the Vancouver-based, for-profit institution has acquired a reputation for innovative career-enhancing education emphasizing leadership and persuasive business communication.

UCW’s course catalogue is lean and highly focused, with two bachelor programs  – commerce and business communication, respectively. Its most popular course is the online masters in business administration, a two-year program incorporating tools, projects and technology from leading sources such as Facebook Blueprint, Salesforce, Shopify, Riipen and the Digital Marketing Institute. Students completing the MBA also earn digital marketing certifications from DMI and Facebook.

Those seeking bite-sized career-enhancers can also choose from a menu of business-focused online microcredentials, such as blockchain entrepreneurship, data and web analytics, online e-commerce and corporate social responsibility.

Montreal-based McGill university routinely ranks as one of the top universities in the country and one of most competitive to enter. A 2021 survey found McGill had the highest average grades of any Canadian university, with 86 per cent for arts and 91-93 per cent for sciences.

McGill’s online offering, though, is largely focused on professional development courses and certificate programs in disciplines such as agile project management, data analytics for business, applied cybersecurity, graduate ESL and Indigenous business management. Diplomas are offered in public administration and governance as well as legal translation. The university recently unveiled an online Bachelor of Nursing, but it’s only open to graduates from Quebec’s CEGEP nursing program.

Another online platform, McGillX, delivers massive open online courses (MOOCs), which are free and flexible learning opportunities open to anyone, with verified certificates available to participants paying a $62 fee.

Calgary-based Mount Royal first introduced a self-paced learning program in 1996 when students in a politics class were allowed to choose whether to attend classes and could complete work at their own pace. The catch was that the highest achievable grade in the self-paced option was a C+.

Fortunately, the university has widely expanded its approach since then, and now offers more than 50 fully online certificate and diploma programs in business, health sciences, education and the arts. Specific areas of study include fields as diverse as machine learning, children’s mental health, digital marketing, police foundations, interior decorating, neonatal nursing and funeral services. Some programs are also offered in a fast-track format, using a more intensive learning schedule to achieve your learning goals more quickly.

MRU introduced micocredentials in 2022 and is building a wider range of career-enhancing options. It currently offers three microcredentials in ESG Reporting, and is developing a new course in applied machine learning.

Thompson Rivers University embraces four fundamental pillars that inform its approach to learning: accessibility, flexibility, choice and credibility. The B.C.-based school operates on the open model, striving to make postsecondary education as accessible as possible, requiring minimal admission requirements and continuous enrolment for most programs.

TRU students are spoiled for choice, with approximately 550 courses delivered through over 60 programs such as the arts, business and management, education, health sciences, nursing, science, social work, trades and technology, and tourism. The tuition-free adult basic education program helps aspiring students meet some TRU program requirements or earn a high school diploma.

The University of British Columbia has a long and innovative track record in distance learning. In 1976, UBC launched an independent study program delivered on TV. Its online learning programs debuted in 1995, when only about 10 per cent of Canadians had home internet.

UBC delivers more than 100 mostly undergraduate online courses for degree and certificate programs spanning 10 faculties, including applied science, arts, dentistry, education, land and food systems, law, medicine and science.

The university’s extended learning faculty also offers a wide range of online microcredentials in studies such as anti-racism, mining law, cybersecurity, cloud computing, languages, career coaching and a course on blockchain, cryptocurrency and NFTs.

The University of New Brunswick is Canada’s oldest English-language university and an educational trailblazer on several fronts. It is home to Canada’s first programs in engineering and forestry, as well as the country’s first faculty of computer science.

Those specialties are all included among UNB’s wide range of online educational opportunities, with degree, certificate and professional development courses also in anthropology, biology, economics, family violence issues, management, math, recreation and sports studies, statistics and more. An online university prep course helps would-be students meet their admission goals and develop essential skills to postsecondary success.

UNB students can also take advantage of the school’s partnership with online learning services UGotClass and MindEdge Online, which collectively offer more than 400 additional for-credit, professional development and continuing education courses.

The University of Manitoba was the first university in western Canada and ranks as one of the largest and oldest universities in the country. In 2008, the school pioneered a digital first when a UM instructor launched the world’s first massive open online course (MOOC) attended by 2,300 students around the world.

Today, UM offers more than 80 online courses across a diverse mix of disciplines, such as business, finance and management, process and technology management, public sector and municipal administration, and applied social sciences.

One unique offering is the professional development in higher education administration program, providing skills to build a career in postsecondary education. Courses and seminars cover key areas such as leading academic departments, university management and women in academic leadership.

Memorial University was founded in 1925, before its home province was officially part of Canada, and has been delivering for-credit distance education since 1969.

It’s also the largest the largest university in Atlantic Canada, and its online course catalogue is sizable as well, with more than 475 courses in degree, diploma and certificate programs in a wide range of specialties, such as business administration, marine and maritime studies, education, criminology, food safety, human kinetics and nursing.

While the majority of programs are fully online, some are delivered in what the school calls “mixed mode,” meaning 75 per cent online with some on-campus components.

Trent University is a public university established in 1964 with two separate colleges for male and female students. The now fully coeducational school has a reputation experiential learning and  small class sizes to deliver an intimate and personal learning experience.

The Peterborough, Ontario-based school offers over 100 courses across a vast range of studies, including business administration, journalism, Chinese, forensic science, physics, and social work. Popular courses include dreams and dreaming, computer crime and forensics, artificial intelligence and introduction to genetics.

The selection of online programs is small but growing, and delivers undergraduate and graduate studies in unique and highly specialized areas. Current options are a master of bioenvironmental monitoring and assessment (MBEMA), an Ontario tech master of science and nursing (MScN) and a diploma in circumpolar studies, one of the few programs of its kind anywhere in the world.

Lakehead is a public university based in Northern Ontario which prides itself on a friendly student atmosphere, commitment to Indigenous students and small class sizes to deliver personalized learning experiences.

The university offers two fully online undergraduate programs. The first is a three year “general” BA aimed primarily at mature students and designed to give them significant leeway in their course selection. The second is a BA in history, also spread over three years. Both courses can include a wide range of electives as well as an Indigenous content requirement.

Lakehead partners with more than a dozen other universities and colleges to deliver over 1,300 online micocredentials with a dizzying array of topics covering real estate planning, Python, digital scrapbooking, public speaking, digital photography, music, welding and many, many more.

In 2021, Lakehead University was awarded $751,000 by eCampusOntario as part of the Ontario Ministry of Colleges and Universities Virtual Learning Strategy (VLS), designed to expand virtual and hybrid learning opportunities in the region.

Université TÉLUQ is the only French-language university in North America that offers all its courses via distance learning and the only distance university in the Quebec. It was founded in 1972 as an exclusively distance learning university named Telé-université but has grown enormously since then, and now teaches 18,000 remote students each year while also holding classes on campuses in Québec and Montreal.

TÉLUQ currently delivers 430 courses across 125 programs in administrative sciences – which includes accounting, economics, HR, law and management; communications – as well as computer science, education, environment, humanities, languages and sciences. A multidisciplinary BA allows students to earn a certificate or degree while studying multiple areas. There’s also a dedicated course to teach strategies for successful online education.

The Royal Military College trains and educates officer cadets for all branches of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF). The Kingston, Ontario-based college debuted its distance learning program in 1997 to cater to the unique time demands that come with a military career. As a result, RMC Online enrolment is open primarily to CAF members and their spouses as well as civilians in certain federal government departments, such as the department of defence. Students at select other universities may take RMC courses as a visiting student, but credits count towards a degree at their home institution.

Through RMC Online, students can pursue a selection of undergraduate and graduate certificate and degree programs, such as in military arts and sciences, public administration, military leadership and management, war studies and a masters in business administration.

Yorkville University is a private, for-profit school based in New Brunswick delivering professional skills training since 2004. YU offers a lean but diverse online course catalogue with four undergraduate programs and seven graduate programs in disciplines such as counselling psychology, interior design, psychotherapy, social justice and educational leadership.

The undergraduate bachelor of business administration is among YU’s premier offerings, and allows specializations in accounting, project management, energy management and supply chain management. The masters in counselling psychology is another popular option which is taught fully online but does require a live and hands-on practicum lasting about 30 weeks at the end of the program.