Enrolment rates at the college have been dropping for the past three years and are set to keep dropping for a short while, according to a conference held on May 10, 2016, but the students who are enrolling are from a more diverse population.
A correlation from the fall of birthrates in Canada and the low enrollment rate, which dropped by 19 per cent in 2015 alone, was hinted as a possible cause by Robyn Heaton, the dean of the faculty of Media and Design.
Canada has been witnessing a fall in births that started in 1991 and reached its lowest in 1997, according to Statistics Canada. “It is a bit of a concern,” said Heaton. “We’re in a situation where the pool of potential students, aged 17 to 24, is shrinking,” she added. “Certain programs are going to see a sort of ebb and flow because of that small piece of the pie,” she added.
According to college statistics, the departments most affected by lower enrollment rate are Arts and Media and Police and Public Safety, while Business and Management keeps steadily rising as choice of study.
“This is something that we’ve known for a while,” said Heaton about the number of applications dropping. “That’s why we’re trying to attract non-traditional students, those that are not coming right out of high school.”
In 2015, the percentage of non-traditional students applying was of 69.2 per cent, compared to the 30.8 per cent of people enrolling within six months of getting out of high school. This trend is bound to end, according to Heaton.
“Statically, I believe it will go up eventually,” she said. “Probably in 10 more years, by 2025. And we’re going to make sure we’re the place for students to come for their post-secondary education.”
