OLD FOUR: CANADA’S ELITE PUBLIC RESEARCH UNIVERSITIES

Canada’s education system is famous for being one of the best in the world, offering rigorous and vigorous schooling from early years through to degree level. Such degrees are conferred by a multitude of quality colleges and universities but the best known and, arguably, the most prestigious are the Old Four research universities that include: McGill University; Queen’s University; University of Toronto; and Western University.

ABOUT

Formally, the Old Four refers to the soccer conference in which all four universities participate but has, over time, come to be used in relation to other interscholastic sports fixtures between the member institutions and, indeed, to refer to the institutions themselves. Somewhat akin to the US’ Ivy League, the Old Four now transcends being a reference to an official sports conference and has come to be a byword for Canada’s top-tier universities.

The four universities that comprise the grouping are amongst the oldest in North America, predating Canadian independence with three of the members having been established prior to Canadian Confederation. They have long-competed against one another in sporting and academic competitions, with many varsity championships being formed amongst the Old Four and borrowing the naming convention. For many years the four universities competed against one another in Canadian Football under the Old Four conference structure in addition to the soccer competition. In addition, within various other university athletic conferences and competitions in which the four universities compete, the Old Four may be used to refer to fixtures between them or an honorific subsidiary competition within the tournament.

Each of the four universities is internationally renowned as a global, research-intensive university operating highly selective admissions policies. They are all members of the U15 group (Canada’s equivalent of the UK’s Russell Group) and are accredited by Universities Canada.