addisonwesley
October 11th, 2005, 10:18 PM
By TERRY WEBER
Tuesday, October 11, 2005
Globe and Mail Update
Canadian university enrolment touched record levels in 2003-2004, with the impact of Ontario's double-cohort year, a sharp increase in foreign students and a shift in the country's economy helping trigger the biggest year-over-year increase in more than a quarter of a century, Statistics Canada said Tuesday.
During the academic year, the total number of students enrolled in university hit a record 990,400, up 6.1 per cent from the year before and 20.4 per cent from 1997-1998.
The 2003-2004 increase was the biggest in 28 years and marked the sixth consecutive year in which enrolment set a new high.
Outlining recent trends, Statscan noted that enrolment among Canadians aged 18 to 24 has risen faster than overall university recruitment.
Since 1995, university registrations by students in that age group has risen by 27.5 per cent, reflecting the maturation of the so-called echo-boom generation — people born between 1980 and 1995 — and the increased demand for a university education.
“The restructuring of the Canadian economy over the past quarter century appears to have had an impact on demand for university education and the expectation of students on labour market requirements,” Statscan said.
“Many more entry-level jobs in today's economy require higher postsecondary qualifications than in the past.”
In 2003-2004, another big factor in the enrolment increase was the arrival of Ontario's double-cohort year, which saw students from two levels of high school head off to university at the same time because of the province's elimination of Grade 13.
Tuesday's report didn't say specifically how many students left Ontario's high schools for university that year, but it did note that enrolment growth at Ontario's universities was the highest of all provinces at 9.6 per cent. A total of 394,700 students enrolled in Ontario universities that year.
Also contributing to the 2003-2004 overall increase was an influx of foreign students. A record 70,000 students from other countries enrolled in Canadian universities in 2003-2004, up 16.8 per cent from the previous year.
Half of all foreign students were from Asia. China accounted for nearly 44 per cent of all Asian students.
Foreign students accounted for about 7 per cent of the university population in 2003-2004, nearly double the proportion seen a decade earlier.
By sex, women accounted for 59 per cent of all undergraduate registrations and 51 per cent of all graduate students.
In 2003-2004, the number of female undergraduate students increased by 7.5 per cent, while the number of male undergrads was up 6 per cent.
Enrolment was also up in nearly every field of study, Statscan said.
The only major field to register a decline in 2003-2004 was mathematics, computer and information sciences, where total enrolment fell by 3.2 per cent.
The biggest gain was seen in the field of business, management and public administration, which recorded an increase of 11.6 per cent. That field has led enrolment at Canadian universities since 1999-2000, the government agency noted.
Tuesday, October 11, 2005
Globe and Mail Update
Canadian university enrolment touched record levels in 2003-2004, with the impact of Ontario's double-cohort year, a sharp increase in foreign students and a shift in the country's economy helping trigger the biggest year-over-year increase in more than a quarter of a century, Statistics Canada said Tuesday.
During the academic year, the total number of students enrolled in university hit a record 990,400, up 6.1 per cent from the year before and 20.4 per cent from 1997-1998.
The 2003-2004 increase was the biggest in 28 years and marked the sixth consecutive year in which enrolment set a new high.
Outlining recent trends, Statscan noted that enrolment among Canadians aged 18 to 24 has risen faster than overall university recruitment.
Since 1995, university registrations by students in that age group has risen by 27.5 per cent, reflecting the maturation of the so-called echo-boom generation — people born between 1980 and 1995 — and the increased demand for a university education.
“The restructuring of the Canadian economy over the past quarter century appears to have had an impact on demand for university education and the expectation of students on labour market requirements,” Statscan said.
“Many more entry-level jobs in today's economy require higher postsecondary qualifications than in the past.”
In 2003-2004, another big factor in the enrolment increase was the arrival of Ontario's double-cohort year, which saw students from two levels of high school head off to university at the same time because of the province's elimination of Grade 13.
Tuesday's report didn't say specifically how many students left Ontario's high schools for university that year, but it did note that enrolment growth at Ontario's universities was the highest of all provinces at 9.6 per cent. A total of 394,700 students enrolled in Ontario universities that year.
Also contributing to the 2003-2004 overall increase was an influx of foreign students. A record 70,000 students from other countries enrolled in Canadian universities in 2003-2004, up 16.8 per cent from the previous year.
Half of all foreign students were from Asia. China accounted for nearly 44 per cent of all Asian students.
Foreign students accounted for about 7 per cent of the university population in 2003-2004, nearly double the proportion seen a decade earlier.
By sex, women accounted for 59 per cent of all undergraduate registrations and 51 per cent of all graduate students.
In 2003-2004, the number of female undergraduate students increased by 7.5 per cent, while the number of male undergrads was up 6 per cent.
Enrolment was also up in nearly every field of study, Statscan said.
The only major field to register a decline in 2003-2004 was mathematics, computer and information sciences, where total enrolment fell by 3.2 per cent.
The biggest gain was seen in the field of business, management and public administration, which recorded an increase of 11.6 per cent. That field has led enrolment at Canadian universities since 1999-2000, the government agency noted.