Saskatchewan college enrolment declines slightly
While enrolment is increasing at colleges and universities across Canada, the same cannot be said in Saskatchewan.
According to a report released this week by Statistics Canada, enrolment at universities in Saskatchewan increased from 31,683 in 2009-10 to 34,701 in 2013-14. But enrolment in colleges went from 19,959 to 19,134. It had peaked in 2010-11 at 20,541 and 20,103 in 2011-12.
Statistics Canada wouldn’t specify whether declining college enrolment was attributable to regional colleges, but a spokeswoman did say colleges had the largest declines in general interest and basic education and skills courses.
The Ministry of Education’s 2014-15 annual report shows that enrolment at regional colleges increased to 22,697 in 2011-12 from 17,846 in 2009-10. But enrolment has declined by 2,439 since 2011-12 to 20,258 in 2013-14.
Great Plains College in Swift Current has experienced a fourper-cent decline in its average enrolment over the past three years (to 1,732 students) compared with 2014-15 (1,465 students), according to Carrie Voysey, director of communications and student services.
Over those three years, people were more inclined to work than go to school while the economy was booming. However, with the economy slowing down in the past 18 months, enrolment is picking up, she said.
Voysey said specific programs that were in decline included firstyear university studies and business studies, though the latter has improved.
Enrolment in skills and safety training (non-credit) and the trades is strong, she added.
At Saskatchewan Polytechnic, enrolment of full-time students has increased to 18,423 in 2014-15 from 17,027 in 2013-14.
“We’re certainly seeing an increased interest, increased enrolment and increased graduation and employment rates out of our polytechnic,” said Larry Rosia, president and CEO.
In fact, Rosia said the college has seen an 11-per-cent increase in programming from the 2012 to 2014 school years, a trend that has been consistent for the school.
During the 2014-15 year, Sask. Polytechnic exceeded its enrolment target by seven per cent with a 17-per-cent increase in students over the past five years.
Even the trades haven’t seen a decline in enrolment, according to Rosia.
“When the economy slows down, our numbers are even exacerbated because that’s when people come back to school ... in the trades, when things slow down, that’s an opportunity,” said Rosia.
At the University of Regina, not only are enrolment numbers increasing, but they hit a record 14,360 registered students this fall, said spokesman Costa Maragos.
“This trend has been in place for a while. So whatever is happening nationally is happening at the U of R.”
Maragos noted that enrolment increases could be traced to a 63-per-cent increase in aboriginal students and a 90-per-cent increase in international students since 2010.
Maragos said there also are more students coming to the U of R from other provinces. But a major enrolment increase is the result of online courses. Maragos explained that 4,873 students are enrolled in online courses compared with 628 students in 2007.
In 2009-10, university enrolment in Canada as a whole increased from 1.2 million to 1.3 million while college enrolment also increased to 747,576 from 704,169.